Match of the Day - Episode 1 (1964)

The first edition of the BBC’s Match of the Day programme was aired on 22 August 1964. Shown on BBC2, it was the first time people in the UK (albeit only in London at first) were able to watch football highlights on their own TV screens.

Despite initial fears that it might lead to fewer people going along to watch matches in person, it went on to become an institution of British broadcasting and a go-to programme for British football fans everywhere.

Though today’s Match of the Day is a showcase for slick presentation, superior camerawork and great commentary, the first outing for the show was notably lacking in gloss. To begin, there was no theme tune, no opening title sequence and, this being 1964, everything was in black and white. What you’d have seen was a picture board showing the programme’s title, over which a continuity announcer spoke the following words:

“And now we come to ‘Match of the Day’, the highlights of one of today’s Football League matches. Your commentators are Kenneth Wolstenholme and Wally Barnes.”

What happened after that?  Read on to find out....

1. Introduction

The camera cuts straight to the film footage of Liverpool v Arsenal (complete with barely readable caption) where the home side run out onto the pitch to a noisy but cheerful welcome from the crowd. The first thing to note is Liverpool wearing white shorts, such was the case back then. Bill Shankly would eventually have his side wearing all red because he felt a kit of one colour gave an altogether stronger image to the opposing team. Someone somewhere has probably done research into whether a one-colour kit brings greater success, but now’s not the time to discuss it.

2. Kenneth Wolstenholme

Our first sight of Kenneth Wolstenholme, commentator supreme and still two years away from his iconic performance at the 1966 World Cup Final. In the background we hear the Anfield crowd singing along in unison to 'She Loves You' and Wolstenholme gives us his opening gambit:

“Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series coming to you every Saturday on BBC2. As you can hear we’re in Beatleville for this Liverpool versus Arsenal match.”

3. Liverpool

A caption shows us the Liverpool team line-up. Remember, Liverpool were the reigning league champions at the time but two of their number were missing here - Ian St. John with appendicitis and Alf Arrowsmith with a leg injury. Oh for the days when footballers were called ‘Alf’...

4. Arsenal

And so to the Arsenal team which, Wolstenholme tells us, could be heading for glory in the eyes of many people - especially with new signing Don Howe, the former England right back, in their ranks.

5. Wally Barnes

Wolstenholme is joined pitchside by former Arsenal full back Wally Barnes. To a backing tannoy accompaniment of ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ by The Swinging Blue Jeans, Barnes explains that the absence of Liverpool’s two strikers due to illness could be an unsettling factor for the defending champions.

6. Kick-off

Liverpool kick off, playing from right to left and wearing the grey shirts. Roger Hunt is ready and poised (see top of picture) and with the blow of the whistle from Mr Howley of Middlesbrough, the 1964/65 season gets underway.

7. Early chaos

Chaos ensues as, after a bright start, Ian Callaghan is fouled near the Arsenal goal, but no-one hears the referee’s whistle amid the Anfield din. Arsenal counter-attack and even when the Liverpool keeper Tommy Lawrence gets to throw the ball back upfield for the free kick, Arsenal defender Billy McCulloch intercepts the ball and tries a shot. “None of this matters” exclaims Wolsteholme, but luckily George Eastham figures it all out and brings the game to a temporary halt.

8. Early chance

Despite an opening seven minutes in which both sides have had their fair share of attacking play, it’s Arsenal that get the first decent chance of the game. A free kick taken by George Eastham from just outside the far corner of the penalty area arrows towards Lawrence’s right-hand post, but the Liverpool keeper dives low to smother the ball.

9. Liverpool open the scoring

GOAL! Liverpool’s oft-used ploy of crossing balls into the Arsenal box from the left wing finally pays dividends as Roger Hunt hooks an Ian Calaghan pull-back over the keeper and into the net. “It’s a goal!” shouts Wolstenholme, and who are we to disagree - 1-0 to Liverpool.

10. Caption issues

Note for future reference - make sure captions are positioned correctly so that any ‘1’s aren’t obscured by the half-way line.

11. Half Time

The referee blows for half time. Liverpool have played the better football and edged the possession, but both sides have had their chances. Don Howe’s certainly seen plenty of the ball in the Arsenal defence and is proving a useful close-season buy from West Brom.

12. Wally's First Half summary

Wally Barnes appears on-screen again to give us his verdict of the first half. He feels Liverpool have dominated the first half (perhaps a bit harsh) and correctly highlights the home side’s strength down the left wing which, coincidentally, is where Arsenal are at their weakest. His explanation is spoken to the musical accompaniment of Ken Dodd singing ‘Happiness’ over the Anfield tannoy system.

13. Second Half

Arsenal kick off, playing from right to left in a kit of white shirts, white socks and red socks. Nike - take note. Purple and black simply will not do.

14. Liverpool double their lead

GOAL!  Liverpool go 2-0 up... Ian Callaghan’s cross finds Gordon Wallace who heads in from close range. Once again, no action replay to watch so if you wanted to see the goal again, you’d need either a photographic memory or both teams randomly re-enacting the goal for you.

15. Arsenal back in the game

GOAL! Arsenal pull one back thanks to Geoff Strong who plays a neat one-two with Eastham before unleashing a low shot past the beaten Lawrence. A rare lapse in concentration for what had been a strong Liverpool defence, but still a goal generously applauded goal by the home fans.

16. Arsenal equalise

GOAL! LIVERPOOL 2 ARSENAL 2... Strong plays the ball down the right wing where it’s picked up by Armstrong. He crosses for Baker whose brilliantly angled diving header beats Lawrence again on his left post. It’s two goals in two minutes for The Gunners and they’re right back in it.

17. Lucky omen... but for who?

Another swift flowing move almost results in Armstrong putting Arsenal in front, but Kenneth Wolstenholme has other things on his mind. “A black cat is running on the far side... there it is! A black cat... I wonder which side it supports? Arsenal or Liverpool?” The poor distressed animal runs almost an entire circuit of the pitch, even evading a fan who dives onto the pitch to try and catch it. A reminder to anyone younger than 15: this was an era when animals were regularly seen making random appearances in the middle of top-flight football matches. Nowadays you’ll be lucky if you see so much as a beach ball.

16 Liverpool's late winner

GOAL! Despite being under the cosh from a series of constant Arsenal attacks in the second half, it’s Liverpool who grab the winner in the dying seconds of the match. Receiving a cross-field pass from Ian Callaghan, Gordon Wallace cuts in from the left wing and from yards out lets rip with a storming shot that leaves Furnell floundering. It’s his second and Liverpool’s third.

17. Final whistle

Arsenal throw everything into one last desperate attack but it comes to nought as the referee blows his whistle to end the game. Wolstenholme quickly reappears on-screen, puffing out his cheeks at the exciting climax to a great game. “Well I call it the Match of the Century, I don’t know about the Match of the Day!” he says and, wrong though he probably is, who are we to deny the great man his moment of elation.

Before the end, KW just has time to bring us the other results involving clubs from London. Crystal Palace had “a bad start to Division Two” losing 3-2 at home to Derby, while Fulham lost 2-1 at home to West Ham, “but then one London club had to lose then” explains Wolstenholme helpfully.

18. Closing titles

With that, Kenneth Wolstenholme invites us to watch Match of the Day again next week and we finally get some Newsreel-style music by way of a closing theme.

Nearly 50 years on, it’s fair to say the presentation couldn’t be any more different to that which we know today, but at least the football itself remains the central focus of the programme. While that’s the case, we’ll always look to Match of the Day for our weekly fix of football escapism.

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Commercial break

Five TV commercials from yesteryear with a football theme. Click the titles to view the ads...

Penguin (1977)

The unlikely tale of a kids football team playing a Flightless Bird XI from the Antarctic and losing – in humiliating fashion. Having presumably exhausted all other options where local teams were concerned, the children in red-and-white stripes played off on a never-more-Seventies muddy pitch in front of a baying crowd that strongly support the birdy outfit (judging by their hats and scarves). The kids never stood a chance. The referee and various members of the crowd were heavily influenced by the allure of chocolaty Penguin bars and before you knew it, our feathery friends had put the ball in the back of the net. Cue rapturous scenes and a guard of honour as the winners waddled their way off the p-p-p-pitch. Exciting stuff.



Sugar Puffs (1996)

Kevin Keegan, playing sensation of Newcastle United and, in 1996, a manager of equal renown lived for footballing glory. The secret of his success?  The deployment of a seven-foot furry monster as the kind of Supersub that would make David Fairclough feel inadequate. From the comfort of a Wembley TV studio overlooking the famous hallowed turf, Big Kev explained the reason for his most recent success. With a Cup Final heading into extra time, only one monster could win it for his team. On he went and instantly leapt like a salmon to head the ball in from close range. Jonathan Pearce's shouted commentary conveyed the feeling of excitement all around as The Furry One finished a quick bowl of Sugar Puffs and grabbed the trophy from out of Kev’s hands. An extraordinary finish to an extraordinary match.

Tottenham Hotpsur (1984)

In 1984, Tottenham Hotspur won the UEFA Cup beating Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw on aggregate. This should come as no surprise to anyone studying the video footage that remains from the era, including this TV advert which is enlightening to say the least. In it, we see Ossie Ardiles leading out the team at White Hart Lane, resplendent in their clean white shirts… but what’s this? Not only do we find the likes of Clemence, Crooks, Brazil and Archibald but also the elderly Mrs Riddlington, a new wave band called The Sharks, comedian Peter Cook and a cast of thousands. Thirty-five thousand according to the voice-over. No wonder they had a successful side back then, and they were still asking for more people to join in. Then again, Queens Park Rangers were never likely to be a big draw under any circumstances.

Hamlet Cigars (1977)

In this day and age of £140 million lottery jackpots, it’s difficult to remember the weekly ritual that was the Football Pools. Every week, you’d pick up your coupon, scribble an ‘X’ next to the ten matches you thought would end in a draw, pay your money and wait for 5pm on a Saturday. It’s at this point we join the becardiganed hero of our story, played by Brian Glover, listening in to the classified results on the radio. Amazingly he needs only one more score draw to win the jackpot, but when the final result begins “Stenhousemuir 5…” his hopes appear dashed. Thank heavens, then, when the radio announcer finishes the result with the words “…Cowdenbeath 5.”  Elated, our common man reaches for his coat to take a celebratory Hamlet cigar out of his pocket – but in doing so reveals the unposted coupon as it falls to the floor. At least he still had his cigar…

Long Life beer (1985)

If you think FIFA like to tinker around with the beautiful game in all its detail, we can let you into a little secret. Many of their ideas come from Ind Coope, the makers of Long Life beer. Proof of this can be seen in a television commercial where various potential improvements to football are pondered through the narration of Jim Rosenthal. Bigger goal nets, smaller goal nets, square balls, bendy balls, odd balls – all of them are demonstrated here, and amazingly some of them even work. None of these ideas, however, can hold a candle to Long Life beer – the only beer brewed especially for the can (so we’re told). Whether that means it contains extra chemicals to counter-balance the metallic taste, we’re not sure, but either way it must have had more people turning to alcohol out of admiration for its humour and creativity.

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Chris O's Favourite 5... Football TV Theme Tunes

Continuing our 'Favourite 5' series, here's my best five TV theme tunes for British football shows (in no particular order of preference...)


'Jellicle Ball'
(World Cup Grandstand, BBC 1982) 



A rip-roaring in-your-face toboggan ride of a theme tune, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the musical Cats. It’s a great theme tune because it encapsulates all the drama and excitement usually associated with a World Cup. The quiet start quickly explodes into a bold and (literally) brassy fanfare that hints at the urgency to succeed and the memory of erstwhile defeats. The final euphoric flourish, however, is born of a growing, repetitive momentum resulting in ultimate glory and a realised sense of exaltation. (That’s except for viewers in Northern Ireland.)

‘Jubilation’
(The Big Match, ITV 1980) 



Another fanfare to kick this one off, this time to herald a symphony of blaring synthesisers and twanging guitars. Like Jellicle Ball, the biggest virtue of this piece is its relentless pace that somehow symbolises the pace of modern football. The six-note signature phrase is wonderfully catchy and crops up at the beginning, end and several points in between, fitting in beautifully with the dynamism that Jeff Wayne used throughout. And yes, we are talking about the same Jeff Wayne that composed the musical version of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds, along with countless other musical pieces for TV and radio. Why here’s another one…

‘Matador’
(World Cup ‘82, ITV 1982) 



In many ways, this ITV theme tune from the 1982 World Cup just doesn’t work. It’s slower and more ponderous than my first two choices, has a moody feel to it which is perhaps at odds with the action-packed nature of the game and leans more than a little on the sounds of Mexico rather than host nation Spain. For all that though, this is a beautifully crafted tapestry of Spanish guitar, electric guitar, pan pipes, a melodious string section and Jeff Wayne’s ubiquitous synths. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea but certainly evocative of that wistful feeling back in 1982 as we waited for one of the British sides to do well under the blazing Spanish sun.

‘Tutti Al Mondo’
(World Cup ’90, ITV 1990)



Staying with ITV (why did their theme tunes always outrank the BBC’s in my mind?), here’s a wonderful composition by Rod Argent and Peter Van Hooke that was used by the commercial station during Italia ’90. While the Beeb went for the safe operatic option with the Pavarotti-fest Nessun Dorma, ITV were altogether more creative by using this energetic fusion of both operatic and contemporary styles. This piece seemed to have everything: soaring vocals, crashing drum sequences, synth stings… all set to a beguiling rhythm. Scandalously overlooked, this was the perfect accompaniment to a World Cup that seemed mediocre by comparison.

'Argentine Melody'
(World Cup Grandstand, BBC 1978) 



And as if to prove that Rod Argent was no stranger to this sort of thing, here's another contribution of his, this time for the BBC back in 1978. Once again, we go through the list of national musical stereotypes, this time for Argentina: Castanets? Tick… Accoustic guitar? Tick… Yet for all that it's a positively harmonious romp through the foothills of Patagonia that seems to work delightfully despite being a little too slow to complement football coverage on TV. Working with Andrew Lloyd Webber (who wrote and produced the piece), the song was was released as a chart single 'performed by San Jose featuring Rodriguez Argentina'… or 'Rod Argent' for short. Who says musicians don't have a sense of humour?

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The Big Match: Studio Timeline (Part 2)

In the first part of our Studio Timeline, we saw The Big Match embrace all manner of interior design styles from 'Glam Rock' to 'Doctor's Waiting Room.' Here in this concluding part, we witness the decline of the studio space itself as somewhere to conduct interviews and the dwindling use of logos to remind us what it was we were watching all those years ago.

August 1975

Style:
Explosion in a paint factory

Colour scheme:
Ever tried to decorate your house using whatever was left in those tins of paint out in the shed? Yeah, that. The 1975/76 season saw Brian Moore surrounded by wavy lines and curves of lime green, yellow, blue, grey, brown, red, white... in fact it's probably easier to list all the colours that weren't used, but we won't.

Brian's desk:
A modern, curved affair in white with slats at the front to allow for... ventilation to... er... something. Behind the desk, a big ITV Sport logo and the name of the show were displayed boldly on a large venetian blind contraption which acted as... A REVEAL! Yes, once ITV's top football commentator had verbally set the scene for the highlights package to come, the venetian blind would swivel round to display a chroma key screen showing the appropriate video footage. Not perfect, but certainly inventive (see below).

The big swivel (l-r): The boards revolve to reveal.. Wolverhampton
Wanderers wearing white shorts with their old gold shirts.

Guest area:
Still no desk to sit behind. Instead, two comfy leather swivel chairs were placed adjacent to Moore in front of a colourful backdrop, most notably showcased by Peter Taylor doing his Norman Wisdom impersonation on the Christmas 1975 programme.
Gimmicks:
Who could possibly ask for more than a swivelling venetian blind with a big ITV Sport logo on it? Not us, that's for sure.

August 1975 onwards: Curves, colours and swivelling
blinds.

August 1976

Style:
Sunshine in abundance.

Colour scheme:
In short, yellow. Oh, but wait - strangely, there was a knowing nod back to the early 70's with a set of chrome bars mounted on the wall. Those bars provided a 'frame' for a circular chroma key window in which pictures could be displayed. Clever.

Brian's desk:
A giant L-shaped beast painted (yes, you guessed it) in yellow, big enough to allow a couple of guests to be accommodated. Behind Brian, however, was a circular Big Match symbol which (as far as we can tell) was illuminated to brighten the image of two football players in action. Nice, if you like that sort of thing.
Guest area:
After Peter Taylor's impersonation of Norman Wisdom the Christmas before, the ITV production team presumably made it as difficult as possible for new guests to perform by stuffing them behind the biggest desk they could find. Frankly, who can blame them?
Gimmicks:
Nothing much, except for that circular chroma key window which was only rarely used for occasions such as the Golden Goals competition. We've seen worse, mind.

August 1976 onwards: Mellow yellow, illuminated signs and Glam Rock
returns!

August 1977

Style:
Late-70's pizza restaurant chain.

Colour scheme:
A seemingly short-lived but no less pleasant combination of red, white and green stripes on a tame beige backdrop.

Brian's desk:
Another L-shaped desk, but this time smaller and turned round to withhold Moore in his own cosy corner of the studio. The front of the desk proudly displayed the words The Big Match in a nice, chunky font, while behind the desk was a window that could show static pictures or a video preview of the match highlights to come. A simple, but effective design.
Guest area:
What guest area? From what we can make out, this was the start of an era where studio guests no longer figured in the programme and the central focus became Brian Moore presenting on his own. It meant only a smaller studio was needed, therefore less need to splash out money on fancy chairs and other paraphernalia.
Gimmicks:
Nothing fancy - just that window screen behind Brian's desk.

August 1977 onwards: ITV Sport adopts an Italiano style
as the Big Match studio shrinks in size.

January 1978

Style:
DIY superstore.

Colour scheme:
Two-tone blue in a series of broad diagonal bands, plus a splash of green for the front of the desk. This blue colour scheme lasted well into 1980 - a surprisingly frugal approach by ITV considering all previous studio designs were refreshed annually (up until the brief August '77 vintage).
Brian's desk:
Probably the same one used before everything was painted blue. Still, it had a hole in the worktop to allow a microphone to be poked through, plus ample room to house the ubiquitous and never used telephone. And look - it's the old 'moon landing' font on the front! Behind the desk, another window screen showed a variety of static boards over more than two years.
Guest area:
Still none, according to our research.
Gimmicks:
The by now common use of colour separation to make that window screen behind the desk come to life.

January 1978 onwards: Blue stripes, futuristic fonts and changing boards.

August 1980

Style:
Job centre-a-go-go.

Colour scheme:
A change at last in the form of some beige with an occasional splash of green in a series of angular bands around the studio walls. For a brief period, there was also a wall  that was mainly green in colour (the bottom half being beige) that proudly displayed the new Big Match logo, synonymous with an equally new theme tune composed by Jeff Wayne. At some point, however, this was phased out and a new set was introduced featuring a repeating pattern of a football player dribbling a ball in alternate shades of green and light brown on white.
Brian's desk:
Having no doubt had a whip-round, ITV splashed out on a super new desk for both Moore and new sidekick Jim Rosenthal to sit behind, and splendid it looked too. With curved frontage and painted in a lovely warm sandy colour, it suddenly transformed the diminishing image of a programme that had been looking a little tired over the previous couple of years.
Guest area:
Guests? What are they?
Gimmicks:
You can't have chroma key screens AND a new desk, you know...

August 1980 onwards: Green and beige before a quick change with a new
desk and a parade of painted players.

1981/82 and 1982/83

Sadly there's not much to report during the final two seasons before regular live football arrived on British screens. The concept of having a spacious studio with big desks and elaborately decorated backdrops was no longer considered necessary, let alone revolving screens and rotating displays.

Come the 1981/82 season, ITV did away with fancy designs and even a visible desk for Moore and Rosenthal to sit behind, instead sitting them in front of a boring pale brown wall. The season after, they at least managed a slightly warmer coloured, textured backdrop and hung the Big Match logo on the wall, but that was about it.

(left) 1981/82: Jimbo in a sea of beige; (right) 1982/83: ITV
push the boat out by hanging a logo on the wall.

From this point on, football coverage on TV was all about being seen in a glass-fronted studio at the ground where the match was being played. The heady days of highlights shows featuring interviews with famous players and clips of the best action were now a thing of the past. Football on TV was changing, but at least we still had the memories.

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The Big Match: Studio Timeline (Part 1)

For many years The Big Match served up football highlights on a weekly basis for ITV viewers in London and the south east of England. Starting in 1968, it was presented by Brian Moore - ITV's main football commentator right through to the early 1990's - ably assisted at first by Jimmy Hill and latterly by Jim Rosenthal.

Though ITV's coverage (and Moore himself) have rightly received much acclaim down the years, we thought it was time the studio sets were put under the microscope - because nothing says nostalgia more than a room painted in various shades of brown. Here's Part 1 and we pick up the action at the start of the 1968/69 season...

August 1969

Style:
1970's school staff room

Colour scheme:
A pleasing combo of blue and dark brown, divided by the warm yellow of an oak panel band.

Brian's desk:
Non-existent from what we can tell, but there was at least the pleasing sight of a 'Big Match' logo on the wall behind Moore using the standard ITV Sport font of the time. If you think it looks 'futuristic', remember that this was the year of the Moon landing and even a programme about football was fair game for its usage.
Guest area:
Two seats, one either side of an occasional table for glasses of water, etc. Backdrop was a funky looking wall featuring a repeating raised pattern of 'The Big Match.' Occasionally a sofa was brought out for pre-recorded inserts, plonked in front of a wall showing a nicely drawn montage of football players in action. Nice.
Gimmicks:
A large vertical panel to one side of Moore's desk displaying a similarly large still photo with a connection to the highlights package that followed. The camera would zoom in over Moore's shoulder and the image would cross-fade into Arsenal v Chelsea or some such.

August 1969 onwards: space-age fonts, groovy backdrops and big pictures. 

January 1970

Style:
Tomorrow's World meets Match of the Day.

Colour scheme:
Pale cyan throughout with a dash of polished steel for flashness. Also a very nice raised abstract pattern throughout much of the studio surroundings.

Brian's desk:
A neat little cyan-coloured unit with clear plastic frontage trimmed with metallic strips... or grey-coloured plastic, we're not sure which. Behind the desk, a massive metallic Glam Rock-style logo which is bold, if not brassy.
Guest area:
Two modest seats, one either side of a simple occasional table on which was placed two glasses of water and, often, an empty whisky decanter.
Gimmicks:
None, other than that enormous unavoidable Glam Rock signage.

January 1970 onwards: Glam rock, textured walls and empty decanters.

January 1971

Style:
Mint choc chip.

Colour scheme:
Green wall panels alternating with textured brown and a little bit of cafe latte thrown in for good measure. Still using a chrome-effect logo, but less 'in your face' than the last one.

Brian's desk:
Surely the most grandiose desk Brian Moore's ever sat behind. The shape of a giant letter C, it had an oak-effect top surround with green plastic ITV Sport logos stuck on at regular intervals to face the camera. The base had that textured brown finish with a metallic 'Big Match' logo on the front. But that's not all: this desk sat in front of a revolving rear screen that rolled back to reveal a chroma-key window showing the next match coming up. Witness thus...

The big reveal (l-r): Watch as the chroma-key window
is revealed from the right.

Guest area:
Two simple but relatively modern chairs, a circular wooden table, glasses, ashtray, etc.
Gimmicks:
Look no further than that moving rear screen. If proof were needed that The Big Match now had a bigger production budget, this was it.

January 1971 onwards: Brian's giant desk of doom, simple
chairs and lots of brown.

August 1972

Style:
Doctor's waiting room.

Colour scheme:
A slightly drab two- or even three-tone green ensemble. Chrome pillars divided up the background at different points with a chrome horizontal band dividing the upper and lower parts of the green wallpaper (if wallpaper it be). Printed silhouettes of players in action occasionally appeared behind Jimmy Hill or anyone else in the guest area (see below).
Brian's desk:

Solid, minimalist, rounded corners and coloured using exactly the same palette as its surroundings. Behind Brian's desk were two panels, one displaying the retained metal 'Big Match' lettering, the other showing the ITV Sport logo. Clever camerawork allowed only one to be shown over Moore's shoulder if required.
Guest area:
A comfortable seat or two in purple with a simple but modern occasional table between them.
Gimmicks:
None whatsoever.

August 1972 onwards: Yet more chrome, wall-to-wall green and
shiny pillars.

August 1973

Style:
Cork-tastic.

Colour scheme:
Mainly brown due to the cork-effect wall covering used extensively. Elsewhere, a red, white and navy blue combo was used for the ITV/Big Match insignia seen in front of and behind...
Brian's desk:

Smaller than the 1972 vintage, but smarter and more workmanlike. The programme title was displayed proudly in red with navy blue trim in front of the desk and for variation was also displayed on a sign behind Moore on the wall. Pointless, yet somehow rather pleasing too.

August 1973 onwards: Cork, Clough and big bold signage.

Guest area:
A second similarly-branded desk was provided for guests to sit behind, although the two seats were often filled by Brian Clough and Malcolm Allison (hastily drafted in to fill the gap created when Jimmy Hill hot-footed it to the BBC).
Gimmicks:
None.

August 1974

Style:
Coffee and cream.

Colour scheme:
A varied range of brown tones and white, broken up with occasional stripes and lines. A warmer golden brown was often seen on some of the wall panels, but essentially this was an unadulterated brown love-in.
Brian's desk:

A substantial affair with white Greek-style pillars in each corner and a solid slab of wood on top. Behind the desk on the wall above Moore's head was a sign saying TheBigMatchTheBigMatch', reminiscent of the type used the previous season. So good they named it twice, you might say.

August 1974 onwards: Stripes, a multitude of brown and
repetitive wording.

Guest area:
Last season's guest desk had been taken away (probably now sitting in Nigel Clough's garage). Instead, we now had the altogether more informal arrangement of two brown leather swivel chairs for guests to sit on (as amply shown by Rodney Marsh and Terry Venables on the Christmas 1974 show).
Gimmicks:
A reveal! Yes, if you thought The Generation Game had the copyright on sliding doors, think again. Over Brian's shoulder, a screen painted with a generic football action scene would open up to reveal a chroma-key portal looking out onto Loftus Road or some other footballing mecca in the capital (see below).

 Can you tell what it is yet? (l-r): The screens pull back to
reveal a shot of the Tottenham badge at White Hart Lane.

Coming up in Part 2:
Peter Taylor distracts you from a Norwich-inspired background, Elton John's in a see of yellow and Brian Moore gets the blues...

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Evening Standard London 5-a-Sides, 1983

You don't see much indoor football on TV these days, and when you do, it's usually the Masters series in which one-time great players shake off their walking frames and career-threatening injuries to entertain a provincial crowd of a few hundred people.

Once upon a time, however, people in the Thames TV area could look forward to the annual treat of the Evening Standard London 5-a-Side tournament at Wembley Arena. Here, the other end of the football spectrum fell under the spotlight, namely those players trying to break into the first team at any number of clubs around the capital.

Here's a chance to see some of the action from the 1983 tournament featuring eventual winners Millwall. Keep your eye open for a future England team physio in goal for Arsenal, a legendary England striker in the making for The Lions and the scorer of the opening goal for The Gunners who, little did we know it, had a glittering future in club management ahead of him...

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The Big Match: Manchester United (DVD)

For those of you who aren’t in the know, The Big Match is a wonderful range of DVDs containing footage from ITV’s football archives. The DVDs, made by ILC Media, typically focus on an individual club and a selection of TV games they appeared in from the late-1960’s through to the early-1980’s.

From the nostalgist’s point of view, this set provides everything you could possibly want: bags of brilliant football action, all the original titles and signature tunes, plus the inimitable Brian Moore introducing each of the games. Each disc also comes complete with a bonus set of items culled from the records featuring Moore, Jimmy Hill and Jim Rosenthal discussing tactics, interviewing players and reading viewer’s letters. There’s also a generous helping of the sort of humorous clips that gave the show a friendlier, more relaxed feel than its BBC rival, Match of the Day.

Putting those bonus features aside, let's first take a look at The Big Match: Manchester United, released back in 2009. There are 14 match highlights to watch (see details below), starting with a 2-1 win for United over Arsenal that's notable for being Peter Marinello's debut for The Gunners.

The Next George Best?

As the fresh-faced Brian Moore told us after the game, Marinello was once nicknamed 'the next George Best' although the player was at pains to tell people he was 'the first Peter Marinello.' Given the celebrity spotlight and heavy drinking he endured during his time in London, it's probably fair to say Marinello was ultimately wider of the mark than those people that judged him.

The next match, from the tail end of the 1970-71 season, was United's trip to Crystal Palace which seemed to generate just as much excitement off the pitch as on it. To begin, Brian Moore told us that the Greek national side were in the UK to play England in a friendly and had opted to watch this match at Selhurst Park rather than see Arsenal or West Ham. Their decision, we're told, was made squarely on the basis of wanting to see George Best in action – a shrewdness of judgement borne out by Best's brace in a 5-3 win.

Shooting practice at Palace

After the match, Moore told us that 'he always thought Palace were a fair minded club but they were disappointed to lose a match they thought they'd win.' Was the famous commentator being brutal in his assessment of the South London club?  Not a bit of it. Unbeknown to us, Moore was just teeing up a short, humorous clip edited together by the boys in VT.

Cut to a number of tanks trundling around the perimeter of the Selhurst Park pitch firing at randomly chosen United players that were seen writhing on the ground in agony.

We can only presume there had been some sort of military hardware demonstration on the day of the game and The Big Match, being what it was, couldn't pass up an opportunity to make it look like Palace had sent the tanks out to blast away at the United players. Weird, but pleasing in a 'couldn't-happen-in-this-day-and-age' sort of way.

A gradual slide

The first few highlights packages we see on the DVD show Man United as a team in transition at the start of the 70's. Although the big names such as Best, Law and Charlton were still around, so too were a number of lesser-known players long since consigned to the history books. By the time the 1974-75 season rolled around, United were only a shadow of the side that had won the European Cup six years earlier and they now found themselves in Division Two.

A new order emerged for United, destined as they were to make an immediate return to Division One under Tommy Docherty. We get to see his transitional side in an exciting 4-4 draw at Hillsborough during which Lou Macari (2), Ron Davies and Stewart Houston all got on the scoresheet, but these were worrying times on the terraces.

The hooligan element

When Bernard Shaw scored to put Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 up, many Manchester United fans ran onto the pitch. Commentator Keith Macklin concluded that this was another attempt to deliberately get a game postponed as had happened in a previous Man United match against Newcastle United. On this occasion at least, the rowdy fans were cleared and the game was allowed to continue.

The next clip showed a resurgent United brushing aside Birmingham City in January 1976, but it was the frosty post-match interview that caught the eye on this occasion. Birmingham's Archie Stiles had been sent off for aggressive behaviour towards Alex Forsyth and this prompted Tommy Docherty to tell Gerald Sinstadt that this was a growing trend in the modern game. He even went so far as to suggest that the media weren't highlighting the problem enough and told the commentator that TV companies were editing out most of the violent incidents to give a false impression of how things really were.

A big miss

In general terms, Brian Moore was only ever absent from his comfy studio chair once a year, and that was for the Christmas edition of The Big Match. On those occasions, the presenting duties were handed over to a well-known player of the day or, as was the case in 1976, Elton John. In January 1978, however, presenting duties were handed over to Dickie Davies (presumably because Moore was ill) and we get to see the World of Sport presenter being his usual professional self on the DVD as he introduces a match between Derby and Man United.

The clip from the 1979-80 season is something of a collector's item in that it shows Kenny Dalglish providing arguably the miss of the century at Old Trafford. With the score at 1-1, Liverpool were on the attack and Alan Hansen had the ball at his feet. Seeing the United defence push up in a regimented fashion, the future Match of the Day presenter played the ball over the top and ran onto it, thereby beating the offside trap. Hansen was left with only the United keeper to beat but he unselfishly passed to his team mate, Dalglish.

In so doing, Dalglish was flagged offside, but the Scottish international striker was unaware of this and duly shot into an empty net… but missed. Manchester United went on to win the match 2-1 yet for Liverpool it was difficult to know who was more at fault – Hansen for passing to his offside teammate or Dalglish for being so poor with his shooting.



Captain Marvel arrives

The rest of the highlights footage sees United slowly emerging from Liverpool's shadow, beginning with Bryan Robson signing for United on the Old Trafford pitch before their match against Wolves in October 1981. The DVD ends with a rousing 4-0 win for the Red Devils at home to Notts County in which Robson, Norman Whiteside, Frank Stapleton and Mike Duxbury all make their mark.

United's journey from the days of Best and Charlton through a traumatic relegation and back to being a big hitter in Division One again is chronicled wonderfully well here and like all the other DVDs in the collection, it gives a great overview of a fascinating period in football history. We'll be looking at more DVDs from The Big Match collection on The Football Attic in the not-too-distant future.

The Big Match: Manchester United is available from Amazon.co.uk and all other reputable DVD outlets.

Games featured:
1969-70: Man United 2-1 Arsenal ; 1970-71: Crystal Palace 3-5 Man United; 1971-72: Coventry 2-3 Man United; 1972-73: Man United 3-0 Derby; 1973-74: Man United 2-2 Chelsea; 1974-75: Sheffield Wednesday 4-4 Man United; 1975-76: Man United 3-1 Birmingham; 1976-77: Man United 3-1 Man City; 1977-78: Ipswich 1-2  Man United; 1978-79: Derby 1-3 Man United; 1979-80: Man United 2-1 Liverpool; 1980-81: Nottm Forest 1-2 Man United; 1981-82: Man United 5-0 Wolves; 1982-83: Man United 4-0 Notts County.

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Ceefax Football

‘England through after dramatic penalty win’ was the headline writ large on ITV’s Oracle Teletext service. It was the evening of June 30th 1998 and David Batty had just seen his penalty saved by the Argentinian goalkeeper Carlos Roa in a Round of 16 World Cup match. England had been defeated 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, and this was soon reflected in the hastily corrected headline that appeared only seconds later: ‘England out of World Cup after penalty miss’.

Teletext always tried to be first with the breaking news headlines and even if it did so by wrongly pre-empting imminent events, at least its heart was in the right place. This was, after all, old technology – an Information Single-Carriageway bringing pages of news and facts by the dozen to ordinary TV screens throughout the UK.

Though many favoured Oracle, it was the BBC’s Ceefax service that most people preferred. At least it seems that way; you only have to utter the word ‘Ceefax’ to a football fan of a certain age and the chances are they’ll respond with a simple number: 302.

Ceefax page 302 was a gateway to enlightenment, aspiration and fulfilment for every follower of football hungry to know more. Who were United about to sign? Who’d picked up a serious injury and wouldn’t be playing for Liverpool?  Had Arsenal won their League Cup match the night before? These questions and many more were inevitably answered among Ceefax’s neatly regimented pages.

Very useful they were too, but for many, Ceefax really came into its own around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. It was at this moment that thousands of British football fans pressed the ‘Text’ button on their remote controls and blanked out Grandstand to see the latest scores. Some aficionados with excellent eyesight preferred the ‘Mix’ button to get the double hit of football scores and UK Snooker from the Guild Hall in Preston displayed simultaneously, but they were clearly in the minority. As for those pressing 316 to get the latest two scores appearing on the bottom of their screens while they watched their regular programmes, they were among the absolute elite.

Keying in 303 on your remote got you the latest scores from Division One. With ten matches to cover and any number of goalscorers and sending offs to account for, Ceefax partitioned the scores onto three or four sub-pages that were displayed on rotation for around ten seconds at a time.

Once kick-off was out of the way, we viewers entered into a game of memory and observation. It was all very simple at first; with every score set to ‘0-0’, it wasn’t difficult to spot the name of a goalscorer suddenly appearing below an updated 1-0 scoreline. As more and more goals went in however, the screen gradually filled with player names and times (‘Sterland 26’, ‘Strachan 34’…) By half time, you were trying to remember whether you’d already acknowledged one score or another, but shoot – that was all part of the fun.

Admittedly there were occasional frustrations to be had with monitoring the latest scores on Ceefax. For a start, there was the aforementioned ten-second delay. Knowing that your team’s scoreline was on page 1 of 3, it seemed like an eternity to wait before it rolled around again through page 2 and eventually page 3.

Not only that - every so often Ceefax would also play its trump card by skipping the page you wanted and going on to the next one – never good on a day when a glut of goals caused a fourth page to appear in the sequence.

Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon to employ mitigating actions to reduce the inconvenience caused by the long wait. There was the ‘Number Re-Entry’ method: here the holder of the remote control would type in the same three-figure page number already being viewed in an attempt to make Ceefax update the text. More often than not, this old alternative to an F5 Refresh was not successful.

Others would use the ‘Short Walk’ method where it was preferable to go off and view another page for a few short seconds before jumping back to the original one. This called for a cool head and immaculate timing; get it wrong by a second or two and you could find yourself waiting another lifetime for the pages to go round in sequence once more.

At the other end of the scale, pages sometimes refreshed too quickly. Regular visitors to page 312 - ‘News in Brief’ - would sometimes be greeted by the sight of 10 or more sub pages of text. A wondrous thing, but you had to be quick. Those that dwelled too long on the latest news from the South American championships could easily find themselves dumped onto the next page in sequence before they’d had the chance to finish reading the previous one. Efficient use of the ‘Hold’ button was key in such situations.

But what are we saying... All these time issues were actually what gave Ceefax its old-world appeal. The sense of growing expectation as you waited for one page to be replaced by another only added to the thrill of it all, if indeed ‘thrill’ is the appropriate word here.

How strange, then, to suddenly find ourselves in an era where Jeff Stelling appears on Sky Sports every Saturday, his head and shoulders entrapped by manifold results, news tickers and videprinters. None of us could ever have dreamed of having so much information at our fingertips all those years ago, but there’s no harm in dreaming about the old days every once in a while too. Where Ceefax’s football pages were concerned, less was definitely more.

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The Big Match: Golden Goals 1980

Everyone remembers Match of the Day's 'Goal of the Month' competition, but fewer people recall that ITV's The Big Match had its own version called called 'Golden Goals'.

Here's the last thrilling installment from the 1979/80 season, and note an early example of product placement on the advertising board behind the goal for Glenn Hoddle's first effort.

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