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And so an institution was born, as the words of the legendary [[Kenneth Wolstenholme]] opened the first-ever Match of the Day on Saturday 22 August,1964.
And so an institution was born, as the words of the legendary [[Kenneth Wolstenholme]] opened the first-ever Match of the Day on Saturday 22 August,1964.
[[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] versus [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] at [[Anfield]] was the first game to be broadcast and attracted an audience of 20,000 - less than half the attendance at the ground.
[[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] versus [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] at [[Anfield]] was the first game to be broadcast and attracted an audience of 20,000 - less than half the attendance at the ground.
But the popularity of the [[Football World Cup 1966|1966 World Cup]] coverage ensured that by the 1966-67 season, MOTD had moved to a new slot on [[BBC One]].
But the popularity of the [[Football World Cup 1966|1966 World Cup]] coverage ensured that by the 1966-67 season, MOTD had moved to a new slot on [[BBC One|BBC1]].


The folllowing year saw five million viewers watch a 22-year-old [[Alan Ball (footballer)|Alan Ball]] score twice for [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] on the opening day against [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]].
The folllowing year saw five million viewers watch a 22-year-old [[Alan Ball (footballer)|Alan Ball]] score twice for [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] on the opening day against [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]].


===Competiton with ITV===
===Competiton with ITV===

Revision as of 14:34, 26 February 2006

Match of the Day is the BBC's principal football programme. It is shown on BBC One every Saturday night during the football season, showing highlights of Premiership (formerly Division One) matches. There are also some midweek editions, showing highlights of weekday evening games. Match of the Day also screens FA Cup and England international matches, either live or as highlights.

Show history

Birth of an institution

"Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series on BBC2. This afternoon we are in Beatleville..."

And so an institution was born, as the words of the legendary Kenneth Wolstenholme opened the first-ever Match of the Day on Saturday 22 August,1964. Liverpool versus Arsenal at Anfield was the first game to be broadcast and attracted an audience of 20,000 - less than half the attendance at the ground. But the popularity of the 1966 World Cup coverage ensured that by the 1966-67 season, MOTD had moved to a new slot on BBC1.

The folllowing year saw five million viewers watch a 22-year-old Alan Ball score twice for Everton on the opening day against Manchester United.

Competiton with ITV

MOTD's monopoly on televised football was challenged in 1968 with the arrival of ITV's Sunday afternoon show The Big Match, presented by Jimmy Hill and Brian Moore, formerly a BBC Radio football correspondent.

November 1969 saw the programme's first colour transmission, with Bill Shankly's Liverpool overcoming West Ham at Anfield. A record audience of over 20 million watched the 1970 FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leeds, and by 1972-73 viewing figures for MOTD were averaging 12 million in its 10 o'clock slot on BBC One.

The following season saw Jimmy Hill quit ITV to take over as the show's new presenter.

Collective deals with ITV, and increase in live coverage

November 1978 Hill's old employers pulled off an exclusive deal with the Football League for future coverage of their matches - the 'snatch of the day' as the headline writers labelled it. The Office of Fair Trading intervened but the BBC was forced to alternate with ITV for Saturday night football, with MOTD switching to Sunday afternoons for the 1980-81 and 1982-83 seasons.

Both channels were allowed to screen seven live matches from 1983, with ITV choosing the Sunday afternoon slot and the BBC experimenting with Friday evenings. Viewers were forced to do without their Saturday night fix for four consecutive Saturdays in the autumn of 1983 when a technical dispute at the BBC disrupted transmission of MOTD.

A deal to screen the 1985-6 season's action was not agreed until after Christmas, due to a protracted dispute over rights between the Football League, the BBC and ITV. At this point both broadcasters saw live action as a more attractive proposition than recorded highlights. This meant that the two-year deal collective deal struck in 1986, the last such deal between the BBC and ITV, focused heavily on live action, and both broadcasters declined to show any recorded highlights except on FA Cup weekends.

With rights to Football League matches switching exclusively to ITV for the first time in the 1988-9 season, the BBC linked up with the new BSkyB to broadcast FA Cup and England matches, under the new banner of Match of the Day- The Road to Wembley.

Revivial of the highlights format

With the launch of the Premier League in 1992-93, the BBC's partnership with BSkyB obtained rights to the league's action, meaning BSkyB showed live matches exclusively, and MOTD was back as a regular Saturday night highlights programme for the first time since 1986. Under the terms of the agreement, the show was also able to screen other goals from matches in the Premier League or FA Cup that day, but it retained its original format of showing two principal games, other goals were shown separately, usually towards the end of the show.

In 1999 popular presenter Des Lynam announced he was moving to ITV, as he wanted a chance to front more live football, such as ITV's Champions League coverage. Former England striker Gary Lineker, who was already an occasional presenter and pundit on the show, replaced Lynam as anchorman.

Loss and regain of Premier League rights

From 2001 until 2004 the rights to show Premier League action were also lost to ITV, who covered the league through their show The Premiership, leaving the BBC and Lineker to cover live FA Cup and England matches, as they had done in the late 80s and early 90s.

Premier League highlights returned to the BBC from the start of the 2004-05 season, in time for the show's 40th anniversary. At this point the show created a spin-off programme, Match of the Day 2, which was launched on Sundays on BBC Two, showing highlights of Sunday matches and further reaction to Saturday's action. It is presented by Adrian Chiles.

Pundits

Pundits featured on the show to make (often) insightful comments about the games they have just seen, have included Alan Hansen, Trevor Brooking, Mark Lawrenson, Peter Schmeichel, Ian Wright and Jimmy Hill. Hill and Lineker have both presented and appeared as a pundit on the show.

Match Of The Day Live

The BBC's live football matches almost always come under the title Match of the Day Live which has been the case since 1997 after Sportsnight was cancelled. Currently, these include FA Cup ties and replays, the FA Women's Cup final, all of England's home games and some away matches (Sky Sports tend to obtain the rights to a large proportion of England's away games). The BBC shares live coverage of the World Cup finals and European Championship finals with ITV Sport. BBC Scotland's live football forms part of its Sportscene programme. Northern Ireland's home games are shown on BBC NI, with selected fixtures shown on BBC throughout the United Kingdom. BBC Wales does not currently have rights to Wales' home internationals, but does show live matches from the FAW Premier Cup under the banner Match Of The Day Wales.

Theme music

The show's now-familiar ditty, titled Offside, was introduced in 1968 and was penned by Barry Stoller. It replaced Arnold Stock's 'Drum Majorette', the original theme.

Trivia

Selected commentators

External link

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