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I always find the Beeb’s covereage embarassing. The whole thing’s done like Derek Thompson on speed. And I cringe whenever they say "let’s go over to Rishi who’s with the winning jockey now"
But the music’s fantastic, gives me goosebumps too (as does the Channel 4 music), and the commentating was OK.
Anyway, the race was awesome and that’s what matters
From Racing Post:
Balding apologises for Treadwell teeth comment
By Graham Green6.34PM 5 APR 2009
CLARE BALDING has apologised to Liam Treadwell over the comment she made about his teeth when interviewing the 23-year-old rider following his Grand National triumph on Saturday.
Not least of Treadwell’s impressive accomplishments at Aintree was how, in front of a TV audience of millions, he retained his poise in response to the implied criticism of his appearance, but viewers were quick to object and many posted complaints on internet forums and chatrooms, while others contacted the BBC switchboard to register their protest.
Balding asked Treadwell to bare his teeth to the camera, supposedly to show the perils that a jump jockey faces. When he did so, the presenter blurtedout that he "could afford to have them seen to now".
The BBC would not say how many complaints it received, but Balding was on Sunday taken to task by her bosses over the remark before fronting the Corporation’s coverage of the Rugby League Challenge Cup clash between Leeds and St Helens.
In my opinion I don’t think Claire intended any personal insult to Liam Treadwell but probably thought his teeth were a testament to his life as a Nh jockey and was going to make a point about what sacrifices they make an how tough they have to be etc. going down the road of trying to illustrate to non racing viewers what warriors they are etc
It is a real shame that the normally excellent Claire is being picked up on both here and the national press for an untypical minor gaffe as she better than anyone normally succeeds in making racing more accessible to occaisional viewers which is a thankless and near impossible task in my view.
I think this forum has got much more to fear and be ashamed about from the unnecessary,unfunny and often homophobic abuse that is included in some of these posts.She made a totally uneccessary comment to a guy just enjoying the finest moment of his life. Nothing to do with the injuries these guys have to put up with. More like a bit of sensationalism for Claire which has backfired on her. The jockey was clearly embarrassed and the huge TV audience felt for him. She needed to apologise alright
A big fuss over something very minor, Claire is an excellent broadcaster and has a wonderful common touch and people skills.
References to Claire’s sexuality bleeding into all this were 1.01 on Betfair.
In my opinion I don’t think Claire intended any personal insult to Liam Treadwell but probably thought his teeth were a testament to his life as a Nh jockey and was going to make a point about what sacrifices they make an how tough they have to be etc. going down the road of trying to illustrate to non racing viewers what warriors they are etc
It is a real shame that the normally excellent Claire is being picked up on both here and the national press for anuntypical minor gaffe
as she better than anyone normally succeeds in making racing more accessible to occaisional viewers which is a thankless and near impossible task in my view.
I completely disagree here bob, Clare Balding is not above basic manners, she was trying to poke fun at Liam Treadwell. When she asked Treadwell to smile and show his teeth to the camera, and he clearly didnt want to (suggesting he was uncomfortable about it, and didnt want attention drawn to it), she should have just apologised then, not carried on to make him feel even more uncomfortable, on national TV, on what should have been the greatest moment of his life. Also, as Cav has already pointed out, this incident isnt exactly "untypical" of her.
Im sorry but she isnt above basic manners, and I think the response by the public and the press, highlights that. What she said was completely ignorant, and out of line, no two ways about it. I find it hard to believe that anyone could think it is a minor gaffe, and that she is above an apology.
I can see that you are a fan, and although I would disagree with your stance on the excellent job she does, as IMO she heads a pretty poor team, mostly on family background rather than suitablity, and parades around the place full of her own sense of self importance, when she could be presenting racing. I have generally nothing against her odd appearance, except when she attacks other peoples appearance. But that doesnt really affect my stance here, as if Rishi Persad, Ian Bartlett or Willy Carson, who I generally have more time for, had said it then I would think exactly the same thing.
And IMO either way you coat it, and try to excuse it, she was bang out of order on saturday, and not only owes an apology to Liam Treadwell, but to anyone who pays for a TV license that has teeth missing, and was probably offended by her approach on saturday. Luckily my mate who has a lot of teeth missing wasnt out with us on saturday when the national coverage was on, but think everyone who I was sat with cringed anyway.
Thanklessly, greatening the appeal of racing? On this occasion she has not.
In my opinion I don’t think Claire intended any personal insult to Liam Treadwell but probably thought his teeth were a testament to his life as a Nh jockey and was going to make a point about what sacrifices they make an how tough they have to be etc. going down the road of trying to illustrate to non racing viewers what warriors they are etc
It is a real shame that the normally excellent Claire is being picked up on both here and the national press for an untypical minor gaffe as she better than anyone normally succeeds in making racing more accessible to occaisional viewers which is a thankless and near impossible task in my view.
I think this forum has got much more to fear and be ashamed about from the unnecessary,unfunny and often homophobic abuse that is included in some of these posts.
Basically agree with both Bob and Spitfire’s posts, and it was interesting to read in one organ this morning that Liam Treadwell’s mum has been joshing with him that he should have got himself a decent haircut before the race in case he ended up winning it!
So, either he’s the most henpecked, uxorious member of the weighing room; or else, as seems more likely, the odd line in jest is a commodity he’s used to receiving and by extension putting up with in good cheer in both his professional and personal environments.
I’m sure if – heaven forfend – I ever ended up on telly, Mum Column would be on the phone the following morning, having a pop that I wore too much black or didn’t set about myself with the Wartner beforehand.
I can’t imagine there are too many riders in circulation out there who aren’t aware of the generally excellent Ms Balding’s penchant to get a little cheekier or even outright waspish on the very odd occasion – this was a woman, remember, who compared Amy Winehouse’s face to the surface of the moon on
Have I Got News For You
a few months ago, citing that she couldn’t be proud of her as a fellow member of the female species.
I think most people know what they can potentially – rarely, but potentially all the same – get with Ms Balding, including the bosses at Auntie Beeb, and I do actually wonder if anything would have been said to her had no complaints been raised.
Even with them, it’s probably more of a measure of the Beeb’s current fractured nerves after recent controversies, rather than any bounden belief that this was a notably horrible thing to say on live televsision, that it sought to elicit an apology from her.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
I’ve always rated Clare really highly; as I’ve said before she had only just started working for the BBC the day that One Man died, and she handled it so well with great sensitivity and professionalism, even though she was clearly as upset as everyone else;; but I did find this totally unprofessional. I get terribly embarrassed myself and can’t watch any programmes that put people on the spot in embarrassing situations; however, I do think that the amount of publicity that the interview is getting is actually making it worse for Liam….I am still in awe of the ride he gave Mon Mome in Saturday, and want that to be what everyone remembers going forward.
It is a real shame that the normally excellent Claire is being picked up on both here and the national press for an untypical minor gaffe as she better than anyone normally succeeds in making racing more accessible to occaisional viewers which is a thankless and near impossible task in my view.
Disagree. If it wasn’t for forums like this I don’t think she would have given an apology a second thought.
Where’s the proof that she succeeds in making racing accessible to occasional viewers? Have viewing figures increased since Clare’s meteoric rise? The reduction in the number of days being covered would seem to answer that question.
I’m in the Bob/Spitfire/Mr. Column camp on this one.
She’s a very professional presenter which is why she’s used quite regularly now for other sports/presenting jobs too. Yes it was probably a bit insensitive on live TV, but she was I think overexcited by the occassion and got a bit carried away with the teasing banter. They interviewed Liam Treadwell on Radio 4 tonight and he said he didn’t care a bit. That’s surely what matters. It’s only become an issue because the Beeb is now so terrified of upsetting anyone. He took it in the spirit in which it was intended.Can’t help but feel that people are waiting for her to mess up like this so that they can comment on her sexuality or appearance and feel that if she were a man this would not happen. Women may have come a long way in recent years, but we’re still utimately judged by our appearance and attractiveness [which does, however make what she said even worse].
It’s only become an issue because the Beeb is now so terrified of upsetting anyone.
I disagree Burroughill, it’s become an issue because so many people complained about it because they thought she was bang out of order. The BBC would rather that it got no attention whatsoever. I must admit that I am genuinely surprised by how many non racing people have commented on what she said.
My brother who had watched it on saturday, said earlier that he had heard on the radio that she had been made to apologise.
What has become clear from this whole thing is that either a)She has no very simple "good old fashioned" manners. or b) she struggles to appear to have any whilst on television. She has only apologised because she was made to, but the incident has made a big enough statement about her character anyway.
People make mistakes, such as forgetting to take the bin out for collection, or getting people mixed up etc. But is being inexcusably ignorant to someone really a garden variety mistake? Or what about GBH?
Perhaps she has terets, and cant control what she says…Treadwell is hardly going to come out and say he wants her sacked otherwise he is going to appear to be the villain in it all with no sense of humour (good PR on his behalf), and will take a ripping in the jockeys room, but that hardly means she’s done nothing wrong.
It sounds like you’re judging her on this one incident Bulwark. Suddenly her character is tarnished and she’s got no manners. Rubbish. She’s perfectly polite, she wasn’t being rude anyway, it was an off the cuff, teasing comment to someone she presumably knows quite well. A one off. If she’d said "Liam you’ve got bloody awful teeth, you look ridiculous, you should get them seen to" then he’d have been rightfully shirty, and that would have been rude. Have you never teased anyone about something? That’s all it was. She meant no harm and from what I heard from Liam in the interview afterwards, he didn’t care a bit about it. He sounded quite amazed that it was getting the attention it was.
It sounds like you’re judging her on this one incident Bulwark. Suddenly her character is tarnished and she’s got no manners. Rubbish. She’s perfectly polite, she wasn’t being rude anyway, it was an off the cuff, teasing comment to someone she presumably knows quite well. A one off. If she’d said "Liam you’ve got bloody awful teeth, you look ridiculous, you should get them seen to" then he’d have been rightfully shirty, and that would have been rude. Have you never teased anyone about something? That’s all it was. She meant no harm and from what I heard from Liam in the interview afterwards, he didn’t care a bit about it. He sounded quite amazed that it was getting the attention it was.
On the contrary she didn’t know him from Adam rather than knowing him quite well, as stated earlier it was a piece of sensationalism that backfired on her. Liam’s hardly like to make a big issue of it is he? After all he’s just won The National! I could not imagine Lydia making a similar mistake and to apologise by text is quite shabby imo.
I think the Balding/Treadwell saga has been played out on another thread. In short, I feel she acted like the school bully – maybe next time she’s on screen she’ll be decked out in tight black trousers & backcombed hair a la Russell Brand!
Back to the subject in hand, being a traditionalist I decided to watch some of the BBC coverage – just like old times – and my biggest gripe is the amount of filler (or "bumpf") we have to put up with.
Do we really want to see 20 minutes of "My Will’s owners son was paralysed in a skiiing accident…", "big Dan interviews some scouse lasses" etc..etc… meaning that the build up to the shoulder races started approx 2mins before the off time. (I did find myself flicking over to RUK at times).
Balding seems increasingly up herself, Parrett – as well as being token Scouser – is only there to play straight man to Gary Wiltshire – who I thought was OK in his sub-McCririck role.
They only needed one of the Dunwoody/Fitzgerald/Williamson ex-jockey trilogy to provide the "view from the weighing room".
I actually feel sorry for Rishi Persad as he’s always lumbered with the "frothy sub-Thommo" interview role. Seems like an affable chap.
Thought the National commentary from McGrath & Co was actually OK – yep even Tony O’Hehir sounded less "living dead" then normal. (Barty & Owen were excellent as normal) – bar the lack of mentions of Rambling Minsters whereabouts (no didn’t back him).
However, McGraths call for the preceding 3mile handicap chase was woeful. Maybe he was thinking ahead.
BTW…the course call (on RUK) of Johnson, Hoiles & Machin was excellent – as expected
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