August 22 – MotD Hits The Screens

AS the new season has now kicked off BBC One is no longer forced to find some tired old B movie to show at 10.30 on a Saturday night, as the rightful owner of that spot on the schedule is back in town.

That grand old institution Match of the Day is back, and it was on this day in 1964 that the programme was broadcast for the first time.

The first airing of MotD was at 6.30pm on BBC Two and showed highlights of the First Division clash between Liverpool and Arsenal, with Liverpool winning 3-2.

Kenneth Wolstenholme was the commentator and he opened the programme with the words: “Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series on BBC Two. This afternoon we are in Beatleville…”

At the time BBC Two was only available in London so the audience for the first ever episode of MotD was about 20,000, about half the number of fans who were actually at the game at Anfield.

Audiences soon increased and by the 1966/67 season, the popularity of the world cup saw the programme move to BBC One and hit the five million viewer mark.

Over the years the programme has had many pundits and commentators, but there have only been a few long serving presenters. As well as Wolstenholme, David Coleman, Jimmy Hill, Des Lynam and now Gary Lineker have all sat in the anchorman’s hot seat.

Despite facing some tough challenges such as losing the Premiership highlights rights to ITV in 2001, the programme survived on a stripped down diet of FA Cup and international matches, which just managed to keep it going until it regained the highlights package in 2004.

Now supplemented by the excellent Match of the Day 2 hosted by the famous Baggies fan who isn’t Frank Skinner: Adrian Chiles; MotD continues to provide fans up and down the country with free football coverage, as well as the chance to try and spot yourself in the crowd by taping the show and pausing every time there is a shot of the stand you were in.

And now, over to Jimmy: