The voice of Martin Tyler is synonymous with soccer around the globe.
Tyler was the lead announcer for Sky Sports in the UK for decades going all the way back to the inception of English Premier League up until this past season when his contract was not renewed and he was replaced by NBC’s Peter Drury. But he’s also known around the world from his commentary on syndicated Premier League broadcasts as well as his work carrying various World Cups for different countries. That included a stint in the United States as the lead announcer for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before ESPN gave the role to Ian Darke.
But it was after the 2022 World Cup, which Tyler called for Australian broadcaster SBS, that his illustrious career almost came to a frightening conclusion.
Via the BBC comes Tyler revealing for the first time that he had to undergo two surgeries in London to save his voice after discovering that his vocal cords had been damaged during the tournament:
It has given him a career that has lasted 50 years and been the soundtrack to some of the game’s most dramatic moments – remember “Agüeroooo!” when Manchester City won the Premier League title in 2012?
So when Tyler overused his voice at the 2022 World Cup finals, in Qatar, and doctors realised his vocal chords could have been permanently damaged, it was “frightening”.
But after two operations at St George’s Hospital, in south-west London, and a course of “amazing” speech therapy, the most recognisable voice in football is back – and on television again.
This is the first time the former Sky Sports commentator has talked about nearly losing his voice.
Tyler isn’t the first announcer to confront a serious trauma around his vocal cords. A decade ago Joe Buck went through a mysterious vocal cord ailment that made his voice sound notably weaker and strained. Years later he revealed it was due to a mishap during hair replacement procedures. More recently, Dick Vitale has been sidelined as he has been fighting vocal cord cancer and hoping to return to the booth next season.
Tyler’s issues stemmed from protein growth on his vocal cords that created lesions and inhibited his voice, which could have been caused from overworking them during the tournament and the dry air in Qatar. After undergoing surgery, Tyler opened up about the speech therapy and treatment that he received in order to attempt to get his voice back to full strength. Thankfully, he’s been back at the mic this season calling syndicated Premier League games including this week’s Chelsea-Everton match.
Since returning to the commentary box in October, with Premier League Productions, Tyler has completed 45 games, going from one a month to two in two days.
He says they stood by him when he wasn’t able to do his job and were happy to wait until he’d properly recovered.
It is late after Chelsea’s 6-0 win over Everton and Tyler is already thinking of how he will protect his voice when he gets home after commentating on the match.
He says he’ll drink lots of water and then do chanting number routines in the morning, before commentating on Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain’s Champions League game this evening.
Tyler’s narration of Sergio Aguero’s Premier League winning goal for Manchester City in 2012 is widely regarded as one of the great calls in the history of sports. It’s great to hear that he was able to get the help he needed to bring his voice, which has been treasured by millions around the world, back to full strength.
[BBC]
