Some days, Aaron Murphy of St. John’s has to pinch himself to make sure he isn’t asleep. That’s because he’s living his dream as the newly appointed senior advisor of hockey and broadcast operations for the Glasgow Clan in Scotland, a professional team in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL).
“So a lot of people I meet in Ireland don’t believe me. They think I’m having some sort of a joke with them because there’s only one job like mine in Ireland certainly,” Murphy told CBC News from his home in Dublin on Monday.
“But it is a bit of a childhood dream.”
Murphy isn’t a stranger behind the microphone. His previous work includes some of the biggest events in hockey including the Stanley Cup playoffs, World Championships and the Olympics.
He said growing up in Newfoundland and Labrador meant listening to legendary broadcaster Bob Cole on Saturday nights.
“We were all proud of the fact that Bob was a Newfoundlander. So it was always a part of something that I was interested in,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s career in broadcasting began in Ireland about 15 years ago. He said the job was only supposed to last a year but he ended up staying.
Getting to the ice
Murphy studied at Toronto Metropolitan University’s sports broadcasting program. Working in the broadcast field was something he always wanted to do.
After graduation he went to work for TSN and CBC News in Toronto. He had also completed firefighting courses and qualifications and was on the waiting list for Ontario fire services. But, he said, he needed a break.
He said a friend of his reached out and told him about a company based out of Ireland that was servicing the U.K. That company had NHL rights and was looking for someone with a background in hockey.
“So I went to Ireland for one year and the rest, they say, is history,” he said. “I kept finding myself pushing ideas and because there were not a lot of hockey, air quotes ‘experts,’ I was able to sort of come up with ideas and scenarios and certainly storylines that helped to grow the game a little bit.”
Murphy said he made important contacts along the way, which has led to his storied career in sports broadcasting.
“Sometimes I wake up and go, ‘This can’t be real,’ to be living in Ireland, working in the U.K. and I’ve been to three Stanley Cups, 10 World Championships, six Olympics,” he said.
“All of these things seem surreal to me when I think about growing up in Mundy Pond and playing high school hockey at Holy Heart and here I am in North County, Dublin.”
And Murphy isn’t the only Newfoundlander joining the Glasgow Clan this season. The club’s new head coach is Jason Morgan, also from St. John’s, who Murphy calls “a lovely guy.”
Sportscasting abroad
As a hockey announcer, Murphy said there are a few differences on how he presents the game for a Canadian audience versus the one in his new job.
He said there is an educational aspect to the job, as many of the people in the audience might be more familiar with sports like soccer or rugby, but pointed out hockey is the largest indoor spectator sport in the U.K. and northern Ireland.
It isn’t exactly like listening to Bob Cole, Murphy added, but stressed he doesn’t dumb down the commentary because there are people listening who do know the game and they would call him out if he made his comments too simple.
“So we have to find the right balance between entertainment, a bit of education, but also keeping it pure for the people that have been watching for years,” he said. “So, [it’s] a fine … balancing act sometimes, but it certainly keeps us on our toes.”
“If we make mistakes or say something that people don’t like, we hear about it.”
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