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.
TVTimes, 21st April 1968
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Page last updated November 2009