First broadcast on 22 August 1964, it featured - as its title suggests - only one match as defending champions Liverpool won 3-2 against Arsenal.
The transmission, shown on BBC Two, was actually originally intended only as part of a one-off series ahead of the 1966 World Cup.
BBC Two was also only available in London at the time - and it attracted an audience which was about half of the attendance in Anfield.
Nevertheless, commissioners decided that Match of the Day was here to stay - and, despite resistance from several clubs fearing an effect on their gates, a deal was reached with the Football League in 1965.
In the same year, the programme moved to a much wider audience on BBC One and, in 1969, it was broadcast in colour for the first time with Liverpool again the featured winners, 2-0 against West Ham United.
The 1980s saw a boom as a first live transmission in 1983 showed Manchester United beating Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 at Old Trafford.
However, this was quickly followed by a bust as the increasingly-competitive ITV gained sole rights in 1988, leaving the BBC with just the FA Cup.
The arrival of the Premier League in 1992 sent the live rights to Sky where, of course, they have stayed ever since.
But the BBC at least regained highlights of the top division, featuring extended coverage of three matches - and, for the first time, all the goals from the other games played that day.
That arrangement remained until 2001 when ITV outbid the BBC again. However, its ill-fated highlights programme, The Premiership, lasted just three years before the BBC regained the contract in 2004.
With Gary Lineker presenting, the BBC has since been able to show longer highlights from all of the games in what is now sometimes a 90-minute broadcast on Saturday night.
Match of the Day 2 shows the Sunday games while another spin-off - Match of the Day 2 Extra - discusses the main talking points of the previous day's action on Sunday at around midday.
As a package then, Match of the Day is in rude health. It now attracts more than seven million viewers across the weekend, bucking the trend of declining audience figures for major shows.
Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement.
For, although Lineker suggests Match of the Day is "predominately an action programme", even now there is far too much waffle from the pundits.
Is there really any need for the likes of Alan Shearer to indulge in faux-outrage just because the producers have suggested it?
And yet, the voices which matter more - those of the commentators - have arguably declined over the last few years.
Lead commentator Guy Mowbray lacks the distinctive tone of some of the late greats like David Coleman and Tony Gubba, and so just fades into the background.
By contrast, the intensely-annoying Jonathan Pearce still uses the microphone to wallow in what seems to be his favourite past-time - that is, listening to the sound of his own screeching voice.
John Motson was actually a brilliant commentator back in his heyday - but now comes across as a bit of a parody of himself, parroting pointless statistics without much genuine analysis.
And, while it is high time the sheepskin coat was retired, this is not in any way an ageist rant.
After all, the BBC could do worse than bring back the still-excellent Barry Davies - something which the corporation has indeed done for its golden anniversary.
But, despite its faults, Match of the Day - and its iconic theme tune - still serves its purpose well, and has long since entered the automatic thought-process of the English football fan.
It does not happen that commonly at the moment - but, if a Newcastle United player scores a pearler, one of my first thoughts is of tuning into Match of the Day to see the goal repeated.
And, for a football programme on the telly, there can surely be no higher praise than that.
MATCH OF THE DAY: MAIN PRESENTERS
1964-1969 Kenneth Wolstenholme
1968-1973 David Coleman
1973-1988 Jimmy Hill
1988-1999 Des Lynam
1999-present Gary Lineker
Documentary Match of the Day at 50 is on BBC One tonight at 10.35pm. Match of the Day is on BBC One tomorrow at 10.30pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment