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10 things you should know about poetic World Cup commentator Peter Drury


You probably know him from the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League. But if you are not an avid football fan, and have followed the ongoing World Cup in Russia, you may have come across his flowery commentary.

You probably remember his commentary in April this year when Roma mounted a comeback against Barcelona in the Champions League: “Roma have risen from their ruins! Manolas, the Greek God in Rome. The unthinkable unfolds before our eyes. This was not meant to happen, this could not happen, this is happening! Barcelona, extraordinarily, (are) eight minutes from elimination. (Roma boss Eusebio) Di Francesco does not know where to go, (Andres) Iniesta does not know where to look. It’s a Greek from Mount Olympus, who has come to the Seven Hills of Rome and pulled off miracle!”

He also took charge of Russia vs Spain on Saturday and after the hosts dumped the 2010 champions from the tournament, he cried: “This, this was not meant to happen! A match they dominated throughout. Now Spain bows out of the competition. Russia came into it with no form.”

Well, his name is Peter Drury a commentator with BT Sport in UK and these are some 10 things you should know about him:

1. Age
Drury was born in 1968 meaning he is between 49 and 50.

2. Nationality
Drury was born in Britain.

3. Social media
He seems to appreciate how good he is behind the mic. His Twitter handle is @Football_Poet where he has just over 11,000 followers. He, however, does not tweet much.

4. His first stab at commentary
“I commentated on my mum doing the ironing,” he told theliverpoolword.com in September 2012.

5. First job
Drury first worked as an accountant. He says he begged for chances through letters until he got one from a sports reporting agency.

6. Breakthrough
His first big gig was during the Euro 96 when he commentated for BBC Radio 5Live.

7. First World Cup
After his successful stint at BBC Radio 5Live, Drury was snapped up by ITV to commentate for the station during the 1998 world cup in France.

8. Newspaper column
He once wrote a column for The Independent in the UK but gave up because of workload at ITV. He, however, says he would love to go back to writing if another chance arose.

9. He doesn’t take criticism so well
“The problem with the whole role (of a commentator) is that one person’s favourite is another person’s pain in the neck”, explains Drury in the told theliverpoolword.com interview, “we know that and unfortunately you have to live with that. I’m not particularly thick-skinned so when I think somebody doesn’t like me, I don’t like it very much.”

10. Preparation
Drury says actual commentating during matches takes just 10 per cent. He spends the rest 90 per cent on research. This he does by trawling through sites, watching past matches to know players as well as speaking to locals of foreign clubs. He also attends training sessions. All the preparation takes between three to four hours a day.