Robbie from DRFC ifollow

[jmt23]

Must of missed an announcement, but read he has left? I did hear a player thank him for all he had done, and wondered if the player was leaving - never thought about the commentator !

I thought he was a very very good commentator, knowledgeable about the game and the club, certainly better than most I have heard when tuning in to away commentaries.

[In the box]

Shame .. he was a very intelligent commentator.

[donny dave]

That's a real pitty, He was better than most radio commentators. top man Robbie.

[scawsby steve]

As long as Peter Catt doesn't take over as main commentator. If he does, I'll have to watch with the sound turned off.

[i_ateallthepies]

I didn't rate him as a sound-only commentator, he was very light on positional information during play.  He would describe what was happening but too often it was left to the listener's imagination as to which area of the pitch it was happening.  Better suited to TV commentary but not good enough for that.

[Chris Black come back]

Thought he was good. In particular was honest about how bad it usually was. Didn’t put lipstick on the massive pig ambling around the pitch most weeks.

[Canadian Rover]

As long as Peter Catt doesn't take over as main commentator. If he does, I'll have to watch with the sound turned off.

I will actually do this too

[graingrover]

Liam Hoden has been the option in Robbie’s absence on most occasions . Peter Catt has no energy in his deliveries unfortunately though he does have a wealth of experience and knowledge about the club . How long before the club follows the trend of finding a lady commentator with a screeching voice?

[RoversInSpain]

Watched every match on IFollow last season. I thought Robbie was excellent. Voice came across well, wasn’t totally bias, didn’t get all opinionated and start to love the sound of his own voice.
Wish him the best.
As for replacements Hoden, no thanks.
Peter Catt, could be useful as the football on show next season is going to be wild, so might need bringing down a bit with Peter’s ‘gloomy like’ voice. 

[Branton Rover]

I like Catty’s monotone delivery a good antidote to overly excited commentators which Robbie never was though.

[graingrover]

He was excellent on I follow video commentaries which I get as I live overseas but those commentaries went out also to fans who had sound only …that was the problem.

[Draytonian III]

It’s a pity Tom Bitcliffe is on Radio Sheffield because he’s a good commentator and not biased even though he’s a big Rovers fan. Any idea what Robbie is going to do

[Rovers91]

I might be completely wrong but someone said to me he was joining police.

[VivaRovers]

I hadn't realised Robbie had moved on. That's a big loss to Rovers media set-up.

Robbie was an excellent commentator, but it wasn't til I did a few games with him on commentary during the Covid closed doors season that I realised now natural he was at it. I have to study the players during the warm-ups and draw out the positions on a notepad to be confident of calling the right name during play; Robbie just did it off a team-sheet. That's a remarkable skill, which helped him be so effective in calling the game.

There were times when I (as a listener not a watcher) would've liked a bit more description of where the ball was on the field, but I concede that's very much personal preference and shouldn't take away from how good Robbie was at commentary.

[graingrover]

It is rather a shame that we don’t get more recognition of Robbie’s services and some indication of his future path .

[danumdon]

I must be the outlier then as the games i watched on Ifollow i thought he over talked far too often, it got to the point where it was hard to concentrate on the match as the info was constant and unrelenting. Ill admit this could of also come across this way because the team were constantly getting hammered and embarrassed.

Ill admit he was competent and managed to keep to the right level of coming across as impartial and not biased, his links to the co commentator mostly ended with a leading question so the co commentator had to answer back relative to the question and was prevented most of the time from giving their own opinion independently from the main commentary.

Came across as a good bloke, hope he does well in his next venture.

[Retdon1]

Think I read he’s leaving to join the police to take charge of their media department

[bigdonnybob]

he is going to Media DEptNottinghamshire Police i have heard.

[Silkscarf]

I thought he did a reasonable job. It must have been hard going for him as it was for us watching it. Unbelievably woeful season.

I wish they had a co commentator on all games. A lot of away games (all? most?) there is none. So it’s monotonous and no input from another view. Maybe they can’t afford travel expenses for away games.

[Filo]

I thought he did a reasonable job. It must have been hard going for him as it was for us watching it. Unbelievably woeful season.

I wish they had a co commentator on all games. A lot of away games (all? most?) there is none. So it’s monotonous and no input from another view. Maybe they can’t afford travel expenses for away games.

It would be nice to have a Fan as a co commentator, but I suspect the club won’t like a Fan saying it as it is

[Silkscarf]

Some fans could do a very good job. 99% would be terrible at it!

A neutral view would be good every now and then. Ex players or managers from our level, not necessarily any Rovers connection, just football fans like all of us.

[pib]

I think it's key to remember that the club's in-house commentary, which is broadcasting to a fairly small audience, is probably by nature always going to be done by someone who is cutting their teeth in that particular industry who is on the early stages of a learning curve. And because of resources it's unlikely to be their only role within the club as well. Rovers are never going to get Clive Tyldesley doing the iFollow commentary.

Remember Tom B started as the club's in-house commentator/summariser, and now with that experience does an excellent job at BBC Sheff and is starting to get more opportunities to do big match commentaries there as well.

None of that is meant as a criticism of Robbie. Quite the opposite actually. More something to bear in mind for people offering their critique of his work. Like everyone else, I tuned in to most games during lockdown and thought Robbie did a great job and came across as a very knowledgable and capable commentator. I'd be pleased if Radio Sheffield picked him up as a match day reporter for DRFC now Tom is doing more main commentaries.