Phil Egan

And legendary commentator George Hamilton joined myself and Enda Call on a very special episode of You Had To Be There on Off The Ball Breakfast this week ahead of the start of the World Cup.

And here Hamilton explains the art of silence when it comes to commentating on the biggest moments in sport.

And the words he chose, the two words he chose, and said three times, just summed it up absolutely.

And in a nutshell, that's what TV commentary is about.

You listen to commentators now, and they're telling you about guys' backgrounds and where they came from.

The crossover of radio.

Radio, you have to describe absolutely everything.

So then, I did it the other way.

I did TV stuff and I was told the same.

The pictures are there.

They can see it.

You don't need to talk.

Too many commentators are scared of silence.

But I would never have gone down the line of telling Ray Houghton that that's what he should have done.

to invite Ray to come back and say you're an idiot.

Because that's basically what it's about.

That's why you're there.

You're there because you have a facility to do different class, different class, different class.

And he's there, or she's there, to add what they know from having been down there facing the different class.

So what value is the commentator's notion?