Football Food For Thought / Dan Fitch / 16 March 2010 / 1

Sky One have launched a new comedy sports quiz, but could it be even less funny than A Question Of Sport? Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch thinks that by recruiting Jamie Redknapp they came remarkably close.

Once upon a time there was a television programme that asked questions about sport. Quite appropriately, it was titled A Question Of Sport.

It was a jovial enough show, but primarily the focus was on the quiz, rather than trying to be entertaining. Then along came They Think It's All Over and ruined AQOS forever. The comedy sports quiz was irreverent, rude and occasionally quite amusing.

Suddenly the argyle sweaters of AQOS looked quite dated. They decided that they needed to be like their new rival and scoured the land to find Britain's funniest sportsmen.

When they realised that the best they could come up with was Ally McCoist and John Parrott, they brought Sue Barker onboard to indiscriminately giggle at everything they said.

The rest is history. Nowadays, I can just about stand five minutes of 'Tuffers' pretending to be stupid, while Matt Dawson does the impossible each week, by being even less funny than John Parrott was. So it wasn't with a great deal of enthusiasm that I tuned in for the new Sky One comedy sports quiz A League Of Their Own, especially when I saw who one of the team captains was.

Regular readers of this column will know that I am less than enamoured with Jamie Redknapp's abilities as a pundit, though I was surprised at how well he coped with his role as a mentor on Football's Next Star.

Redknapp certainly hasn't ever struck me as the next Paul Merton, but comedy always needs a straight man and I had high hopes for Jamie grinning and baring it, as jokes about his dad's brush with the inland revenue were bandied around. On the evidence of this first episode, everyone is far too matey to hit that low below the belt. Also, jokes tend to be at a premium, in this comedy quiz that features surprisingly few comedians.

Alongside Redknapp every week is the comedian John Bishop, but on the other side 'Freddie' Flintoff is partnered by the Sky Sports News autocue queen Georgie Thompson.

Thompson's career isn't based on her ability to make adlibs and unfortunately, she just doesn't seem as sexy on this show as she manages to be when reporting on Scunthorpe's new loan signing.

Georgie is only 5ft tall, but looks even smaller alongside the hulking Andrew Flintoff, resulting in her resemblance to the sort of cuddly mascot that would sit atop the desk of a sixth former on Blockbusters.

With only one comedian between the two panels, it is left to host James Corden to fill in the gaps. Since striking gold with Gavin and Stacey, Corden has embraced the resulting commercial opportunities in the same style that Gazza did when he returned from Italia 90 (ie. signed any contract that was pushed under his nose).

Yet Corden is the best thing about this show and provided most of the laughs. He can be a bit annoying, but then so is my ongoing battle with gout and I manage to put up with that. Like the waistband of Corden's trousers, the show could do with being tighter. Sky One is so short of original programming that they tend to stretch out anything they actually do make themselves. The running time of an hour is far longer than it needs to be, which when you think about it, is the opposite of Georgie Thompson.

Overall, it's more bearable than A Question Of Sport, but would I watch it regularly? That all depends on whether it grows into the type of show unafraid to put taxing questions to Redknapp and co.

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1. Nicola D | 18 May 2010

   A league of their own is the best sports quiz on tele EVER!!! :D

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