Tommy Smyth: Louth's Famous Mouth

Louth Association Will Honor ESPN Announcer on Saturday, Nov. 11

By John Mooney

It's a long journey from Knockbridge, County Louth to Bristol, Connecticut, but Tommy Smyth (with a "y," in case you didn't know) has thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

In February 1993, Smyth joined ESPN International as a soccer analyst, and now also appears on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN News. He serves primarily as the game analyst and color commentator for the UEFA Champions League games with Derek Rae, and covers Italian Serie 'A', as well as the 2006 FIFA World Cup games with Adrian Healey. Heard globally in the U.S., Canada, and the Pacific Rim, Smyth has one of the most recognizable voices in all of sports. In addition to soccer, he covers Gaelic Games, horse racing and harness racing.

Smyth has been a fixture in the Irish community for many years prior to joining the television network. Following his 1963 arrival in the U.S. at age 17, he played Senior B Gaelic Football for Louth at Gaelic Park. When not playing, he announced the games.

"People at ESPN will ask me where I went to college. I tell them Gaelic Park," Smyth said. "Gaelic Park made me. When I went into that commentary box every Sunday, I would have to figure out the names, and which guys had just flown in from Ireland camouflaged. I know now that if I could announce a game there, under those circumstances, I could broadcast a game anywhere."

While its heyday has passed, Gaelic Park will always be much more than just a sports field to Smyth and his fellow immigrants. It provided a vibrant social and employment networking scene.

"We played our games, beat other, shook hands, and were friends again after the match," reminisced Smyth, who met his uncle Pat at Gaelic Park on his first Sunday in America. "The dances would be so packed that you couldn't get your hand into your pocket. It was a place where you could go to meet other people from your home town. Hundreds of guys got jobs at Gaelic Park. It truly was the heart of the Irish community."

The sportsman said the Louth team took him under its wing when he was age 17.

They won the championship that year, which wound up being the only time he ever won a medal at Gaelic Park. Smyth played in four consecutive decades, admitting, "sometimes not when I should have."

His other vivid memory as a player came during the late 60s when Louth upset Kerry, which had not been beaten in Gaelic Park for many years. Today, Smyth is saddened by Gaelic Park's slow decline.

"Many of the young people are going home or moving to the suburbs in Rockland County and Stamford," Smyth said. "They take the sport with them."

First Arrival

"I got off the plane and thought, How could it be this hot? I had never encountered anything like it," the announcer said.

His first job was as an electrician at the Biltmore hotel. Sometimes, when there wasn't much to do, he'd pick a room and watch TV. While watching television one day several months later, he learned the news that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

"We had a radio dispatcher in the hotel. When I told him the President was dead, he threatened to have me fired," Smyth recounted. "It was such a numbing feeling. We were so happy when he declared himself a Dubliner. Back home, almost everyone had statues of JFK along with the saints on the mantle."

Bulge in the Auld Onion Bag

As a youth, Smyth would imitate the commentary of Michael O'Heiher, but never realized the possibility that he could be an announcer. When he began his broadcasting career, he knew he would need a signature call.

"It seemed like every good announcer had a catch phrase -- Marv Albert (YES!), Phil Rizzuto (Holly Cow!), Keith Jackson (Whoa Nelly!)," said Smyth, who was the voice of the Metro Stars of Major League Soccer from the team's inception in 1996 to the early 2000s. "I was talking with my friend Barry McCormack, the owner of McCormack's, about it and said, 'Doesn't the net look like an onion bag? How about bulge in the onion bag?' That's how it started."

Best and Worst Moments

Tommy lists David Beckham, Andriy Shevchenko, and Scottish jockey Willie Carson among his favorite interviews.

"Beckham is so forthright, very quiet, down-to-earth, although a lot of people around him are a pain," Smyth said. "My interview with him ran on Cold Pizza, ESPN News, Sportscenter, and Behind the Lines, as well as Press Pass in Australia."

"Of anyone, Andriy Shevchenko was the nicest. Instead of meeting us at AC Milan, we went to his home. He had his cook make dinner for the crew and invited us to attend an Armani party with him," Smyth recounted. "I didn't go. My wife figured there would have been a huge gift bag, so every time she hears mention of Shevchenko, she brings it up."

And the worst interview... Luís Figo

Another disappointing encounter involved two of his own countrymen, Gary Kelly and Ian Harte of Drogheda. Smyth had convinced ESPN to fly him and a crew to Ireland to do piece to find out what's in the water in Drogheda that produces such great players. The announcer did background interviews and then went to meet the players in Dublin, but when he got there, Kelly and Harte wouldn't talk to him.

"I go to Ireland, get all the background done, and they weren't interested. My job was on the line,"

Smyth said. "Fortunately, one of their sponsors intervened on my behalf and convinced them to do the interview."

Smyth's favorite sporting moment was in 1957 when Louth defeated Cork in the All Ireland final at Croke Park. (He teases his wife, Treasa, a Cobh native whom he married in 1999, about it whenever that historic moment in Gaelic Football is discussed.) He also fondly remembers Ronnie Delany's 1,500m Gold Medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Smyth says the best comeback he ever saw was when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in the last 2 minutes of the CL Final in Barcelona in 1999.

World Cup 2006

Smyth has particularly fond memories of this year's World Cup. He announced 16 games and made 65 appearances on shows including Charlie Rose, CNN, and ABC News. He also did almost 200 radio show interviews around the U.S.

"When the draw was made last December, I was asked if I thought Brazil would win. I said no. I also thought that England had good players, but that they didn't make a good team. I said Italy would win," noted Smyth with pride. "Very few people pick the winner of the World Cup, and everyone was picking Brazil. It got me so much more time on TV. Charlie Rose declared me a clairvoyant."

Ironically, Smyth did not cover any of Ireland's games when the World Cup was in the U.S. in 1994. He had just joined ESPN International, and communications between the two divisions were not as close as they are now. He covered Bulgaria-Germany, Bulgaria-Italy, and Maradona's final game. In 2002, he broadcasted Ireland-Spain, Ireland-Germany. ESPN does not configure the schedule based on nationalities.

Louth Gala

"I never thought I deserved it myself; I'm accepting the award on behalf of my aunts and uncles," Smyth added. "I am really amazed that so many people are coming. Thirty people are coming from Ireland, including Dermot Ahearn, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We expect over 500 people in total."

"The Louth dinner was always elegant affair with top hats. Before I arrived in 1963, I had known about the Louth Society because my aunt Minnie would write to us about it," Smyth recalled. "She was a 'Women's Libber' who used to create havoc by trying to go into the pub and succeeded in getting women admitted into the Society."

Breaking into the Business

In his 44 years here, Tommy Smyth has worked close to 20 different jobs, including gas station attendant, maintenance man, electrician, travel agent, and radio host on WVOX. In 1994, his first year covering the World Cup, he was a painter. One Friday, he finished painting half of a house and told the woman who owned it that he was on his way to Boston to announce Nigeria vs. Argentina in the World Cup. She didn't believe him.

"When I went back on Monday to finish painting the house, she nearly had a stroke," he laughed.

Hostile Critics

Like most people in the public spotlight, Smyth sometimes finds himself the object of harsh criticism. A number of soccer fans have mobilized to have him replaced and derisively referred to him as the "auld onion wind-bag." A particularly disgruntled soccer fan named Andrew has set up a website with the goal of having him fired. The New Zealander invites others to join his "Send Tommy Smyth and His Ole Onion Bags Packing" campaign and posts particularly nasty emails he receives from people who claim they "can't take any more of Tommy Smyth."

The campaign clearly has backfired. ESPN, which thrives on sports controversy, has added a one-minute commentary called, "The Auld Onion: Out of the Bag." The one-minute segment is used as a "filler" in the Pacific Rim and features a cartoon of Tommy. Recent discussion topics included a call for consistent officiating when goal keepers step outside the goal box and a congratulatory piece on Paul Scholes's 500th appearance for Manchester United.

"Rather than get rid of me, they got more of me. Be careful what you wish for."

Man on the Move

Tommy Smyth is frequently asked to emcee events in the Irish community. He enjoys doing it because it keeps him in touch with many people that he does not get to see very often. The announcer covers about 250 games a year and frequently travels.

On the day we conducted this interview by phone, Tommy was in the car driving to announce a game in Connecticut. The following day he went to the Red Bulls match. His schedule also included doing Press Pass, an Arsenal game, and a highlight show on ESPN2.

"I used to see many people on a weekly basis when I announced the games in Gaelic Park . Now my schedule is so busy that the only time I see them is at the dinner dances or when they march under me when I announce the Saint Patrick Day Parade." So what does Tommy Smyth do in his spare time?

"Spare time -- what is that? It must be something they just invented."