I sent an e-mail to Matt Wright at the club re the commentary situation- he approved that I post his reply here for information...
"Thanks for the message Clive. I had noticed some of the discussions regarding the CAFC Player commentary.
It's important to note that all of the commentators do not work for CAFC Player or indeed the club, but BBC LONDON, which pays their wages and decides who attends which matches.
Indeed, their primary role is not to report on games for CAFC Player, but to do their job for BBC LONDON.
As part of an agreement we have reached with BBC LONDON (which took a lot of hard work on both sides), we have come to an arrangement by which the club benefits from this resource and supporters can gain access to
commentary.
Obviously, we liaise closely with BBC LONDON but the club has no fixed commentator and BBC LONDON allocate commentators as they see fit depending on the matches on the day. It would be very difficult for the
club to interfere in this."
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Comments
The problem is partly that she's awful at her job, but mostly that the BBC seem to like attaching a commentator to a club, presumably on the grounds that the commentator gets to know the style of the players and can refer back to previous games. I've no problem with that, except we've been lumbered with her and probably will be for some time. In fact that makes her commentary worse, because by now she should know the player's names, their best positions and style of play. Looks like we are going to be stuck with her for some time...
I think the bloke on Sat was worse, but Emma seems to be getting the brunt of it.
its not just her style though. a large number of people (and not just here) have complained that they simply cannot get any picture of the game, any clear idea of what is happening. Thats a serious problem.
To this end, we need to highlight her lack of talent and try to make the fact that she is a woman totally irrelevent.
Perhaps some female fans who aren't impressed could send an email?
I noticed during the commentary that she kept mentioning Radio Kent.
Does this mean that the same service is available for people who live down there for free, on the radio?
If Radio Kent stream the game on their website why are we paying? I'm sure we could all pick it up wherever we live.
And why is it Radio Kent while the deal is meant to be with BBC Radio London?
So if we don't like something we like it or lump it? If I ring up the bank tomorrow and the person on the other end of the phone is useless at there job I'll complain. Just the same as if someone rung me at work they should expect a certain level of service.
I'm afraid the woman is awful and it's not because its a woman. She seems unable to string a sentence together without a 5 second pause between each word, she talks about everything apart from the game so you don't actually know what's happening and would rather talk about what colour boots Sam is wearing!
Nah, free on the BBC.
Still not worth the money though
I think the response from Matt Wright is a little bit like a retailer washing their hands of a problem and passing you on to the manufacturers. I fully understand it's a difficult situation, there's a person's aptitude being questioned for instance, but the bottom line is that subscribers are paying for a service that many are unhappy about. Now from a business point of view that's not a healthy situation and the club should be making some representations to BBC London, their providers of the service, to improve the final product or guess what? Those customers will go elsewhere next year...
I hope that's happening behind the scenes and maybe someone will have a quiet word with her about uping her game and or even send her somwhere else for a bit to give everyone a break. Emma included.
Are you her dad/brother/lover? She might get better in the long run, but meanwhile I am paying money to hear a commentary which gives me no idea what is happening on the pitch.
I don't think she's that bad and do think her gender is an issue for most complainants. I can't stand Alan Green, but I just turn him off rather than write to the BBC about him. Cast your mind back 15 years there was nothing, especially if you lived outside the London area. This is another example of fans having been spoilt in recent years and expecting the same standards despite us being languishing in the lower reaches of the football league.
When you go down you get less experienced players, less experienced refs and less experienced commentators on the radio and pundits on telly - Steve Claridge talks garbage on the FL Show. Conversely, I hear MUTV and Chelsea TV do a great job - maybe those of you who can't stomach the slip in standards should subscribe to them?
398 said they couldn't stand the cow but I'm sure things'll get better...
So, because we don't rate the commentator - and have given many many reasons why we think she is flawed/limited/crap - that makes us all sexist, does it AshTray and we are only having a pop because of her gender?
I actually think that's a pretty disgusting thing to be saying about people you don't know or have never met. Let's hope people don't judge you in the same flippant and lazy way.
Thats a stupid comment because not everyone can get off their buttocks and go to the games which is why they pay to listen to an expert talking them through the game. Something that Emma is failing to do. Ashtray what is your obsession of defending her? Do you know her or something. She isn't doing a good job and the people paying for it are voicing their opinions why have you got such a problem with that. If you went to see a film at the cinema and they played the wrong soundtrack to the film would you not complain??? Well thats whats happening here
Her doing some 'commentary' was just an additional extra arranged primarily for the club. If this is true, you can't say she's rubbish at her job, because commentary isnt actually her job...
Yes i can ...She's ribbish at her job. See it was easy ...............I'm guessing she doesn't do it for free so it is her job
I could just as easy turn that round: why have you got such a problem with me defending her? It's a tough job, she's relatively new to it, she's trying to make the grade in a male orientated environment and aside from her 'style', I haven't heard any criticism from anyone that would convince me that gender isn't an underlying motivation for these jibes.
I'm not saying it's the only motivation, I think there would be grumbles if she were a fella but nowhere near as vociferous as this. The guy she commentated with on Saturday was worse, but doesn't really get much mention.
Your cinema analagy is flawed. It wouldn't be like that at all. It would be more like watching a crap film, but many elements make it crap. She doesn't commentate on a separate game; that would be silly.
It's unusual to hear a female commentator and people just don't like change or something different. I'm not even saying people are being consciously sexist. Just have a think about what it is exactly you don't like and I reckon it will come down to her 'style', which is largely a euphemism for having a higher pitched voice and knockers (I haven't seen her so I can't vouch for this!)
I go back to my previous point - you can't polish a turd. This football isn't going to sound pretty. I think people would be more tolerant if Emma was a boy.
I pay because there are games I can't get to, especially if they are midweek and up north.
These are the games I want to be described.
The fact is that many people are choosing to go without something they have already paid for and follow the games through other means such as the BBC updates.
Personally, I usually give her a chance but by the second half I've generally switched to the other teams commentator.
I know she's got to learn somewhere and everyone needs a leg up in any career but it doesn't help the customer.
I love Cafe Rouge but now refuse to eat at the Greenwich branch after I had some bad experiences then learned that branch is used for training.
Emma Jones might be a lovely girl but we are getting a substandard service.
I guess it's 3rd division commentary to go with the 3rd division everything else
See you couldn't say it! You said 'ribbish' instead!