IN this football blog, I chat with historian Matt Eastley who has just published a book entitled ‘Brian Moore Saved Our Sundays: The Golden Age of Televised Football’.
This is of particular interest to me as Brian Moore was an iconic presenter and commentator when I was a kid growing up in London during the 1970’s.
I remember meeting the great man as he climbed down a precarious ladder from Loftus Road’s rickety old television gantry at QPR versus Middlesbrough in 1976 and he signed my match programme.
They were simpler times before the Premier League’s formation in 1992. So no Premier League betting but still plenty of other betting down the rest of the Football League ladder.
I recall how QPR star Stan Bowles would remain in an adjacent bookies’ shop until 2.50pm on Saturdays before trotting out on to the pitch to give magnificent performances!
Therefore I had plenty to discuss with the book’s author…
Matt, how good was Brian Moore?
He was world class because he implicitly understood his audience. He knew what the viewer was thinking and was a master at finding the right words to enhance the pictures we were viewing.
He was an expert guide, gently taking us through a match as it unravelled before us. He was also a superb presenter, avuncular to a tee, cordial and knowledgeable without ever coming across as smug.
Even if there were better commentators (which is debatable) and presenters, as a combination of the two he was without equal.
What other commentators do you focus on?
All of them who were plying their trade on ITV regional shows during the period are covered in volume one of this book (up to 1975).
I focus on Gerry Harrison and John Camkin at Anglia TV; George Taylor and Kenneth Wolstenholme and several others at Tyne Tees; Keith Macklin and Danny Blanchflower at Yorkshire TV; Barry Davies and Gerald Sinstadt at Granada TV; Hugh Johns at ATV; Roger Malone at HTV; Martin Tyler at Southern TV plus many others including Don Arnold, Gerry Williams, David Bobin and more.
How was TV coverage of football delivered in the 70's and 80's?
It was setting the modern blueprint and we still see that influence today.
Peerless directors like Bob Gardam were raising the bar to new heights and there was an influx of excellent producers and editors such as Jeff Foulser (London Weekend Television), Paul Doherty (Granada) and Tony Flanagan (ATV) who were changing the way football was filmed and edited.
You also had the emergence of top presenters including Fred Dinenage, Gary Newbon and others who cut their teeth in regional TV.
Were they good times to follow football on television?
I thought they were fantastic. We watched what we were given, when we were given it. You had one chance to watch those Sunday afternoon edited highlights shows which made them unmissable.
It made stars of the commentators and presenters not to mention great players – not just the obvious ones like Best, Marsh, Channon, Bowles, Keegan, Worthington etc but regional heroes emerged including Chilton and Wagstaff at Hull, Whymark, Hatton and so many more.
How did each region cover their clubs? In London we had a main game on Sundays plus shorter highlights featuring two fixtures from elsewhere in the country.
Well The Big Match on LWT was the flagship show and, as you can imagine, the larger London clubs in the 70’s - Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, QPR and West Ham - were shown regularly but viewers were also treated to occasional trips to The Valley, The Den, Craven Cottage etc.
Match of the Week in Anglia region focused on Norwich and Ipswich (who were superb in the mid-70’s) but also covered Luton a lot and went as far as Hull in the north and Southend in the south.
Tyne Tees with the programme Shoot gave plenty of airtime to the big three of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Granada’s Kick Off and Kick Off Match with Sinstadt as commentator and presenter had the huge Manchester and Merseyside clubs on their patch.
Yorkshire TV was really all about Leeds during this period and often (unfairly) faced accusations of bias.
Then you had the superb Star Soccer in The Midlands with Hugh Johns and THAT velvety voice which he attributed to cigarettes and Brains Mild beer. They made stars of the likes of John Richards, Trevor Francis and Peter Withe.
HTV covered the west of England and south Wales, Westward TV had a patch consisting only of Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay and then Southern TV had Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton plus some outliers such as Gillingham, Aldershot and Reading.
Some of the big games weren't even televised or filmed were they? Was it too expensive or logistically impossible to have cameras at every game?
Both. It was expensive to cover matches. In the 1970’s, there would be fewer than ten games covered. Two/max three by the BBC for Match of the Day on a Saturday night.
LWT, ATV, Anglia, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and Granada would always film one match but coverage by HTV, Westward and Southern was sporadic.
So you were looking at less than ten televised matches. The three match regional format on Sundays meant that, along with MOTD, you could see highlights of a maximum of five matches.
How does that contrast to football coverage nowadays when even Sunday League matches are filmed?
A massive contrast. Cameras at a game were special and created a frisson of excitement on the terraces.
No one bats an eyelid now but back then it was a real talking point when one of the regional shows came to your ground.
How much research did you do for your book?
A tremendous amount. I felt it was a subject that needed to be covered and I did the hard yards. I conducted a number of fresh interviews and was fortunate enough to speak to Gerald Sinstadt, Bob Gardam, Gerry Williams and David Bobin before they died.
I built very good relationships with the families of Brian Moore, Hugh Johns, Gerald Sinstadt and Bob Gardam. I spoke at length to commentators Martin Tyler, Gerry Harrison, John Helm, Roger Malone, Roger Tames and presenters Gary Newbon, Elton Welsby and Fred Dinenage.
All required tracking down and establishing a rapport with. Then there was hours of watching old footage, analysing bits of commentary and theme tunes, speaking to fans and collating photographs.
I also spoke to many modern day commentators like Peter Drury, Nick Mullins and Seb Hutchinson who shared my enthusiasm for the subject.
How has the response been for your book?
It has been very positive indeed. I think for many of us who grew up in that period, these programmes which we watched after Sunday lunch spending time with our families in the comfort of our childhood homes represent a nostalgic sweet spot.
It always creates a warm glow when we recall them. Sundays back then could be slow days with nothing much on telly and no shops open apart from the local newsagents.
The 70’s and 80’s were troubled decades in many ways but these great shows represented a break from concerns about the Common Market, industrial/social unrest and inflation.
Football fans of a certain age adored these programmes and still do. I hope I have encapsulated some of that affection in the pages of Brian Moore Saved Our Sundays.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Tony Incenzo*
