The World Cup football feast will soon be over and the victors crowned. The teams are receiving their plaudits and the players their financial rewards, the adulation of their fans and recognition for their efforts.

That is all very well, yet excluded from any form of recognition, except perhaps from their employers, are the TV football commentators, the unsung heroes who feature on that rectangle on our living room walls.

These English commentators took on the job single-handedly for each match. They didnot have some so-called expert sidekick on hand that would have produced endless inane chatter throughout the match. Instead we wereentertained by a well-prepared approach to the job and we had the benefit of many bits of information about teams and players.

Most of all I liked the fact that every commentator did not feel the need to talk all the time and left us to watch the game and to make our own analysis of it. Unlike many other commentators, none described what we clearly could see on the screen but deemed it sufficient just to name the player with the ball, a lesson our locals have still to learn.

The English football commentators did a truly professional job and we ought to be grateful for their expertise.