FOR MEN AND women of a certain generation only one man will ever be the voice of the National Football League and it’s not John Madden, Joe Buck or Phil Simms.
Instead, the voice belongs to long time RTÉ presenter Myles Dungan who, despite years of work on the Olympics, golf, current affairs and history, is remembered – by some – primarily for his poor taste in jumpers and love of American football.
“You’d swear I’d never done radio in my life, that I hadn’t presented a major two-hour drive time radio show or whatever,” Dungan told The42.
“People of a certain age, they’re always of a certain age and most of them would now be in their mid to late forties, and they’ll come up to you and they’ll say ‘oh, I know you. ‘You used to present the NFL on RTÉ and wear those horrible sweaters.
“‘Didn’t you do the golf as well?’ is usually the follow up.”
Long before he had aspirations of presenting an NFL highlights show, Dungan had an interest in gridiron, starting as early as the sixties.
“I got really into American football in 1980 when I was in the States with family. I was watching it on television and just got into it.
“Even before that though, I was aware of the sport as I used to read Sports Illustrated in the early sixties but it was only when I got to the US that I suppose my love for the game was varnished.
“It took me a while to get to grips with it but the thing I suppose I love about the game is that something interesting can happen on every single play. I remember timing a rugby game once – and I wouldn’t be the biggest fan of rugby – but between all the stoppages, the setting of the scrum, walking up to line-out, etc the ball was only in play for 19 minutes.
“Even soccer, and I love soccer, but even that only gets interesting really when the ball is in and around the penalty area but the NFL is different and that drew me to it.”
So with a pre-existing fondness for the sport, when Dungan – who had been with RTÉ seven years at the time – read that the national broadcaster was interested in starting an NFL highlights show in 1984, he knew he hat to be part of it.
So, despite working primarily in radio at the time, Dungan approached Tim O’Connor who was then the Head of RTÉ Sports.
“I said to Tim: ‘Look, I haven’t done much television but I do know a good bit about this game and if you are interested I’d like to help you out.’
“So Tim took me on and that was it.”
It seems strange now when Vines and gifs of touchdowns are available within seconds of them happening, but for a time, Dungan and his colourful jumpers – all of which have shuffled off to the great laundry basket in the sky – were at the forefront of NFL coverage on this side of the Atlantic.
“You had Channel 4, and they were doing their games a week late – so you’d see them the Sunday after they happened – for the first two years of their coverage. And I knew I was really becoming a fan when I was too impatient to wait for those games and I’d have to listen to the Armed Forces Network.
“There wouldn’t even be references to the games in the Irish newspapers. The odd time you might see scorelines on a Tuesday but that was it really. I think a lot of people were as dissatisfied as me with the Channel 4 coverage and started tuning in to us on a Thursday.
“But once we started, they introduced a Monday show themselves and eventually dropped the Sunday show.”
Dungan, who is now as well known now for his work as a historian as he is a broadcaster, is of the opinion that a highlights show could still work on RTÉ, if there was money available for it.
“I think it would work. There’s still a lot of interest out there. I mean the instant access is an issue but so is the perilous state of economics surrounding sports broadcasting. Sport has taken a hammering in recent years because it is expensive to produce.”
A long suffering Oakland Raiders fan, like many, Dungan was drawn to the attitude of the Silver and Black more so than anything they’ve achieved on the field of play over the past three decades.
“I started in the period when Al Davis was at the peak of his powers. John Madden had been coach and was doing colour commentary on CBS and would namecheck them a lot during broadcasts and I think that trickled down to me.
“They haven’t been particularly successful but I loved the likes of Marcus Allen and the black jersey and the skull and cross bones. They just seemed to be in your face and I liked that.”
And as for this year’s Super Bowl, Dungan is a firm believer in the old adage that while offences win games, defences win championships.
“I do have soft spot for New England and I’d like them to win but the Seattle defence is just about as good as any I’ve seen in my years following the sport. The likes of Richard Sherman is just a great player to watch and he’s as entertaining off the field as he is on it.
“So I think the Seahawks will win a low-scoring, closely fought affair.”
