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 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.

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 a co-commentator, ex-England star and recent manager of Arsenal, Billy Wright. 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 World Cup 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 probably 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.

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 Sheffield Wednesday 2 *fixture listed in the Times
23/Oct    Leyton Orient 2 Bury 2 *fixture listed in the Times
30/Oct    Fulham 2 Newcastle United 0 *fixture listed in the Times
06/Nov   Brentford 1 Millwall 2 *fixture listed in the Times
13/Nov   *Times now merely states "Highlights of a London League match"
20/Nov    *now 2:40-3:20pm
27/Nov    Fulham 1 Northampton Town 4 *Rodney Marsh went in goal after Tony Macedo was badly injured.
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 (???) [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 England 4 [Home Int.] *Sunday highlights, not live.
09/Apr
16/Apr
23/Apr
30/Apr    No programme this weekend
07/May   No programme this weekend
14/May   Networked coverage of the FA Cup Final - Everton 3 (Trebilcock 2, Temple) Sheffield Wednesday 2 (McCalliog, Ford)

1965/66 footnotes to be added.

Season 1966/67
20/Aug    *returned in a 2:50-3:35pm slot
27/Aug
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
12/Nov   Probably Tottenham Hotspur 3 West Ham United 4
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 West Ham United 5 *Channel TV began showing "Star Soccer" from this weekend
24/Dec    No programme this weekend
31/Dec
07/Jan
14/Jan
21/Jan
28/Jan     [FA Cup 3rd Round]
04/Feb    Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 *Westward and Channel TV drop "Star Soccer" in favour of ABC's "World of Soccer" from now on
11/Feb
18/Feb    [FA Cup 4th Round]
25/Feb
04/Mar    *TWW/Teledu Cymru began showing "Star Soccer" this weekend
11/Mar    [FA Cup 5th Round]
18/Mar
25/Mar
01/Apr
08/Apr    Probably Chelsea 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0 [FA Cup QF's]
15/Apr    England 2 (J.Charlton, Hurst) Scotland 3 (Law, Lennox, McCalliog) [Euro's Q] *Hugh Johns & Billy Wright commentating
22/Apr
29/Apr    Tottenham Hotspur 2 Nottingham Forest 1 [FA Cup SF] *played at Hillsborough
06/May   Probably West Ham United 1 Manchester United 6
13/May
20/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Robertson, Saul) Chelsea 1 (Tambling)

1966/67 footnotes to be added.

Season 1967/68
"Star Soccer" returned on Sunday 19th 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.
18/Aug
25/Aug
02/Sep
09/Sep
16/Sep
23/Sep    Probably Fulham 0 West Ham United 3
27/Sep    Tottenham Hotspur 4 Hajduk Split 3 [Cup-Winners Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg] *Hugh Johns commentating, Spurs win 6-3 on agg
30/Sep
07/Oct    West Ham United 3 Stoke City 4
14/Oct
21/Oct    Wales 0 England 3 (Peters, B.Charlton, Ball) [Euro's Q]
28/Oct    Probably Chelsea 1 West Ham United 3
04/Nov
11/Nov
18/Nov
25/Nov    Probably Arsenal 0 West Ham United 0
02/Dec    Fulham 1 Liverpool 1 *footage exists with Hugh Johns & Billy Wright commentating, a spectator ran on to the 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
13/Jan
20/Jan
27/Jan      [FA Cup 3rd Round]
03/Feb     Tottenham Hotspur 1 Manchester United 2
10/Feb
17/Feb     [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     [FA Cup 5th Round]
16/Mar     No programme this weekend *showed Motor racing from Brands Hatch
23/Mar     Probably West Ham United 0 Chelsea 1
30/Mar     Probably West Bromwich Albion 0 Liverpool 0 [FA Cup QF] *ABC most likely 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     Probably Chelsea 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
20/Apr
27/Apr     Everton 1 Leeds United 0 [FA Cup SF] *played at Old Trafford
04/May
11/May
18/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - West Bromwich Albion 1 (Astle) Everton 0 AET

1967/68 season footnotes to be added.

Email
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Page last updated January 2009