Introduction: Why BBC Television Sport?

Abstract

In August 2014, the British Broadcasting Corporation celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its longest running sports programme Match of the Day. As one would expect the festivities included a profusion of platitudes from leading British football players, celebrity fans, former presenters and football commentators. Its then presenter and former England footballer, Gary Lineker, summed up what the programme meant to him. ‘For me,’ he remarked, ‘Match of the Day is more than just a TV show – it is a national institution. After 50 years, it is an established part of Saturday night viewing and the theme tune is synonymous with the game of football itself.’ Lineker’s sentiment neatly summarised what many across the UK would agree has become the cornerstone of the BBC’s sports coverage. For a television programme to celebrate half a century of its enduring heritage is rare in the contemporary world of television. Only the astronomy programme The Sky At Night, first broadcast in 1957, has greater longevity as a BBC television programme. Scottish Television’s Scotsport ran for 51 years until it was pulled in May 2008, and the BBC’s other flagship sports programme of the twentieth century, Grandstand, lasted 49 years before being pulled in 2007.