It is easy to understand why Drury has won so many plaudits with his eloquent, poetic style of commentary.
From describing Kostas Manolas as ‘The Greek god in Rome’ after the defender’s late goal for Roma against Barcelona in 2018, to his exuberant reaction to Wayne Rooney’s famous overhead kick in the Manchester derby, Drury always seems to get the big moments right.
“As commentators we speak out into the ether. We speak to a lot of people and yet we speak to nobody, in a sense, so to get that feedback is very rare and precious.”Drury said in an interview.
When asked to select one memory which stands out to him from his career, Drury named Siphiwe Tshabalala’s goal for 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa in their tournament opener against Mexico.
“That was a very, very special day [but] I’m always worried when I recall it that I’m going to sound sort of saccharine about it,” Drury admitted.
“I’m not just trying to say the right thing for the benefit of this conversation. It is genuinely true that walking up to the stadium that day, there was a sense of pride and togetherness and happiness in Johannesburg, where blacks and whites were smiling and entering the stadium together, and there was a unity about a hitherto massively divided nation. A genuine joy that the World Cup had come to Africa."
“I remember saying then that if you could bottle that mood and somehow retain it, the world has cracked it. In a few short minutes that day you felt the world had cracked it," Drury explained.
“Then this boy from Soweto scored a worldie, beyond anything else that I’ve been lucky enough to see and commentate on. That is still the moment that puts the hairs up on the back of my neck. It was just a beautiful moment.”
It is quite hard to picture Tshabalala’s goal without Drury’s commentary, rising above the noise of countless vuvuzelas. “Tshabalala! Goal Bafana Bafana! Goal for South Africa! Goal for all Africa!”
However, Drury is reluctant to take any credit for the iconic moment. “I really do think that a commentator has to remember that nobody turns on the telly for the commentator, they turn it on for the football,” he added. Peter Drury will provide commentary at the Brentford vs Manchester City fixture on December 29th, alongside Ally McCoist as co-commentator.