A GREAT PUNDIT, NOT A GOOD ONE

Eamon Dunphy on a stellar career of calling it as he sees it

- Garry DOYLE

ON the week the United States dropped the atomic bomb, Eamon Dunphy dropped into planet earth.

It is hard to know which of the two was more explosive.

The man who turns 80 tomorrow has had his fair share of controversies over the years. And he isn't afraid to admit to his mistakes.

Like there was the time he described Cristiano Ronaldo as a 'cod' live on air prior to a Champions League match.

By full-time, Ronaldo had scored a hat-trick; he has since won five Ballon D'Ors, four Golden Shoes, five Champions Leagues, seven league titles, scoring 800 goals in 1,062 matches.

Fair to say then, it wasn't one of The Dunph's better predictions.

"No," he agrees, laughing. "In fact that was one of the greatest mistakes of all time and there is a mural up in Phibsboro that shows me delivering those silly words.

"When my criticism was at its most savage, he was 21.

"He had just gone to (Manchester) United. He was a diver. He threw his hands up in the air. He feigned injury. Those behaviours were not the hallmark of a great player.

"But he became a phenomenon, the likes of which we had never seen.

"Back then, you were sitting in a television studio; you had your doubts about this guy; you don't go along with the crowd. So what are you to do?

"I think you should express yourself so that everyone knows where you stand.

"If you are wrong, and in this case, I was grotesquely wrong, then you accept the stick.

"But that is the way the job should be done. Punditry is about expressing yourself.

Does he see much of that today with RTE?

"No, not at all," he says. "In fact, I think RTE Sport now is poor.

"Is there anyone there who would say anything that would surprise or offend you? No. They are just sitting there going through the motions.