Team GB’s Kim Little and Rachel Daly have criticised “disappointing” commentary in which players have been misnamed, as they prepared to play in Friday’s quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics.
The errors came in a broadcast of the women’s football tournament on Eurosport, whose coverage has come in for widespread criticism. During Team GB’s game against Canada their top scorer, Ellen White, was called “Ellie White”, the Arsenal and the Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema was renamed “Abbie Miedema” and said to play in the “Women’s Soccer League” instead of the Women’s Super League, and the Scotland midfielder Little was described as having “140 caps for England”.
“I think there was a Linda Bronze in there as well,” said Daly. “And a Catherine Weir? It’s not difficult to get players’ names right. It’s quite frustrating and disappointing, but it’s just another bit of fuel to add to the fire and we just focus on ourselves and stay grounded. It is what it is.”
Little said: “It is disappointing. That’s a common theme within the women’s game. As it’s professionalised, as the game’s become a professional sport, the things around it need to keep improving too; as well as broadcasting and the media, the level of expertise, when commentating on games too.
“Because the women’s game is not as widely watched yet as the men’s game, there’s not as many commentators who know the game as well and are employed to do so. So yeah, it’s disappointing, but hopefully by voicing it the people that are making the mistakes are made aware of it so that that side of the game can continue to improve.”
The commentary in question was not provided by Eurosport directly but was put on by the Olympic Broadcasting Services. The OBS has been approached for comment.
Discovery, of which Eurosport is a subsidiary, said it would have its own commentary team in place for Team GB’s quarter-final against Australia.
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The Eurosport coverage has also faced technical issues that have meant viewers have found that commentary for one game has been played over live footage of another, sometimes for up to 40 minutes. That problem has not been exclusive to football.
“We have been experiencing some technical challenges and we are working to rectify the situation as a matter of urgency,” Discovery said.