TCV Q&A: Lip mics, ‘freakers’ & facing criticism

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Mar 27, 2026

They explain why commentators still use lip mics and how stadium sound is captured. Travel, match assignments and working with different summarisers come up. They laugh about streakers and risqué on-air calls. They debate which football stats are actually useful and how criticism and social media affect their work.

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ANECDOTE

Engineers And Fixers Aren't Always Football Fans

Tanya, an engineer who prefers live music, concentrated on sound duties during Leverkusen v Arsenal rather than the football itself.
Jefferson, a Brazilian fixer, once chose to read in the media cafe instead of watching Brazil play live at the World Cup.

ADVICE

Plan Travel Early And Keep Flexibility

Plan travel and fixture assignments early but expect changes; bosses usually map out months in advance and give tighter notice for late-season 3pm games.
Book domestic travel yourself when possible to stay flexible and make quick decisions.

ADVICE

Talk To New Summarisers Before Kickoff

If working with a summariser for the first time, call a day or two before and meet on matchday to agree territory and rhythm.
Spend off-air time early to build rapport and avoid on-air awkwardness.

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John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball answer listener questions. From why they still use lip mics to how they deal with criticism… do they still go to game as fans? And which data do they find most useful/useless? Messages, questions and voicenotes welcome on WhatsApp to 08000 289 369 & emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk

01:05 Lip mics and why commentators still use them, 07:20 How they find out which matches they’re doing, 10:00 Working with different summarisers, 19:10 Seeing too much flesh in commentary, 22:00 Avoiding venting personal views in commentary, 26:20 5 Live commentaries this weekend, 27:50 Do the commentators ever watch as fans? 34:40 Which data are the most useful/useless? 44:00 Does criticism affect their commentaries? 47:20 Which TV programmes would they do?

5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 England v Uruguay with John Murray, Ian Dennis & Paul Robinson, Sat 1330 Man Utd v Man City in WSL with Mike Minay & Lindsay Johnson, Sun 1200 Chelsea v Aston Villa in WSL with Vicki Sparks & Anita Asante.

Great Glossary of Football Commentary: DIVISION ONE Agricultural challenge, Back of the net, Back to square one, Booked, Bosman, Bullet header, Channel of joy, Coupon buster, Cruyff Turn, Cultured/educated left foot, Dead-ball specialist, Draught excluder, Elastico/flip-flap, False nine, Fox in the box, Giving the goalkeeper the eyes, Grub hunter, Head tennis, Hibs it, In a good moment, In behind, Magic of the FA Cup, The Maradona, Off their line, Olimpico, Onion bag, Panenka, Park the bus, Perfect hat-trick, Piledriver, Put his cap on it, Rabona, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Schmeichel-style, Scorpion kick, Spursy, Stick it in the mixer, Sweeper keeper, Target man, Tiki-taka, Towering header, Trivela, Where the kookaburra sleeps, Where the owl sleeps, Where the spiders sleep. DIVISION TWO 2-0 can be a dangerous score, Asterisk, Back on the grass, Ball stays hit, Beaten all ends up, Blaze over the bar, Business end, Came down with snow on it, Catching practice, Camped in the opposition half, Cauldron atmosphere Coat is on a shoogly peg, Come back to haunt them, Corridor of uncertainty, Couldn’t sort their feet out, Easy tap-in, Daisy-cutter, Drubbing, First cab off the rank, Giant-killing, Goalkeepers’ Union, Good leave, Good touch for a big man, Half-turn, Has that in his locker, High wide and not very handsome, Hospital pass, Howler, In the dugout, In the hat, In their pocket, Johnny on the spot, Lackadaisical, Leading the line, Leather a shot, Middle of the park, Needed no second invitation, Nice headache to have, No-look pass, Nutmeg, On their bike, One for the cameras, One for the purists, Played us off the park, Points to the spot, Prawn sandwich brigade, Purple patch, Put their laces through it, Queensbury rules, Reaches for their pocket, Rolls Royce, Root and branch review, Row Z, Screamer, Seats on the plane, Show across the bows, Slide-rule pass, Staving off relegation, Steal a march, Sting the palms, Straight in the bread basket, Stramash, Taking one for the team, Telegraphed that pass, Tired legs, That’s great… (football), Thunderous strike, Turns on a sixpence, Walk it in, We’ve got a cup tie on our hands. UNSORTED After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Bag/box of tricks, Brace, Brandished, Bread and butter, Breaking the deadlock, Bundled over the line, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator’s curse, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Free hit, Goalmouth scramble, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Keeping ball under their spell, Keystone Cops defending, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Opposite number, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Route One, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Shooting boots, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Taking one for the team, Team that likes to play football, Thruppenny bit head / 50p head, Two good feet, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Usher/Shepherd the ball out of play, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.