"Games covered have never been chosen from a parochial viewpoint"
With Match of the Day celebrating its 60th year on television, revisit this 1965 column from host Kenneth Wolstenholme about how and why fans in 18 countries were enjoying "this top soccer programme"
BBC Archive
In 1965 Match of the Day had been on air for a year and was proving to be popular with UK and international audiences for showing 45 minutes of highlights of one selected match. So, in December, host Kenneth Wolstenholme wrote the following for RT on the show's success…
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People were still thinking in terms of a Saturday-night programme showing filmed highlights of three Football League games when Bryan Cowgill, the Head of BBC Sports Programmes, threw his bombshell among the viewing public: a 45-minute recording of one match… THE Match of the Day.
It did not take the viewers long to spot the advantages. There was better coverage from three outside-broadcast cameras than there could ever be from one film camera, however expertly handled; the use of videotape meant there was no loss of picture quality; and the 45-minute coverage of a game meant that the viewer was given a truer picture of the quality of the play. In ten-minute film reports incidents tend to be exaggerated. With the Match of the Day technique, all incidents – good and bad – are seen in their true perspective.
Although BBC2 reached only the London area when Match of the Day began, the games to be covered have never been chosen from a parochial viewpoint. We have tried to show the game which we thought would produce the best and the most thrilling football. Modestly we can claim success because this season alone we have averaged nearly five goals a match: we have seen Arsenal in magnificent form thrashing Sheffield United, and we have seen Manchester United taking it (1–5 at Tottenham) and giving it (5–0 at Leicester). That is the sort of standard we aim to keep up.
Modestly we can claim success because this season alone we have averaged nearly five goals a match
Match of the Day is very much a team job, for combining with those of us who go out into the field there are those who have the job of working indoors and editing the whole show into a tidy 45-minute slot, and then putting the programme on the air.
Not only is Match of the Day a top programme in this country. It is sold to English-speaking countries throughout the world. Australia to Egypt, 18 countries buy it, and my post is full of letters from all over the world asking about English football. These letters are written by people who keep in touch with. or who have been introduced to, English football by Match of the Day. When I visited Egypt not so long ago I was told that it was their No. 1 television programme!
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Now the home audience has grown with the spreading of the BBC2 service. More and more people can now enjoy what is the liveliest and most entertaining sports presentation in which I have ever been involved. And with this season promising the closest-fought championship duel for a long time, BBC2’s Saturday-night viewers are obviously in for some exciting football.
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