For reasons unfathomable the Sky corporation has decided that Sky Sports News, previously available on Freeview, should now be broadcast in high definition and thus must be paid for via subscription. For the indolent, the impecunious and aficionados of accumulator betting the Gillette Soccer Saturday show was a reasonably handy way to whittle away a couple of hours on a grey Saturday.
As football fans we all line the pockets of the Murdoch family, wittingly or otherwise, yet I could not muster the enthusiasm to hand over more of my hard-earned shekels for the opportunity to gaze upon the full horror of Matt Le Tissier’s face in crystal clarity. And so, to the BBC’s Final Score.
First and foremost, I have to state that it does the job. If it’s up-to-the-minute football scores you’re after, buddy, I got just the thing. Don’t expect much more. Gabby Logan is a fine anchor, and Matt Holland is a rare bird in terms of English footballers (albeit one who played for the Republic of Ireland) insofar as he comes across as knowledgeable and articulate. Gary Pallister was also present, his head resembling a cheerful shrink-wrapped ham hock.
As a trio they are amiable, uncontroversial - and, sadly, quite dull. Still, it makes a refreshing change from the stale banter of the Sky crew, even if it does lack some of the vim and energy that Jeff Stelling undoubtedly brings to proceedings. Also, Pallister and Holland seemingly have to watch every Premiership game simultaneously between them, a difficult task well understood by anyone who has attempted to watch the last round of World Cup group matches in the same vein. Spend too much time watching Italy and you miss Ghana pinging one in against the USA. It happens to the best of us.
Calling a football results show ‘boring’ is like castigating water for being wet. Fundamentally, we look at numbers and listen to a variety of men with regional accents delivering match reports that sound like they’re coming from the Congolese jungle, a public toilet, or Oldham. Again, not a problem. However, would I be wrong in presuming that these correspondents are trained journalists in the employ of the BBC? If so, why are so many of them incapable of pronouncing the names of players they are paid to report upon?
I am not talking about the Ivan Gaskells and David Garridos of this world - consumate pros, you understand - but even lugubrious veteran Harry Gration only took half-hearted stabs at dignifying the foreign players with their correct names. The poor chap watching Leicester punched his time card with an approximate 50% hit rate. Into this admixture you can also factor sub-Lawrenson punnery, which I understand is now almost expected in any kind of football broadcast.
I fully understand that as a public broadcaster the BBC cannot put all the bells and whistles on its football coverage that Sky does. Final Score is a sober alternative to the shrieking and guffawing of Soccer Saturday, plus I recognise that as consumers of football (a horrible admission to have to make) we are spoilt.
The more nostalgic may find their eyes glistening with a moist sheen as they recall the error-strewn abruptness of the vidiprinter, but I quite like the human element that shows such as Final Score have introduced into a rather limiting format. Just a short plea, then - less puns, more accuracy.
Tags: BBC, Media, Sky, Television Coverage
This David Garrido, the “consumate pro” of whom you speak - he wouldn’t be the same David Garrido who asked nine times capped Welsh international goalkeeper, Boaz Myhill, if he was hoping for a call from Fabio Capello, would he?
Harry Gration recently reported on Gareth Thomas being on the end of homophobic abuse in a rugby match at Castelford thus; “Thomas, who recently came out as a gay…”. This was on BBC Look North. Mispronounciations are the least of his worries