Tommy Smyth: the voice of ESPN soccer

Any football fan who ever caught a game on ESPN while travelling throughout the world will know the lilting commentary of Co Louth’s Tommy Smyth.

The American broadcaster’s colour man, famous for his ‘rustle the auld onion bag’ catchphrase, is the subject of internet petitions, websites, death threats, and evidently, plenty of fan mail.

With Setanta Sports effectively going bust and ESPN looking to take up their Premier League contract, Smyth hopes to become a lot more well known in Ireland and Britain.

I spoke to him last week for Saturday’s Irish Examiner.

THE voice of soccer in America — and throughout much of the world — has an Irish accent.

Louth man Tommy Smyth has been ESPN’s colour man since 1994 and his opinion, delivery and catchphrases have provoked a tide of reaction from the world’s football fans ever since.

Now with Setanta folding their tent and Smyth (‘Smyth with a y’ as his sign-off goes) and his renowned employers look set to take up the Premier League contract, the Dundalk man’s unique brogue is likely to become ever more familiar in his homeland.

“It would be like the Prodigal Son returning, wouldn’t it? I’d love it. I can’t go anywhere in the world without being recognised. I got e-mails from Australia, the Middle East, all over North and South America and especially Nigeria but I rarely get one from Dundalk. And I’d love that.”

“I once got an email from a Nigerian man who offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to me and said he’d throw in the other sister for good measure. But the wife — who’s from Cobh — wouldn’t have any of it,” he laughs.

As well as being one of the presenters on Press Pass, another ESPN show which reaches Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and the Middle East, there have been years in which Smyth has ‘called’ over 200 games a year from the studio. Despite his diligence — or perhaps because of his ubiquity — not every viewer would be so generous with Smyth, it seems.

Asked to describe Smyth’s style of delivery and Cass Crockatt, who established a popular website dedicated, essentially, to Smyth-hating, says we’re in for a shock.

“Combine the loudest most obnoxious guy at the bar with a Disney-fied leprechaun on crack, add a large dollop of shillness and you’re getting close,” he explained this week.

“Not only is he really ignorant about soccer, he’s just really irritating. He has a really irritating voice and accent which considering he’s been in the US for 35 years he definitely hams up.”

He’s certainbly there a while; after arriving in New York in 1963, Smyth estimates that he worked 17 jobs before landing the ESPN role. Smyth established the radio show ‘Ireland Calls’ dedicated to Showbands which is still running and is currently presented by his wife Treasa.

But how did Smyth bridge the gap between Oriel Park and world soccer’s greatest stadiums?

“Ireland Calls was my start and at that time in Gaelic Park in the Bronx there used to be running commentary and when Kerry came over to play Galway, I was asked to introduce the teams and I did more than that; I kept the mic and did the commentary. And I stuck at it afterwards.

“The soccer then came about when I heard ESPN had got the World Cup for America in 1994 and I just cold-called them.

“I went back to Louth that December and piled all the nieces and nephews into the car and drove them to Oriel Park and commentated into a tape deck for a game against Limerick.

“The kids seemed to enjoy it and I thought if I can keep them entertained I’ll be okay,” he says.

Only those now-grown-up children know if he sat in the driver’s seat that day and uttered the phrase ‘slotted in the onion bag’ for the first time, but it has become his calling card since.

“A lot of people like it, a lot don’t. I only say it once a game. It’s a bit of fun. There is some people who despise it, there’s petitions, but that’s not reflected by what I hear on the ground. The written stuff rarely reflects the fans’ opinions I find.”

Smyth was at the centre of a security crackdown in Melbourne in 2007 when a viewer posted a death threat on an internet forum while the ESPN staff were in Australia. But Smyth insists he’s more popular than ever.

“Put it this way, two years ago I was Grand Marshall of the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York and three million people turned out. This year only two million turned out in Washington for President Obama’s inauguration.”

“Does [the abuse] bother me? My father always said “it’s terrible having people talk about you; but it’s worse when they’re not.”

“Last Tuesday, I was invited to a soccer scheme launch at the UN! And I was described as a legend and gave a speech at the UN, coming from a small village in Louth — I mean I can’t be that bad.”

So what can we expect, if Smyth gets his wish of going truly global?

“My style is very energetic and honest. I look at a game and call it like I see it. I didn’t care who you are; if you’re a striker for example and you don’t score goals I’m going to call you out on it. Essentially, I offer a fan’s point of view.

“This should be entertainment and Being Irish we have a great sense of humour and I bring that to the table too. I like to think I’m like Dunphy with a sense of humour,” he states matter-of-factly.

Unlike Smyth, Irish soccer fans may well be lost for words if and when ESPN get their feet under the table next season.