Star Soccer
(London version, 1965-1968)

ATV LONDON football coverage
ATV were the original weekend broadcasters to commercial viewers in the London area when ITV launched in 1955, yet it took a whole decade before ATV began televising Football league matches in October 1965. Some other ITV regional stations (Tyne Tees and Anglia) had been covering their local teams since September 1962 whilst BBC2 had introduced Match of the Day in August 1964, but none of these channels had the potential audience reach of ATV London (BBC2 could then only be received by those with brand new sets and UHF aerials). The opening edition of Star Soccer on 17th October 1965 would have been the first opportunity for millions of fans to watch weekend highlights since the demise of BBCtv's Sports Special*.

*A list of known matches covered by Sports Special is available on our 'Odds & Ends' page.

Commetators & presenters
The original Star Soccer commentator/presenter was Peter Lorenzo, Hugh Johns then arrived from TWW (Television Wales and West) and he was joined by co-commentator Billy Wright (ex-England star and recent manager of Arsenal). Both Lorenzo and Wright went on to secure executive roles within ITV Sport whilst Johns became ITV's chief commentator (voicing 4 consecutive World Cup finals). 1966 was, of course, England's turn at hosting and winning the World Cup, resulting in a surge in both attendances and viewing figures, Match of the Day was switched from BBC2 to the widely available BBC1 and with other ITV regions now joining in the fun, the typical armchair fan had quickly gone from seeing virtually no coverage whatsoever to watching weekly highlights on Saturday nights AND Sunday afternoons.

The London teams 1965-1968
London had five top flight clubs at the time Star Soccer began, of which Tottenham Hotspur had to be considered top dogs having become the first club in the 20th century to win the coveted League and FA Cup double just four years earlier, Bill Nicholson's Spurs then retained the FA Cup in 1962 before going on to become the first English team to win a European trophy by lifting the Cup-Winners Cup in 1963 with a team including England's biggest star of the period - Signed from Chelsea, Jimmy Greaves was the top flight's leading scorer in 4 of the 5 season's before Star Soccer came on air. However, Tottenham's claim to be the capital's chief club was now being challenged by West Ham and Chelsea, the Hammers had won the FA Cup in 1964 and went on to repeat Spurs European achievement in the Cup-Winners Cup (this time at Wembley), whilst Chelsea - following their promotion in 1963 - had finished 5th and then 3rd with their geographical home ensuring them, more than any other, an association with 'swinging London' (the epicentre of global popular culture in the mid-1960's).
The opening Star Soccer season of 1965/66 saw Chelsea finish as the highest placed London club with West Ham soon becoming the focus of national attention following the World Cup as both of England's scorers in the final (Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters) as well the captain who lifted the Jules Rimet trophy (Bobby Moore) all plied their trade in the claret & blue. Arsenal, by their own standards, were very much in the doldrums during this period having not won anything since 1953, the 1965/66 season saw the Gunners finish in their lowest position since 1930. Fulham had, for the most part, struggled since their promotion in 1959 and they again narrowly avoided the drop in 20th position (this in the days of two down from a league of 22).
ATV London's 2nd Division contingent was initially a choice of three; Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient. Millwall swapped places with Orient for the following season which saw 3rd Division Queens Park Rangers (and upcoming superstar Rodney Marsh) win the first League Cup final to be held at Wembley and go on to win promotion as champions. That same year of 1967 saw the first all-London FA Cup final of the century - a timely antidote to Northern England's recent domination of League and Cup - Spurs beat Chelsea to win the trophy for the 3rd time in seven season's. Arsenal were now improving and reached the 2nd Wembley League Cup final in 1968 (this time to be televised by ATV London) but the Gunners lost to Leeds and the top five league places in '67/68 were all taken by Northern teams, as were both dressing rooms at the FA Cup final. Fulham were finally relegated, but were surprisingly replaced by QPR who were now looking forward to their first ever season among the elite.
Other London TV area league clubs in the lower divisions during this period included Watford, Brentford and Luton Town, it's also possible that Gillingham, Southend, Oxford and Brighton were paid a visit by ATV cameras.

The end of ATV LONDON
Star Soccer's run lasted for eighteen season's, though only three of these were seen in London. In July 1968 the ITV franchise map was redrawn, ATV had been awarded a seven-day Midlands contract, leaving London Weekend Television (LWT) to take over Friday night/Saturday/Sunday broadcasting to the capital - which in turn heralded the introduction of The Big Match and Brian Moore (see here), whilst Hugh Johns and Billy Wright moved with ATV to the Midlands (here).

What matches were shown
The following lists detail all the matches recorded by ATV London cameras for local highlights, the practice of showing a 2nd/3rd match courtesy of other region's didn't begin until after ATV London's demise. Given dates are for when the fixture was played (not the broadcast). Blanks* denote that we don't know what game was shown. Known mid-week London based matches covered by Rediffusion (who provided the London weekday commercial TV service) are included in grey, networked ITV coverage of other matches of interest are in italics.

*Do please e-mail upthemaggies@hotmail.com if you are able to fill in any blanks/missing scorers.

Midweek matches covered by Rediffusion 1956-1965
03/Jan/1956    Southern Junior Floolit Cup Final *Probably 2nd half live (or some of it) West Ham v Chelsea, Danny Blanchflower commentated
12/Jan/1956    LIVE 2nd Half - Bedford Town 1 (Yates) Arsenal 2 (Groves, Tapscott) [FA Cup R3 Re] *AET, Kent Walton? BBC highlights from 10:45pm
01/Feb/1956   LIVE 2nd Half - Chelsea 1 (Bentley) Burnley 1 (Pilkington) [FA Cup R4 Replay] *Kent Walton commentary
08/Mar/1956   LIVE 2nd Half - West Ham United 1 (Dare) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Harmer, Duquemin) [FA Cup QF Replay] *3:50-4:25pm, Walton?
19/Mar/1957   LIVE 2nd Half - Chelsea 2 (Allen, Gibbs) Spartak 0 [Friendly] *networked 8.30-9.30pm
23/Mar/1960   LIVE 2nd Half - Football League 1 (Hooper) Scotttish League 0 *'Floodlit football’ from Highbury, 8:25-9:29pm
05/Apr/1962   LIVE 2nd Half - Tottenham H. 2 (R.Smith, Blanchflower(pen)) Benfica 1 (Aguas) [European Cup SF 2L] *Barcelona win 4-3 on agg

Season 1965/66
"Star Soccer" was first broadcast in a 2:15-2:50pm slot on Sunday 17th October 1965, London region only, in 405-line black & white on VHF.
16/Oct    West Ham United 4 (Sissons, Britt 2, Peters) Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Brown(og), Wilkinson)
23/Oct    Leyton Orient 2 (Webb, Price) Bury 2 (Bell, Pointer)
30/Oct    Fulham 2 (Key, Leggat) Newcastle United 0
06/Nov   Brentford 1 (Higginson) Millwall 2 (Curran, Wilson)
13/Nov
20/Nov    *now 2:40-3:20pm
27/Nov    Fulham 1 (Haynes) Northampton Town 4 (Brown 3, Hunt) *Rodney Marsh went in goal after Tony Macedo broke his jaw on 25mins.
04/Dec
11/Dec
18/Dec    No programme this weekend *showed Rugby Union
01/Jan
08/Jan
15/Jan     No programme this weekend
22/Jan     No programme this weekend *FA Cup 3rd Round day
29/Jan
05/Feb
12/Feb    No programme this weekend *FA Cup 4th Round day, ATV showed Rugby Union
16/Feb    Chelsea 2 (Graham, Osgood) AC Milan 1 (Sormani) [Fairs Cup R3L2] *Networked Rediffusion highlights.
                    Barry Davies commentating on TV for the first time, Jimmy Greaves was co-commentator. 3-3 on agg. Replay in Milan was 1-1, Chelsea through on toss of coin.
19/Feb
26/Feb
05/Mar    No programme this weekend *FA Cup 5th Round day
                    *a tape of Chelsea 0 Hull 1 (Wagstaff) exists with Hugh Johns commentating (a test run for Johns?), Anglia showed this match (poss with their own commentator)
12/Mar
19/Mar    No programme this weekend *showed Rugby Union
26/Mar    *this was FA Cup QF day, Star Soccer were billed to show a league match
02/Apr    Networked coverage of Scotland 3 (Law, Johnstone 2) England 4 (Hurst, Hunt 2, R Charlton) [Home Int.] *Sunday highlights, not live.
09/Apr
16/Apr
23/Apr
30/Apr    No programme this weekend
07/May   No programme this weekend

Tommy Docherty's Chelsea were this season's top London side finishing 5th, the Blues were also FA Cup semi-finalists and reached the last 16 of the Fairs Cup, going out to AC Milan in a replay. Arsenal's lowest position in 36 years (14th) saw manager Billy Wright dismissed in the summer, Bill Nicholson's Spurs were 8th, Ron Greenwood's West Ham 12th and Vic Buckingham's Fulham narrowly escaped the drop in 20th. In the 2nd tier; Dick Graham's Palace finished 11th and Bob Stokoe's Charlton 16th. Dave Sexton left struggling Orient in December and they were ultimately relegated in 22nd. Down in the 3rd tier; Millwall were promoted as runners-up but manager Billy Gray resigned in April, QPR just missed out in 3rd with Les Allen netting 30 league goals, Watford were 12th and Brentford were relegated in 23rd. Fringe club Luton were 6th in the 4th tier with John O'Rourke scoring 32 times.

Season 1966/67
"Star Soccer" returned in a 2:50-3:35pm slot
20/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Mullery, Gilzean, Greaves) Leeds United 1 (Giles)
27/Aug    Chelsea 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0
03/Sep
10/Sep
17/Sep
24/Sep
01/Oct
08/Oct
15/Oct
22/Oct    Showed Northern Ireland 0 England 2 (Hunt, Peters) [Euro's Q]
29/Oct
05/Nov   Chelsea 1 (Hollins) Manchester United 3 (Aston 2, Best)
12/Nov   Probably Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Greaves (pen), Venables, Gilzean) West Ham United 4 (Byrne, Sissons, Brabrook, Hurst)
19/Nov
26/Nov
03/Dec    *Westward began showing "Star Soccer" from this weekend
10/Dec    *Southern showed this too, normally they produced their own programme which perhaps suggests Fulham 3 Southampton 1 was the game covered
17/Dec    Probably Chelsea 5 (Baldwin, Hateley, Tambling 2(1pen), Cooke) West Ham United 5 (Brabrook, Peters, Sissons 2, Byrne)
                    *Channel TV began showing "Star Soccer" from this weekend (Sunday 18th)
24/Dec    No programme this weekend
31/Dec    West Ham United 0 Leicester City 1 (Sinclair)
07/Jan     Arsenal 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Robertson, Gilzean)
14/Jan     West Ham United 1 (Hurst) Stoke City 1 (Burrows)
21/Jan     Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Geaves, Jones) Burnley 0
28/Jan     Watford 0 Liverpool 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
*Westward and Channel TV drop "Star Soccer" in favour of ABC's "World of Soccer" from now on
04/Feb    Arsenal 2 (Armstrong, Graham) Chelsea 1 (Tambling)
11/Feb    Tottenham Hotspur 4 (Gilzean, Greaves, Jones 2) Fulham 2 (Haynes, Clarke)
18/Feb    Showed Southern coverage of Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Turner) Chelsea 1 (Tambling) [FA Cup 4th Round]
25/Feb    Fulham 2 (Barrett, Yeats(og))  Liverpool 2 (St John, Strong)
04/Mar    Chelsea 0 Fulham 0 *TWW/Teledu Cymru began showing "Star Soccer" this weekend
11/Mar    Chelsea 2 (Tambling, Hateley) Sheffield United 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
18/Mar    Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves) Chelsea 1 (Hamilton) *youngest player to play & score on Chelsea debut aged 16 years 138 days.
25/Mar    Showed Southern coverage of Southampton 4 (Paine, Brown(og), Davies, Chivers) Fulham 2 (Earle, Clarke)
01/Apr
08/Apr    Chelsea 1 (Baldwin) Sheffield Wednesday 0 [FA Cup QF]
12/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Venables 2, Gilzean, Greaves 2, Saul) Birmingham City 0 [FA Cup QF Replay] *Networked Rediffusion highlights
15/Apr    England 2 (J.Charlton, Hurst) Scotland 3 (Law, Lennox, McCalliog) [Euro's Q] *Hugh Johns & Billy Wright commentating
22/Apr    Arsenal 1 (Storey) Nottingham Forest 1 (Moore)
29/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Greaves, Saul) Nottingham Forest 1 (Hennesey) [FA Cup SF] *played at Hillsborough
06/May   West Ham United 1 (Charles) Manchester United 6 (Law 2, Best, Charlton, Crerand, Foulkes)
13/May   Fulham 2 (Clarke, Earle) Nottingham Forest 3 (Chapman 2, Barnwell)
20/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Robertson, Saul) Chelsea 1 (Tambling)

Spurs were London's pride in 1966/67, finishing 3rd and winning the FA Cup by beating Chelsea in the final, Jimmy Greaves netted 25 league goals. Arsenal had, surprisingly, appointed their physio as manager in the summer, but Bertie Mee oversaw an improved final position of 7th. Chelsea were 9th, West Ham 16th and Fulham 18th with 24 of their league goals scored by Allan Clarke. In the 2nd tier, Bert Head was now manager at Palace who finished 7th, Millwall were 8th and Charlton 19th. In the 3rd tier it was an amazing season for Alec Stock's QPR who were not only promoted as champions, they also won the first Wembley League Cup final and Rodney Marsh topped the 3rd tier scoring charts with 30 goals, Ken Furphy's Watford just missed out in 3rd, Orient - now with Dick Graham in charge - were 14th.

Season 1967/68
"Star Soccer" returned on Sunday 20th August, 2:50-3:40pm. The Westward and Channel regions also re-joined the programme alongside TWW/Teledu Cymru, but by mid-October all three channels had switched to ABC's "World of Soccer", only to switch back again later in the season.
19/Aug    Fulham 1 (Nichols) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Dougan, Bailey)
26/Aug    Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Mullery, Greaves 2(1pen), Saul, Jones) West Ham United 1 (Sissons)
02/Sep    Arsenal 1 (Graham) Coventry City 1 (Gould)
09/Sep    Crystal Palace 3 (Woodruff, Byrne) Charlton Athletic 0
16/Sep    Arsenal 4 (Radford, Neill(pen), Graham, Addison) Tottenham Hotspur 0
23/Sep    Fulham 0 West Ham United 3 (Hurst, Moore, Sissons)
27/Sep    Tottenham 4 (Robertson 2, Gilzean, Venables) Hajduk Split 3 (Vardic, Musovic,Hlevenjak(pen)) [Cup-Winners Cup R1 L2] *Hugh Johns comm, 6-3 on agg
30/Sep    Crystal Palace 1 (Long) Queens Park Rangers 0
07/Oct    West Ham United 3 (Hurst 2, Peters) Stoke City 4 (Burrows 2, Dobing 2) *Stoke come from 3-0 down at HT.
14/Oct    Millwall 1 (Weller) Aston Villa 2 (Greenhalgh, Godfrey)
21/Oct    Wales 0 England 3 (Peters, B.Charlton, Ball) [Euro's Q]
28/Oct     Chelsea 1 (Osgood) West Ham United 3 (Dear, Hurst, Peters)
04/Nov    Showed ABC coverage of Wolverhampton W. 2 (Knowles 2) Coventry City 0
11/Nov    Chelsea 3 (Hollins, Boyle, Osgood) Sheffield Wednesday 0
18/Nov    Showed ABC coverage of Lecicester City 2 (Sinclair(pen), Large) Arsenal 2 (Radford, Johnston)
25/Nov    Arsenal 0 West Ham United 0
02/Dec    Fulham 1 (Clarke) Liverpool 1 (Hateley) *Johns & Wright comm, spectator ran onto pitch and hit Jimmy Conway.
09/Dec    Abandoned match - Arsenal 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0 *ref called this one off after 43mins due to snow
16/Dec    Probably Tottenham Hotspur 0 Leicester City 1
23/Dec    No programme this weekend
30/Dec
06/Jan      Fulham 0 Leeds United 5 (Greenhoff 3, Jones 2)
13/Jan      Leeds United 5 (Jones, Hibbett, Lorimer, Madeley 2) Southampton 0 *Intended match likely postponed (only 4 top flight games played)
20/Jan      Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Gilzean) Arsenal 0
27/Jan      Manchester United 2 (Best, Charlton) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers 2) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *Most likely ABC coverage with Hugh Johns for ATV
03/Feb     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers) Manchester United 2 (Charlton, Best)
10/Feb
17/Feb     Chelsea 1 Norwich City 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
24/Feb     Scotland 1 (Hughes) England 1 (Peters) [Euro's Q]
02/Mar     Networked coverage of the League Cup Final - Arsenal 0 Leeds United 1 (Cooper)
09/Mar     Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves) Liverpool 1 (Hateley) [FA Cup 5th Round]
16/Mar     No programme this weekend *showed Motor racing from Brands Hatch
23/Mar     West Ham United 0 Chelsea 1 (Osgood)
30/Mar     West Bromwich Albion 0 Liverpool 0 [FA Cup QF]*ABC may have covered Leeds 1 Sheff Utd 0, BBC had the other two QF's
06/Apr     No programme this weekend *showed Motor racing from Brands Hatch
13/Apr     Chelsea 2 (Houseman, Baldwin) Tottenham Hotspur 0
20/Apr     Watford 2 Torquay United 1
27/Apr     Everton 1 (Morrissey(pen)) Leeds United 0 [FA Cup SF] *played at Old Trafford
04/May    Queens Park Rangers 2 (I.Morgan, Leach) Birmingham City 0
11/May    Luton Town 2 (Rioch, Whittaker) Brentford 1 (Moore(og)) *Luton presented with 4th Division Championship trophy

Tommy Docherty resigned from Chelsea in September, Dave Sexton replaced him and the Blues finished 6th, Spurs were back in Europe in the Cup-winners-cup but lost out on away goals in the last 16 to Lyon, whilst in the league they finished 7th with Jimmy Greaves chipping in with 23 goals. Arsenal were 9th and reached the League Cup final but lost to Leeds, West Ham were 12th. Fulham sacked Vic Buckingham half way through the season, but replacement Bobby Robson could not prevent relegation in 22nd place. In the 2nd tier; QPR achieved a notable 2nd successive promotion as runners-up to reach the top flight for the first time in their history, Millwall were 7th and Palace 11th. A change of manager at Charlton saw Eddie Farmani replace Bob Stokoe in September and they finished 15th. Down in the 3rd tier; Watford ended the campaign in 6th, Orient were a lowly 18th. In the 4th tier; Allan Brown's Luton were promoted as champions with Bruce Rioch their top scorer on 24.

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Page last updated November 2009