The ‘four pints deep’ make-up call Craig Doyle had with Geoff Parling after infamous push and the ‘howling’ Steve Diamond prank that ended the night
Broadcaster Craig Doyle went viral last month following his pushing incident with Geoff Parling, inset
Craig Doyle has recalled the peace-making phone call he received from Geoff Parling hours after the Leicester head coach infamously pushed the presenter off the Villa Park pitch on live TV.
TNT Sports were broadcasting from the Aston Villa football ground that was hosting the Gloucester versus Tigers PREM Rugby match when things took an abrupt turn for the worse during the pre-game preamble.
Fellow presenter Liam McDevitt, who was making his debut, decided that his live TV initiation would be kicking a conversion from the touchline towards the posts.
However, the gimmick happened while the Tigers were warming up behind the posts and Parling took exception to the kick, fearing that the ball could have caused an injury if it had landed on the head of an unsuspecting player.
“Listen, isn’t Geoff lucky because if I pushed back…”
His fit of pique resulted in him using an expletive while shoving Doyle off the pitch and the incident, which quickly went viral online, was only resolved between the pair later that night with the presenter taking a phone call while carousing in The Bubble Room in Alderley Edge ahead of his Sunday assignment, presenting Sale’s match in Manchester versus Bath.
Appearing on The Offload, the show co-hosted by retired Ireland internationals Tommy Bowe and Donncha O’Callaghan, Doyle recounted what unfolded at Villa Park and then what happened later that Saturday when Parling rang him to clear up the incident.
“Listen, isn’t Geoff lucky because if I pushed back…” Doyle quipped when the topic was brought up by Bowe, who these days is also a live TV presenter as he co-hosts the Ireland AM breakfast show on Virgin Media One in Ireland.
“I went over to Drico [Brian O’Driscoll] and I went (with a look), ‘You better f***in’ speak because I might look calm here but it’s a warzone in my head at the moment’.”
Doyle explained that he had met Parling in the tunnel before the incident and that there were pleasantries exchanged, but he was unaware that the kick segment proposed by new fellow presenter McDevitt hadn’t been cleared with the Leicester management and this was what caused Parling’s angry reaction.
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“So, I come out on the pitch and see Liam at the other end of the pitch and I see the warm-ups and I was, ‘Um, well it must have been cleared’. I have been talking live for six minutes (and it’s) here’s Liam, ah, Liam, your initiation. Usually, you’d sing a song on the bus or drink something odd on the bus, you’re going to have a kick, off you go, son. He kicks it and thank God, he hooks it this yoke (as Leicester were under the posts).
“He hooks the kick, and then I see Geoff coming over and I’m like, oh, we’re live, he looks alright and I’ve spoken to him a minute ago. Then I see his face and I’m I don’t know if he is happy or not and he is heading towards Liam.
“I’m like, Liam has also got a mic on his headset so anything that is going to be said to him is going to be heard so I am like, I need to intercept.
“Whether this is good or bad, I’m not sure. I need to intercept. So, the words that will stay with me for the rest of my life, ‘Would you sign him, Geoff?’ No, he wouldn’t sign him. Geoff went, ‘Get the f*** off the pitch’ and pushes me.
“I went over to Drico and he is paler than usual and Mo Hunt is like (makes a face)… I’m like, someone needs to speak. This thing has just happened. I just had to end the situation. That’s my job, that’s our job, that’s the job of presenting, it’s to get to add breaks, keep sponsors happy and make sure you don’t get sued by anyone.
“So, I tried to fix it. Your heart is pumping when stuff like that happens, and you feel sick. I did go up to Geoff at half-time and say Geoff, I am so sorry, we’ll talk about it later, but I did not know the situation.”
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After the match finished with Leicester winning the Ed Slater Cup 36-17, Doyle headed from Birmingham to Manchester to be in position to host Sunday’s live PREM Rugby broadcast from Sale, and it was while the presenter was out at a pub that Parling called him on Saturday night.
“I haven’t told anyone this. I’m with Austin Healey, Drico and Ali Eykyn, the commentator. We are at The Bubble Room in Alderley Edge, it’s where the footballers go. We’re having a bit to eat, and the phone rings. I’m four pints deep and, as you know, I can’t drink four pints.
“The phone rings, and it’s Geoff Parling. I’m like, lads, I have got to take this call. So, I go outside. Geoff, how are you? Geoff is laughing because of man I am sorry. I said Geoff, I get it, we’re good. We are good, Geoff.
“Sadly, due to modern times, it is out of our hands. Whether you and I are good, Geoff, it has nothing to do with it. I have just been told it [footage on social media of the Villa Park push] has three million views already. I was getting messages; it was in the New York Times.
“Geoff and I squared off, it’s absolutely fine and I said we will have a laugh about it in the future but we’re just going to have to grind out the next week because it is going to be hell… no matter whether I behaved correctly or incorrectly I was going to get s*** for it, which I did, and I was, man, I don’t want this.
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“It’s why I do sport. When you do sport, you get to do the fun live TV, but the people on the pitch are the stars and you get to hide in the shadows a bit. Anyway, I go back in (to The Bubble Room), phone call with Geoff, and I can’t wait to talk to the lads for a debrief.
“Drico, Austin Healey and Ali Eykyn are there and there is no mention of it. There are, ‘You going to have another pint?’ And then Austin says to me, Steve Diamond came through; he was looking for you. Give him a shout.
“I was like, Dimes is here? I’m going, ‘Why are they not asking about the phone call I have just had with Geoff?’ They’re like, ‘Dimes is here, ring him’. So, I go, ‘Dimes, it’s Doyler. You’re in the Bubble Room. Are you going to join us for a drink?’
“He goes, I’m watching a Disney film with my nine-year-old daughter at home. I’m nowhere near it – and the boys are howling. When I was on the call with Geoff, they were, ‘Whatever happens, do not mention it, don’t him talk to him about it’.”
