The legendary commentator John Tondeur, widely regarded as the “Voice of the Mariners”, has stepped away from his role after almost 40 years.
We spoke to John recently during an interview where he explained that he started out in life in Cleethorpes and took up the first chance he could to work in radio with BBC Radio Humberside after winning a quiz and having the chance to meet the man behind the programme, Tim Jibson.
After doing a few tasks for the station, he was approached by colleagues asking if he wanted to take over commentating on football matches since the previous commentator had left a vacancy that needed to be filled pretty quickly.
And so came a life-long career with John on the airwaves every Saturday and some Tuesdays since his debut in the 1983–1984 season.
Some of his memorable matches during his time as a commentator were the promotion of Grimsby Town into the national leagues in 2022 and the match between Wrexham and GTFC in the summer of 2022, in which the Mariners scored five goals and beat the Wrexham lot with only four.
During this time, however, he also filled the shoes of a primary school teacher. He spent most of his teaching career at Waltham Leas Primary Academy, where some of his students were impressed by his commentating on the weekends.
After giving up teaching nearly 12 years ago, John is now also hanging the microphone up and stepping back from his role, as he said he would like to leave a good memory of his momentous role, and so he “can go to games with his friends and get a pint”.
When looking back at his work, John wants everyone to know he appreciates the “fantastic messages” from the “hundreds of fans, ex-players, and ex-managers” that he has received.
He will miss “everything really”, from going early on a Saturday morning to watch the stands fill up to the friends he has made over the years.
With a successor currently unnamed, John says that he wouldn’t be opposed to the odd game in the future and that he still would like to do a half-time or full-time piece. He will still be going to matches, so Mariners can keep their eyes peeled for him and could even hear his voice over the airwaves once again sometime in the future.
(Image: John Tondeur)
