Ger Canning is an Irish sports commentator with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ).

Career

Ger Canning was born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

on 10 May 1951. He was a secondary school teacher at South Presentation school in Cork City when he began his broadcasting career with Cork Local Radio in 1978. Two years later in 1980 he joined the national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, as a member of the station's sports department. As a fluent Irish-speaker his first All-Ireland final commentary was on

RTÉ 2 (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in 1981, because the station then had a policy of using the two channels for commentaries in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and Irish. After

Michael O'Hehir Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and ...

's retirement due to ill-health in 1985, Canning became the main Gaelic games commentator on RTÉ television. Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh took over O'Hehir's duties as a radio commentator. To date Canning has broadcast nearly 75 All-Ireland finals (including three in Irish). Canning commentated on every All-Ireland senior hurling final from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Canning has worked on many sporting events for RTÉ, including: *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, including five

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

* Six

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

International rules football International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

Greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

* Olympic hockey qualifying *

League Of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

National Football League (Ireland) The National Football League (NFL; ) is an annual Gaelic football competition between the senior county teams of Ireland plus London. Sponsored by Allianz, it is officially known as the Allianz National Football League. The Gaelic Athletic Assoc ...

He was assigned commentary duties for the 1985 European Cup Final, before which he witnessed the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( ; ; ) was a crowd disaster on 29 May 1985, when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of ...

. He was assigned commentary duties for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

Other interests

Canning played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

for University College Cork A.F.C. and

College Corinthians College Corinthians A.F.C. is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Douglas, Cork. Their senior men's team play in the Munster Senior League Senior Premier Division. They also ...

and played minor and junior

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

for St Finbarr's. He has lectured in Radio Broadcasting at Colaiste Stiofan Naofa in Cork.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canning, Ger 1951 births Living people Alumni of University College Cork Gaelic games commentators Irish lecturers Irish schoolteachers Irish sports broadcasters Irish television personalities People educated at Coláiste Chríost Rí RTÉ television presenters St Finbarr's Gaelic footballers St Finbarr's hurlers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football players not categorized by position College Corinthians A.F.C. players Broadcasters from Cork (city) Association footballers from Cork (city) 20th-century Irish sportsmen