Out On The Full Meets Nick Mullins

23 years ago a young man joined the BBC as a Sports Commentator, Nick Mullins, it was the year that Liz McColgan was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the year that England won the Grand Slam in the Five Nations. I must admit that I was just 3 years old at the time and do not remember either however that I was a fact that I chose not to share with Nick as we sipped our coffee on a Monday afternoon in South West London.

As BT Sport’s Voice of Rugby, alongside fellow commentator Alastair Eykyn, Nick seamlessly leads us through nine months of Aviva Premiership action and next year he will guide us through the emotional journey of the Rugby World Cup on ITV. Nick, like all of the great commentators, is a part of our sporting history, his words and his voice frame the greatest sporting moments of all time, and I was privileged to spend the afternoon with him to discuss the art of commentary and gain a little insight into how one of the greats does it;

“One of the most important parts of what we do as commentators is to create the frame for the match and for people like Ben, Austin, Matt, Lawrence and Brian now, to come in with their big splashes of colour and bring it to life. Everybody adopts a different approach to commentary but I’m very much about the conversation. At ESPN, as summarisers/pundits/experts, Ben and Austin raised to bar to a height it had never been at before, I respect them and admire them enormously but as the commentator you have to be in charge. It is the commentator’s job is to provide that order and provide the structure for our experts to flourish in.”

The conversation and structure, as he puts it, that Nick brings to a match is a brilliant blend of the more formal information with what can only be described as pure golden gems. Like any true professional he makes his art sound beautifully simple;

"If at the end of the match you felt like you’ve been sitting behind us, or next to us and we’ve not annoyed you too much with our ramblings then we have probably done a good job. I’m very much the viewer and if Austin is getting on my nerves he almost certainly is getting on yours or if you want a member of the team to stop talking then it is up to me to tell them, you can’t tell him but I can, that is one of the privileges of the job.”

“All the time as a TV commentator I am aware that I'm a guest in your living room, sometimes an uninvited guest, sometimes people much rather that I said nothing at all for the duration of the match. You have to be so very careful on TV not to say too much, I’m of the belief that if you don’t have anything to add shut up!!”

Nick is acutely aware that the level of knowledge of a rugby fan today is higher than ever before and that translates into his preparation. In spite of being in the business for two decades his Dad still doesn’t think that he does a ‘proper job’ and asks him what he does during the week; 

"If I’ve got two matches at the weekend, I’ll go and see four teams train and talk to as many members of the club, players and coaches as I can. What I do is journalism; it is about asking the miniscule questions and finding out those details that your viewers don’t have time to find out because they are at work. I suspect that I have got something on every single player in the Premiership that you would only know if you have spoken to them in person and asked the right questions.”

It is asking those minuscule questions that has endeared Nick to the entire world of rugby, those that follow him on Twitter will read his insights and those that listen to his commentary hear them. It is why he knew that James Simpson-Daniel always ran with the ball in both hands because his PE teacher in Middlesbrough made them do laps of the pitch if they didn’t. He shared with me a gem that he hasn’t used yet but such is the generosity of Nick as a person, he said that I could share it regardless;

“Three or four years ago I found out from Toby Flood that he always played with a boot that was a size too small because when he was kicking he loved to have the feel of the boot around his foot. That made my week as a sports commentator that is just gold-dust.”

This season Nick and the rest of the BT Sport team will covering the European Competition alongside Sky Sports and it was interesting to be able to ask Nick about the two providers' relationship and rivalry;

“The great thing about BT and Sky, well certainly for me, is that some of my best mates work as commentators on Sky and we’ll all go out for beers together. The wonderful thing about that competition is that it makes the coverage of rugby better, because there is nothing like competition to get everyone raising their game. We want to be better than them and equally they want to be better than us. We are happy with our team and they are happy with theirs.”

“I hope that it offers some kind of choice to those who watch, I mean you couldn't confuse us. They tend to wear ties and we don't and I think that percolates down through the style and commentary. I suspect that if we were at school together we'd be the one's getting detentions and they'd be getting the gold stars. We are not really an apple for the teacher/gold star bunch but we are very happy with our detentions!!”

With the new domestic season just days away Nick and the BT Sport team are deep in preparation mode however like all of the players and clubs he can’t wait for it to finally start. 

For many years the late, great Bill McLaren was known as the ‘Voice of Rugby’, he was a huge influence on Nick and I’m sure that he would be the first to say that now his great friend is more than deserving of the title.