By Monwabisi Jimlongo
The 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament has come and gone, with hosts Ivory Coast having been crowned champions thus becoming African kings for the third time in history.
While people enjoyed the football dished out on the field, SABC TV viewers were treated to a fine commentary from the voices of veteran broadcasters Mthuthuzeli Scott in isiXhosa and Michael Abrahamson in English.
Initially, Scott was not scheduled to do any AFCON matches on TV. However, a glitch in the first few days of the tournament resulted in Scott being called into action while Abrahamson, who was originally going to do less than five matches ended up being behind the microphone in 13 games.
Normally heard doing sport commentary on Umhlobo Wenenefm, the humorous Scott transitioned seamlessly from radio to television after decades of being behind the microphone.
“For starters, I was not scheduled to do matches on TV. It was only after we experienced a hiccup with the feed from Ivory Coast that the bosses decided that the SABC must use its own commentators and that I should do games on TV,” Scott revealed.
And Cradock-born Scott went on to do more than five games while at the same he formed an excellent combination with Abrahamson.
“Michael’s experience keeps you on your toes and you don’t want to be left behind. He’s very knowledgeable, he’s been long in the field, especially on the side of television,” Scott said.
“He challenges you. You must know your story if you are going to work with Michael. I have been told that our energy levels were 120 percent during the tournament. We discussed a lot of things before going on air. Michael is a nice bloke, I feel comfortable working with him.”
On the other hand, Abrahamson was scheduled to do only two games, but ended up commentating in more than 10 AFCON matches.
“What happened is that Scott only got moved to television about two months ago. I did the first game with him, a game at Loftus in the Champions League. We both commentate with a lot of energy. I think that makes it exciting for the viewers,” Abrahamson said.
“I think what makes the combination work is that Scott is humorous, he’s got funny things that he says that are entertaining. He’s got a lot of energy, I think that’s his strong point. He knows the players. For me, it’s the stats about the players, things that the public doesn’t know. Obviously, we both have lots of experience in the industry having been there for many years. I try to throw a few jokes, but my main thing is to give a lot of information about the teams and the players.”
Abrahamson added: “The bosses seem to be very happy with our combination. They seem to like Scott and me working together because in the beginning I was working with OJ (Oatile Jacobs). I still work with Zolani (Bongco) and Joe Hudla. Because Scott and I are based in Jo’burg, its easier to do a lot of games together. It’s nice for the public to have high energy games all the time. The AFCON tournament was a great experience.
“Originally, for the AFCON they said that I was only going to do two games, just the first two Bafana games. And then after a while, I think they heard the commentary and gave me more games as we had to use our own commentators. In the end, I did 13 games and Scott had about six or seven matches.”
