40 years of me and Match of the Day

Is Match of the Day a national institution? Well it always has been in my house from my younger day’s right up until today. The show is 50 years old and I reckon I have been watching for 40 of them with the BBC always my favourite destination for my football.

 

It was the only time I was allowed to stay up past my normal bedtime as a youngster without a fight. Saturday TV was more family orientated with the likes of Doctor Who, Dixon of Dock Green. There were entertainment shows like The Harry Secombe show, Lulu and Cliff Richards nothing there to make mum blush. I can remember a Man Called Ironside was a favourite Saturday night show. The most risky show with be the Dick Emery show with some near the knuckle jokes.

 

Especially when I was young, I could be watching the programme without knowing the scores so you would need to dodge the news before so you didn’t accidently hear them. Mum would hit the road to bed soon as Dad was home she was not a fan of football. He was always fun when he was a bit tipsy dad, he would lay out on the settee sometimes talking a load of crap but it was good father and son time. If I was lucky, he would have nipped into the Chippy and we would have a bit of a Saturday night feast.

 

Peter Sayer

Our team Cardiff City was rarely on but we both love football and didn’t care and still don’t care who is playing. One of my abiding memories of Match of the Day was the Peter Sayer scoring the only goal of the game when Cardiff knocked Tottenham Hotspur out of the FA Cup in 1977. The goal was replayed on the BBC Match of the Day credits after that until what seemed forever.

 

There was less punditry back then unlike today. It was normal to have only two cameras in the ground then, one in the roof of the stand on the centre line and one down below pitch side also on the centre line. Making it a lot harder to 100% call an offside and creating many intense arguments unlike today where grounds are covered in cameras giving referees no place to hide. I sometimes think football was better back then were money wasn’t the be-all and end-all of the game but league position and a good cup run.

 

The only time I have miss the show is the time the BBC lost the rights to show the highlights something I can’t believe football in the shape of the Premier League could allow to happen. When the highlights were transferred to ITV, I never watched them not once.

 

Match of the Day is a classic Saturday but these days I watch on a Sunday morning repeat with dad who pops in Sunday morning so we have gone full circle.