Irishman Conor McNamara on winning prestigious British commentator of the year
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What does winning British Sports Commentator of the Year mean for Conor McNamara?
It's been described as the equivalent of an English person commenting on the All-Ireland Final and winning Irish Commentator of the Year. Limerick man Conor McNamara was recently named British Sports Commentator of the Year, finishing ahead of broadcasting legends BBC Radio 5 Live's John Murray and Sky Sports' Peter Drury. He secured the win for his commentary on Man United's epic victory over Lyon in the Europa League quarter-final.
How did Conor McNamara secure his award-winning commentary?
Conor joins me now from Munich, where he's preparing for tonight's hopefully epic rematch between Bayern Munich and PSG. Conor, good morning.
Good morning, David. How are you doing? Nice to talk to you.
Well, thanks a million for joining us. Congratulations. And just for people who aren't sort of clued into the industry, this is a pretty big deal.
Yeah, I have to say I was very surprised.
What inspired Conor McNamara's journey into sports broadcasting?
I'm obviously delighted and honoured, but I've been nominated for this award. It's the Sports Journalists Association, the SJA. I've been nominated a few times over the years, and I'm genuinely not just saying this, just to be nominated, you know, to be on the list with the other established names. guys many of whom are you know actual heroes of mine um just just to be nominated that that felt like winning an award and if i had a few of those the rest of my life i'd have been happy with that genuinely but um yeah surprised to see to see my name come up and it's like wow um so look you know it's it's it's been it's been lovely there's been loads of well-wishers i mean as you mentioned that sort of thing about the can you imagine an english guy coming over and commentating on the hurling and
You know, to be fair, we all have a laugh about it, you know, the Brits are at it again and all the rest of it. But they've been so, you know, a company.
How did family influence Conor McNamara's broadcasting career?
I think it's like 20, 24 years ago, I started working in England. They've always welcomed me in. It's been great. I think I've been really helped by the fact that there's been prominent... Irish people doing well in the Premier League the time when I started David O'Leary was manager of Leeds and he was doing well obviously Roy Keane came through and became one of the best Irish players and I think this idea of oh yeah the Irish must know a thing or two about football really helped me but yeah the fact that they give me big games I mean I've commentated on even England internationals for the BBC which you know again if you could flip it around the other way I'm not sure how warmly it would be received so yeah so many well-wishers have got in touch and it's just been a really nice thing
Now, people will know your dad, Mickey Mack. Is that where the love of broadcasting came from?
Yeah, totally. So my dad, he's still on RT. He does the RT Gold on a Saturday morning. I get the plug in 9 to 10.
What challenges did Conor face when starting his commentary career?
He plays his 70s records. He's like, you know, other people's dads play golf. My dad plays dance music. But he's, yeah, he, you know, as kids grow up, my mum too, you know. You know, families, say, if they're big into hurling or big into rugby, when they're sitting around the kitchen table, they'll talk about those things. In our house, genuinely, we spoke about radio. That's what we were interested in. And, you know, why did a certain presenter do this? And why did they go to an ad break there? And what was the reason for this? And the mechanics, obviously, the structure. So we've always sort of been nerds for that kind of thing in our house.
Why did Conor McNamara choose to go freelance after 18 years at the BBC?
And, yeah, Dad used to work on 2FM back in the day, and he used to do that. the dance show on the Saturday nights and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, we were always into, you know, microphones, headphones, we're always around the house, that kind of thing. So that was definitely the bug where it came from.
Okay, I'm a bit put off at the thought of the McNamara family sitting around commenting on my own performance. But anyway, we'll brush over that. And how did you get into sports broadcasting?
Yeah, I mean, I think it's like anything in life, you sort of you stumble into things.
What insights does Conor share about the current Premier League season?
I went to university in Manchester.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does winning British Sports Commentator of the Year mean for Conor McNamara?
0:00–0:25
2
How did Conor McNamara secure his award-winning commentary?
0:25–0:44
3
What inspired Conor McNamara's journey into sports broadcasting?
0:44–1:30
4
How did family influence Conor McNamara's broadcasting career?
1:30–2:22
5
What challenges did Conor face when starting his commentary career?
2:22–2:51
6
Why did Conor McNamara choose to go freelance after 18 years at the BBC?
2:51–3:21
7
What insights does Conor share about the current Premier League season?
3:21–4:03
8
How does Conor compare rugby and football commentary?
4:03–11:58