They’re choosing a football commentator in Armenia. There’s a need to replenish the team of sports commentators of Armenia’s First Channel, and the new commentator will be decided through a competition.

The first stage of the competition has been completed. Each participant has commented on a video of at least 15 minutes of any football match and sent it to the First Channel. These have been published on the First Channel’s Facebook page, where football fans have expressed their opinions through likes and comments.

The commentators who received the most likes and positive comments have passed to the second stage. The selection at this stage will be done by a special committee.

The winner, first of all, will have the opportunity to comment on any of the FIFA Confederations Cup matches and if successful, will complete the Public Television Company of Armenia’s sports family.

Public TV’s Director of Marketing and Publicity Alexander Hakobyan, in conversation with Media.am, said, “Football has long stopped being just a game; it is a completely established institution — with the backbone significance of the commentator.” That’s why the First Channel’s management decided to hold a competition for the most discussed and criticized profession. 

To the remark that perhaps the First Channel is transferring to TV viewers the responsibility to choose, since they are often dissatisfied with the quality of sports commentators, Hakobyan said, “It’s not a matter of the need to put the responsibility on TV viewers, but to make them part of a process that many dream of. This is a unique opportunity to not only test their strength, but also create the image of the best sports commentator in the public’s opinion or simply find him.”

No conditions or even educational qualifications were required of candidates. The First Channel considers it important that the winning candidate have an on-air voice, speak intelligently, possess sports knowledge, and be at ease.

This competition is the third of its kind in the history of Armenian television. Two competitions were held in the 1960s: Suren Baghdasaryan, the founder and chief editor of the weekly paper Football+, won both. It turns out he’s the only commentator in Armenian television who was chosen through competition.

The first competition was held in 1961. “I was 21 years old. The committee was comprised of knowledgeable people. They took everything into account: the voice, first of all. I passed this competition, but it turns out that I was kept off the air for almost 8–9 years. They told me that they still had to work on me. I was born in Stepanakert; there was the effect of the dialect,” Baghdasaryan told Media.am. 

During that time, he graduated from university and was accepted into the Mergelyan Institute, in the radio hub of which he prepared and hosted sports matches. “I was trained. In 1969, when football athlete Levon Danielyan, who was simply adored, was seriously ill, they announced a new competition, and I already had tremendous experience.”

In 1969, the competition rules were as follows: the match of Ararat’s replacements was broadcast, and every candidate was given five minutes to comment.

“They let me talk for 15 minutes. But they didn’t give me airtime for another year. They tried the old [commentators] again, but all failed. Ultimately, they decided to let me get on air,” says the sports commentator. 

Baghdasaryan considers the competition for commentators announced by the First Channel to be a great initiative. “In Armenia, they often choose [commentators] by acquaintanceship, by familial connections. But football broadcasts have the largest audience. No other program can gather that many people than football programs. On the street, I get approached and constantly told about the problem of commentators — people tell me they turn down the volume on the TV or that they prefer to listen to Russian commentators. That’s insulting. Nothing like this happened during our time.”

The experienced commentator watched the videos published on the First Channel’s Facebook page and noted some mistakes: “The starting whistle is heard” (there can’t be a starting whistle), “a match having such a title” (the match can’t have a title), “defeat is not advantageous for Manchester United today” (a strange observation: no team’s defeat can be advantageous), “Number 17 is [Daley] Blind” (a number cannot be a person), and so on.

According to Baghdasaryan, about 90% of the candidates repeat commentators’ mistakes. 

These days, the committee is assessing candidate submissions at the First Channel. The results of the football commentator competition will be summed up during the second week of June, before the start of the Confederations Cup. 

The opening match is set for June 17, between the national teams of Russia and New Zealand.

Gagik Aghbalyan