Bad English in sport

Being a football commentator must be pretty hard. Just imagine having to speak for over 90 minutes to millions of people. You'd probably run out of things to say! While this doesn't happen to professional commentators, some of the things they do say don't make a lot of sense and can be really funny! Sometimes they use the wrong words, get their English idioms mixed up, or contradict themselves. Yes, that's right: commentators are often guilty of bad English! I've put together a list of my favourite commentator quotes.

Some of the funniest quotes come from former player Kevin Keegan. He often likes to state the obvious, saying things like:

"Argentina won't be playing in the 2002 European Championships, because they're from South America."

"The 33 or 34-year-old players will be 36 or 37 by the time the next World Cup comes around, if they're not careful."(In case you didn't know, the World Cup only takes place every four years.)

Kevin obviously had a previous life:

"I've had an interest in racing all my life, or longer really."

And he also gets his words mixed up:

"The ref was vertically 15 yards away." (Kevin obviously thinks the referee can fly. I think he meant "virtually"!)

"There'll be no siestas in Madrid tonight."

In fact, some of my favourites are when commentators get their words and idioms mixed up. Here are a few of the best, from various commentators.

"The marking was non-extinct there" (he probably meant "non-existent")

"He has all the tricks up his book" (the idiom should be either "tricks up his sleeve" or "tricks in the book")

 "Liverpool will be without the player Kvarme tonight - he's illegible" (that should be "ineligible")

Some commentators, like Tony Gubba, clearly aren't very good at maths:

"Arsenal can credit Dennis Bergkamp with setting up 75 per cent of their nine goals."

While former manager Bobby Robson clearly is:

"In a year's time, the player will be a year older."

And famous British commentator John Motson liked to help viewers before colour television:

"For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the yellow strip." 

Do German commentators get their German mixed up sometimes too?