Home / Telly
Keepsake 04 · The video tape
When Highlights Meant Staying Up Past Bedtime
Felt-tip on the label, a strip of tape over the safety tab, and a whole season of goals recorded after the late news.
There was a time when watching football on television meant negotiating. Negotiating bedtime, negotiating with a sibling over the one set in the house, negotiating with the aerial. You saw a handful of goals a week, and because there were so few, you remembered all of them.
The voices mattered as much as the pictures. A commentator could make a muddy third-round tie sound like a cup final, and the best ones became part of the family.
The wireless
The BBC broadcast its first live radio commentary of a league match on 22 January 1927: Arsenal against Sheffield United at Highbury. The Radio Times printed a pitch divided into numbered squares so listeners could follow along, which is often linked to the phrase "back to square one", though the origin is disputed.
Grainy beginnings
In September 1937 the BBC televised part of a practice match between Arsenal and Arsenal reserves. The following year the 1938 FA Cup Final between Preston North End and Huddersfield Town became the first shown live in full, to the small number of homes with a set.
Match of the Day and friends
Match of the Day first aired on BBC Two on 22 August 1964, with Kenneth Wolstenholme describing Liverpool's 3–2 win over Arsenal. Two years later his "They think it's all over… it is now" closed the 1966 World Cup Final. ITV's London region launched The Big Match in 1968 with Brian Moore, and John Motson's career took off after Hereford's famous FA Cup win over Newcastle in 1972.
Going live
Ceefax arrived in 1974, giving us results in blocky text, and Grandstand's videprinter clattered out scores every Saturday. The first live First Division match on British TV, Tottenham against Nottingham Forest, was shown by ITV in October 1983. In 1992 the new Premier League's live rights went to BSkyB, and Saturdays changed for good.
Then and now
| Feature | Then | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Live league games | None on British TV before 1983 | Hundreds per season across services |
| Results | Videprinter, Ceefax, the radio | Instant phone notifications |
| Replays | Taped on VHS, if you remembered | On demand, any angle |
| Commentary | A few familiar national and regional voices | Many broadcasters, podcasts and fan channels |
Today's coverage is astonishing, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But scarcity gave those old highlights a kind of magic. If you missed Match of the Day, you'd missed it, and you'd hear about it in the playground on Monday.
Got an old tape in the loft? Many local services will digitise VHS. Do it soon, because magnetic tape slowly fades.