Thomas Michael Smyth (pronounced Smith) (born 19 December 1946) is an Irish soccer commentator. Since February 1993, he has been employed by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in the United States, where his primary role is as color commentator and in-studio analyst for major soccer events. He also commentates on

Gaelic games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

, harness racing, and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

Career

Player

Smyth moved to the United States in 1963 following a brief football career with a local Irish team. In America, he played with the Shamrock Club in the German American Soccer League as well as for the Boston Beacons of the North American Soccer League.

Commentator

Early in his career, Smyth was a commentator for Gaelic sports at

Gaelic Park Gaelic Park () is a multi-purpose outdoor athletics facility, located at West 240th Street and Broadway in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, New York, United States. Since 1926 the grounds has been used as the venue ...

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York, including

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 ...

and

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

matches for the local leagues from U-12 up to senior level. He, at least once, made a comical remark in regards to the poor level of play in a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Champions League game, saying "I've seen better games played at Gaelic Park in Riverdale." Smyth was the voice of the MetroStars of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

from the team's inception in 1996 to the early 2000s, when his ESPN contract prohibited him from working for the MSG Network. Smyth was the color commentator for the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

between 2017 and 2021 alongside JP Dellacamera. Previously, he regularly covered

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of Broadcasting of sports events, sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Current operations Canada ESPN Int ...

matches weekly for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, and International matches, and was one of the regular panelist on ''ESPNSoccernet PressPass'' which is hosted by

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 9 April 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter. He currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball ...

. Rae and Smyth also commentated matches from the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

coverage on ESPN networks inside and outside the United States, forming the lead broadcast team on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

, including the final on-location. The duo also paired up for their coverage of

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

for the early games and

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton ...

before they returned to provide alternate

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

coverage on the

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

broadcast of '' Thursday Night Football'' in the US since 2017. He called three World Cups on television with ESPN, including

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, where he partnered with Adrian Healey. In 2007, he joined ESPN's MLS broadcast team. He commentated on the

Highlight show on Thursdays and Fridays. He would occasionally be a phone-in guest pundit mostly during the

campaigns on the CSRN radio program, The 2 G's, sharing his opinion regarding the upcoming matches. During ESPN's coverage of Euro 2008, Smyth shared commentary duties with Andy Gray and Robbie Mustoe, with Smyth calling the early game and Gray calling the late game. He was the lead color commentator for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, pairing up with JP Dellacamera, and he has become an outspoken proponent of

instant replay Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred, both shot and broadcast live TV, live. After being shown live, the video is replayed so viewers can see it again and analyze what just happened. Spo ...

Radio host

Smyth cohosts a show with Rodney Marsh called ''Grumpy Pundits'' on SiriusXM FC, Channel 157. He is also a Soccer Management and Scouting instructor and an annual NWSL Draft Soccer Career Conference speaker for the online sports-career training school Sports Management Worldwide.

St Patrick's Day Parade

Smyth was the 2008 Grand Marshal of the 247th St. Patrick's Day Parade in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He has been the co-host for WNBC coverage of the New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade since 1998.

Style

Smyth is known for signing off when commentating as "Tommy Smyth... with a ''Y''," and for his description of a ball flying into the net when a goal is scored as "a bulge in the old onion bag". He also is known for saying "a peach of a goal."

References

External links

Tommy Smyth on ESPNBME Talk Podcast interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, Tommy 1946 births Living people American horse racing announcers Irish association football commentators Gaelic games commentators Cosmopolitan Soccer League players Sportspeople from County Louth Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Major League Soccer broadcasters Men's association football players not categorized by position Broadcasters from County Louth 20th-century Irish sportsmen