A reason for its popularity, apart from supplying the necessary soccer news, seven nights a week, 364 days a year, is the ambience that emanates from it. There’s charm and wit. The anchors banter like the soccer-crazy people they are. And, unlike most sports-news and analysis shows, this one doesn’t feature ex-professional players who are attention magnets but have zero TV presence. It has good reporters, rabid enthusiasts who are truly knowledgeable.
Anchors have come and gone over the decade, but the current crew – O'Callaghan, Derek Taylor, Michelle Lissel (on her second stint with FSR having left to work for Toronto FC for several years), and Asa Rehman – are an excellent combo. The show’s ace, however, is one Bobby McMahon.
McMahon, originally from Scotland, is a Winnipeg-based accountant. He was writing a weekly soccer column for the Winnipeg Sun when he was approached to do some punditry on the show. It turned out that McMahon is a soccer analyst of some genius and a captivatingly droll TV presence. When Bobby McMahon (he appears Mondays and Fridays) talks soccer, people pay attention. He’s that rare combination of a stats man and a storyteller. The precision of his statistical analysis is matched by the dry wit of his sweeping views on the strengths and weaknesses of teams from Buenos Aires to Zagreb.
Monday, I hung around the tiny space occupied by the Fox Soccer Report for a day. I watched the show come together as the anchors kept an eye on games and news from around the world. Derek Taylor did a funny running commentary on the Fulham v. Liverpool match from England, O’Callaghan hashed out, with McMahon, a tribute to the Brazilian striker Socrates, who died recently. Rehman was looking at various controversial referee decisions. Luke Crofford, the producer/director (“I’m not an executive,” he told me twice. “I help put the show together.”) took it all in, and roughed up an outline.
I watched the show go to air. O’Callaghan and McMahon had a good-natured argument about crazy refereeing, Taylor gave essential news about upcoming Champions League games. Socrates was celebrated with warmth. And then, in a career highlight for me, I appeared on the show for the final five minutes. Me, the fella who has covered soccer from many countries and written a book about it. I was worried I’d sound like a know-nothing among these guys. It was a tad surreal. But it was like chatting with people I’d known for years.
Across North America, every soccer fan knows these Fox Soccer Report people like family. They might not know it originates in Winnipeg. They might not know anything about Canadian Content regulations but, if they did know, they’d probably be glad that CanCon exists. I am. Never mind the cold in Winnipeg. It’s here they make the best soccer show in the world.
