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12th Nov 2017

Remarkably biased Northern Ireland commentary annoys the masses

This is something else

Ben Kiely

Gerry Armstrong really outdid himself while on commentary duty for Sky on Sunday evening.

The former professional footballer was tasked with the commentary gig for the second leg of Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off against Switzerland.

Belfast-born Armstrong played 63 times for the Green and White Army as a player and had two stints with them as assistant manager. Having such close ties with the team you are covering can be a great thing. Passion inevitably shines through in the commentary game when it’s genuine. However, objectivity, fairness and just being truthful in general should probably take precedence.

In Armstrong’s case though, all balance went out the window for this crunch encounter.

Everyone on social media was in agreement, Armstrong sounded more like a fan than a commentator.

He did things such as refer to the Northern Ireland players by their first names, applaud every refereeing that went their way and just seemed to view the game through green and white-tinted glasses.

Plus there were several other head-scratching moments where Armstrong seemed to display a lack of research as well a lack of knowledge about football and geography.

Well, it certainly got people talking anyway.