1955/56 - 1967/68
*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*
1955/56 - 1967/68
*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*
The FA Cup Final
The first Football Association Challenge Cup
final was played on 13th March 1872, a time before even motion photography
had been invented - let alone television! The first transmission of a moving
image was achieved by John Logie Baird in the UK in 1924, the BBC became
involved with television in 1930 and they began the first true public high
definition 405-line broadcasting service six years later, but only those
living in and around London could tune in and, at the time, there were
only thought to be around 2,000 "Televisor" sets in use around the entire
world. Horses passing the winning post at the Derby was the first outside
television broadcast in 1931, experiments with other sports soon followed
although it wasn't until 16th September 1937 that live football was broadcast,
and this was merely a practice match from Highbury between Arsenal and
Arsenal reserves. The first real landmark football broadcast was an England
v Scotland match on Saturday 9th April 1938 (Scotland winning 1-0 with
Tommy Walker scoring the goal on 6 minutes). Three weeks later the BBC
screened the FA Cup final between Preston North End and Huddersfield Town,
it was 0-0 after 90 minutes and went into extra-time. With one minute remaining,
commentator Thomas Woodrooffe declared "If there's a goal scored now, I'll
eat my hat", moments later Preston won a penalty which George Mutch duly
despatched to win the game 1-0, Woodrooffe was later shown eating a hat
made of cake, but sadly there was no satisfactory method for preserving
television broadcasts at the time and there is no surviving footage. The
BBC screened the following year's final, but the outbreak of World War
II then saw both television and the FA Cup suspended indefinitely. The
FA Cup final of 1946 was played shortly before television resumed, thus
the BBC began showing the final again from 1947. Ken Wolstenholme commentated
on the 1949 final and he became the no.1 choice for BBC football coverage
thereafter.
By January 1st 1950 there were still only 340,000
television licence holders and just two television transmitters (broadcasting
to Greater London and the recently added Midlands area), yet by the end
of the 1950's there were 10.5 million licence holders and 33 transmitters
now covering all but the most remote and sheltered parts of the UK. As
far as the general public were concerned, 1953 was the year in which television
truly arrived, Queen Elizabeth's coronation that year was the event that
convinced the masses that Television was now as essential as Radio. For
many, the first experience of watching football on TV was the 1953 FA Cup
final, in which Stanley Matthews and Blackpool defeated Nat Lofthouse and
Bolton Wanderers 4-3.
The first of the regional commercial television
services launched in September 1955 and it wasn't long before the London
ITV channel experimented with a live football match, showing the 2nd half
of the 12th January 1956 FA Cup 3rd Round replay between Bedford and Arsenal
on a Thursday afternoon (Arsenal won 2-1)*. Both BBC and ITV then simultaneously
broadcast the 1956 FA Cup final live (with ITV apparently using the BBC's
pictures but with their own commentator, Peter Lloyd). ITV began annual
coverage of the final from 1958 (except 1960**). Gerry Loftus commentated
on the 1958-66 finals for ITV (alongside Peter Lloyd for some), Hugh Johns
then voiced the 1967 and 1968 finals before Brian Moore took over in 1969.
*ITV also showed live 2nd half coverage
of Chelsea v Burnley on 1st February 1956 and West Ham United v Tottenham
Hotspur on 8th March 1956.
**ITV probably missed the 1960
FA Cup final because of the likely problems involved in covering two major
ob's in two days (they had covered Princess Margaret's wedding the
previous day). The 1957 final was missed at a time when ITV virtually stopped
doing ob's because of a cash crisis.
The League Cup Final
The League Cup was not introduced until season
1960/61. Initially, the final was contested over two legs and many of the
top clubs declined to take part. The competition limped on into the mid
1960's, and then - in a bid to save it - the final was switched to Wembley
in 1967 with the added promise of a place in Europe for the winners (provided
they were a top flight club). Only Liverpool and Everton refused to enter
that season and BBC1 showed highlights of the final which turned out to
be a very memorable occasion, 3rd tier Queens Park Rangers beat top flight
West Bromwich Albion after coming from two goals down to win 3-2. ITV then
began showing highlights of the Wembley finals from 1968 onwards.
The Charity Shield
The origins of the Charity Shield dates back
to 1898 when the best amateur team met the top professional team to contest
the 'Sheriff of London Charity Shield', the annually awarded trophy was
replaced by the current 'Charity Shield' in 1908 when the fixture pitted
the Football League champions against the champions of the Southern League.
1913 saw an Amateurs XI take on a Professionals XI and it was only from
1930 that the shield was contested by the Football League champions and
the winners of the FA Cup. The Chairy Shield was first scheduled as a pre-season
match from 1959, but it would not be held at Wembley until 1974. BBCtv
showed live coverage of the 2nd half in both 1962 (Ipswich v Spurs) and
1963 (Everton v Manchester United). BBC2 screened highlights of the 1967
match (Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur) as the very first football
match to be broadcast in colour.
This page only deals with the finals, ITV coverage
of earlier rounds is dealt with in the relevant club's ITV regional page,
see menu here.
ITV finals are in white, BBC or non-televised finals are in grey.
Season by season details to be added soon
1955/56
FA Cup Final
Sat 5th May Manchester
City 3 (Hayes, Dyson, Johnstone) Birmingham City 1 (Kinsey)
ITV LIVE
Peter Lloyd, Billy Wright & Frank Swift
*Live on ATV London and ABC
Northern & Midland from 2:30-4:50pm with "The Road to Wembley" at 2:30-2:40pm.
This was the North's very first weekend of commerical television, Granada
had begun the North's weekday service two days earlier and on Friday evening
they interviewed a crowd of Manchester City supporters about to depart
for Wembley. BBC tv also showed the cup final live from 2:30-4:50pm (Ken
Wolstenholme commentating) with a break for Motor racing at half-time and
they screened telerecorded highlights the following day at 2-3pm. It was
Manchester City's first FA Cup win since 1934, yet it turned out to be
a trajic month for their German goalkeeper and former prisoner of war Bert
Trautmann, not only did he break his neck in the match, his six year old
son was struck and killed by a car in Cheshire three weeks after the final
whilst Bert was away in Germany.
1956/57
FA Cup Final
Sat 4th May Aston
Villa 2 (McParland 2) Manchester United 1 (T.Taylor)
BBC LIVE
Ken Wolstenholme
*No coverage on ITV this year
who instead showed "Variety Showtime" from a US airforce base in Lancashire.
BBC coverage was their first programme on air that day, from 2:15-5:00pm.
Highlights were included on "Sports Special" at 10:15-10:45pm and a repeat
of the match was broadcast on Sunday afternoon at 2:50-4:15pm.
1957/58
FA Cup Final
Sat 3rd May Bolton
Wanderers 2 (Lofthouse 2) Manchester United 0
ITV LIVE
Peter Lloyd, Gerry Loftus & Berkeley Smith
*ITV's "FA Cup Final" programme
went out at 2:30-4:55pm (ATV and ABC only, not Scottish or TWW). The BBC
were on air from Wembley at the earlier time of 2:15pm. BBC highlights
were included on "Sports Special" at 10:45-11:15pm and they then showed
a repeat of the match in full on Sunday afternoon at 2:30-4:15pm.
1958/59
FA Cup Final
Sat 2nd May Nottingham
Forest 2 (Dwight, Wilson) Luton Town 1 (Pacey)
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus, Peter Lloyd
*ITV had "Soccer TV XI v Frankie
Vaughan's Boys Clubs" at 1:20-2:20pm, then - following "Silverstone", live
coverage from Wembley from 2:50-4:55. BBC coverage was included on "Grandstand"
(11:30-5:05pm) and included a "Keep Fit Demonstration" (presumably on the
Wembley pitch) at 2:40-2:50pm. The BBC also showed highlights on "Sportsview"
at 10:20-10:50pm and repeated most of the action on Sunday afternoon at
3:00-4:15pm.
1959/60
FA Cup Final
Sat 7th May Wolverhampton
Wanderers 3 (Deeley 2, McGrath (og)) Blackburn Rovers 0
BBC LIVE
Ken Wolstenholme
*No coverage on ITV this year,
probably due to their covering a Royal Wedding the previous day. BBC included
live coverage of the Cup final on "Grandstand" (12:45-4:55pm) and had highlights
at 10:10-10:40pm, they also showed a repeat of the whole match on Sunday
afternoon at 2:00-3:35pm.
1960/61
FA Cup Final
Sat 6th May Tottenham
Hotspur 2 (Smith, Dyson) Leicester City 0
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus
*ITV coverage was part of "All
Star Afternoon" from 1:05-5pm, the programme also including Wrestling.
The BBC included the match on "Grandstand" (11:15-4:55pm) which also billed
Golf and Swimming. BBCtv also showed a repeat of the whole match on Sunday
afternoon at 2:00-3:35pm and may have included highlights on "Sports Special"
on Saturday night at 10:22-11pm.
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Tue 22nd Aug 1961
Rotherham United 2 (Webster, Kirkman) Aston Villa 0
*The first League Cup tournament
of 1960/61 wasn't actually completed until the early stages of the following
season. No TV coverage was scheduled.
2nd Leg
Tue 5th Sep 1961
Aston Villa 3 (O'Neill, Burrows, McParland) Rotherham United 0 [AET]
*No TV coverage scheduled.
1961/62
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Thu 26th Apr Rochdale 0 Norwich
City 3 (Lythgoe 2, Punton)
*No TV coverage scheduled.
2nd Leg
Tue 1st May Norwich City 1
(Hill) Rochdale 0
*No TV coverage scheduled.
FA Cup Final
Sat 5th May Tottenham
Hotspur 3 (Greaves, Smith, Blanchflower (pen)) Burnley 1 (Robson)
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus, Peter Lloyd
*ITV had an "All Star Afternoon
from Wembley" from 1:20pm, but Wrestling took up a large portion of pre-match
coverage before they focussed on the Wembley pitch from 2:40pm. BBC coverage
was included on "Grandstand" which began at 11:15am, they had a look back
at last year's final at 1:46pm and also included Golf, Swimming and Boxing.
Jimmy Greaves scored early in the game to give Spurs the lead on 3, Robson
equalised for Burnley on 50 but Spurs were immediately back in front through
Smith on 51, a penalty converted by Blanchflower sealed the win for Spurs
on 80. BBCtv repeated the match in full on the Sunday afternoon at 2:10-3:40pm.
1962/63
Charity Shield
Sat 11th Aug Ipswich Town 1
(Stephenson) Tottenham Hotpsur 5 (Smith, Greaves 2, White, Medwin)
Portman Road
BBC 2nd Half LIVE
*Included on "Grandstand", coverage
began around 4pm.
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Thu 23rd May Birmingham City
3 (Leek 2, Bloomfield) Aston Villa 1 (Thomson)
*No TV coverage scheduled. Leek
openend the scoring for Birmingham on 14 and grabbed his 2nd on 52, Bloomfield
made it 3-0 on 66, Thomson gave Villa hope for the 2nd leg with a late
goal on 83.
2nd Leg
Mon 27th May Aston Villa 0
Birmingham City 0
*No TV coverage scheduled.
FA Cup Final
Sat 25th May Manchester
United 3 (Law, Herd 2) Leicester City 1 (Keyworth)
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus
*ITV coverage began at 2:40pm.
BBC coverage was included on "Grandstand" from 12 noon and included Golf,
Boxing and Show Jumping. Law put United ahead on 30, Herd made it 2-0 on
57, Keyworth pulled one back for Leicester on 80, but Herd sealed victory
for United by making it 3-1 on 85. The BBC repeated most of the game on
Sunday afternoon at 3:50-5:15pm.
1963/64
Charity Shield
Sat 17th Aug Everton 4 (Gabriel,
Stevens, Vernon, Temple) Manchester United 0
Goodison Park
BBC 2nd Half LIVE
?????
*BBC tv showed the 2nd half
LIVE during "Summer Grandstand".
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Wed 15th Apr Stoke City 1 (Bebbington)
Leciester City 1 (Gibson)
*No TV coverage scheduled.
2nd Leg
Wed 22nd Apr Leicester City
3 (Stringfellow, Gibson, Riley) Stoke City 2 (Violet, Kinnell)
*No TV coverage scheduled.
FA Cup Final
Sat 2nd May West
Ham United 3 (Sissons, Hurst, Boyce) Preston North End 2 (Holden, Dawson)
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus
*ITV coverage of the cup final
was included on "Big Afternoon Out" which began at 1:15pm and also
included wrestling, BBC1's "Grandstand" began at 11:30pm and they included
Golf, Boxing and Ice Hockey. Holden put Preston ahead on 10, but lead was
short lived with Sissons equalising on 12, Dawson restored North End's
lead just before HT on 43. West Ham equalised through Hurst on 69 and with
extra-time looming, Boyce netted a late winner for the Hammers on 90. BBC1
showed highlights the following afternoon from 3:15-4:30pm.
1964/65
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Mon 15th Mar Chelsea 3 (Tambling,
Venables, McCreadie) Leicester City 2 (Appleton, Goodfellow)
*No TV coverage scheduled. Tambling
put Chelsea ahea don 33, Appleton levelled for Leicester just after HT
on 46, Venables restored Chelsea's advantage on 70 but Leicester
came back again with Goodfellow making it 2-2 on 75, McCreadie got the
final goal on 81 to give Chelsea a 3-2 1st leg lead.
2nd Leg
Mon 5th Apr Leicester City
0 Chelsea 0
*No TV coverage scheduled.
FA Cup Final
Sat 1st May Liverpool
2 (Hunt, St John) Leeds United 1 (Bremner) [AET]
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus
*ITV coverage was now part of
"World of Sport" (which had begun in January), the cup final edition began
at 12:50pm, they had wrestling at 1:20pm and at half-time, but otherwise
stuck to football. Over on BBC1, inbetween Golf, Swimming and Racing, "Grandtand"
had Danny Blanchflower in the Wembley dressing rooms at 11:30am, "Meet
The Fans" at 12:30pm, a film of Stanley Matthews' testimonial match at
12:35pm and "Meet The Finalists/Progress To Wembley" at 2:10pm before joining
Wembley in time for the Community singing at 2:25pm, Ken Wolstenholme was
the BBC commentator. The match ended 0-0 after 90 minutes and so extra-time
was played, Roger Hunt put Liverpool ahead on 93 but Billy Bremner quickly
equalised on 95, Ian St John scored Liverpool's winning goal on 113. BBC2
broadcast "Match of the Day: FA Cup Final" at 10:10-11:00pm (The Times
says 7:00-7:50pm). There was no 2nd chance to see the action on ITV.
1965/66
League Cup Final
1st Leg
Wed 9th Mar West Ham United
2 (Moore, Byrne) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Astle)
*No TV coverage scheduled.
2nd Leg
Wed 23rd Mar West Bromwich
Albion 4 (Williams, Clark, Brown, Kaye) West Ham United 1 (Peters)
*No TV coverage scheduled.
FA Cup Final
Sat 14th May Everton
3 (Trebilcock 2, Temple) Sheffield Wednesday 2 (McCalliog, Ford)
ITV LIVE
Gerry Loftus & Jimmy Hill
*ITV's "World of Sport" introduced
by Eamonn Andrews began at 1pm, after meeting cup final personalities they
had Wrestling from 1:20-2:25pm before joining Wembley at 2:27pm. BBC1's
"Grandstand" started at 11:15am with David Coleman talking to Bobby Moore
(captain of the cup winning side two years earlier), they included cricket
as well as cup final build up - "Meet The Fans" was at 12:30pm, "How The
Finalists Reached Wembley" at 1:30pm and "Meet The Finalists" at 2:15pm
before joining live Wembley coverage with Ken Wolstenholme commentating.
The Owls led 2-0 at one stage through goals by McCalliog on 4 and Ford
on 57 but Mike Trebilcock became the first black player to score in the
Cup final on 59 and then equalised with his 2nd on 64, Temple got Everton's
winner on 74. BBC2 showed highlights at 10:10-10:55pm. ATV London showed
Sunday afternoon highlights at 2:40-3:30pm.
1966/67
League Cup Final
Sat 4th Mar Queens Park Rangers
3 (Morgan, Marsh, Lazarus) West Bromwich Albion 2 (Clark 2)
Wembley
BBC Highlights
Ken Wolstenholme
*BBC1 showed highlights on "Match
of the Day" at 10:05-10:55pm (the final being the only game featured).
Clive Clark put Albion 2-0 ahead with goals on 7 and 36, Roger Morgan pulled
one back for Rangers on 63, Rodney Marsh equalised on 75, Mark Lazarus
netted the winner for Rangers on 81.
FA Cup Final
Sat 20th May Tottenham
Hotspur 2 (Robertson, Saul) Chelsea 1 (Tambling)
ITV LIVE
Hugh Johns & Billy Wright
*ITV's "World of Sport" coverage
began at 12:30pm, regular host Eamonn Andrews introduced the show 'picking
up surprise guests' and the roving reporters were Richard Davies (yet to
adopt the more familiar moniker Dickie Davies) and Peter Lorenzo. Wrestling
was shown from 12:50-1:50pm and Racing from 1:55-2:05pm and 2:25-2:35pm.
Robertson opened the scoring for Spurs on 40, Saul made it 2-0 on 67, Tambling
netted a late consolation for Chelsea on 85. BBC1 screened Saturday night
highlights on "Match of the Day" at 10:00-10:50pm, ITV showed Sunday highlights
at2:50-3:30pm with ATV viewers in London watching "Star Soccer" and ABC
viewers in the North & Midlands having their own "World of Soccer"
presentation, both programmes used Hugh Johns commentary, other regions
took one or the other except Southern, Scottish and Grampian who opted
out.
1967/68
Charity Shield
Sat 12th Aug Manchester United
3 (Charlton 2, Law) Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Robertson, Jennings, Saul)
Old Trafford
BBC Highlights
Ken Wolstenholme
*The first ever broadcast of
colour football highlights on television was of this Charity Shield match
on BBC2 at 10:00-10:45pm. BBC2 had become the first European TV channel
to begin broadcasting in colour with scheduled colour programmes listed
from 1st July 1967. Sadly the videotape of this historic football broadcast
was not kept and only a black & white telerecording survives.
League Cup Final
Sat 2nd Mar Leeds United 1
(Cooper) Arsenal 0
Wembley
ITV Highlights
Hugh Johns
*The first League Cup final
to be covered by ITV. "World of Sport" previewed the final at 2:10-2:25pm,
Sunday highlights appeared on ATV London's "Star Soccer" and ABC's "World
of Soccer" at 2:30-3:20pm with other regions taking one or the other except
in Scotland. "World of Soccer" may have had Barry Davies commentating for
them. Terry Cooper scored the only goal for Leeds on 20 minutes.
FA Cup Final
Sat 18th May West
Bromwich Albion 1 (Astle) Everton 0 [AET]
ITV LIVE
Hugh Johns & Billy Wright
*This was the first FA Cup final
to be shown in colour, though only on BBC2 (as BBC1 and ITV were still
black & white channels on VHF only), colour coverage ran from 2:30-5pm.
Many TV sets were not equipped to receive BBC2 on UHF at the time and so
BBC1 simulcast coverage on "Grandstand" which began at 11:15-11:30am with
"The Wembley Scene", "People at the Match" was at 1:30-1:55pm, "How They
Got There" at 1:55-2:15pm, "Meet The Teams" from 2:15-2:25pm, "Inside Wembley"
2:25-2:50 and then over to the commentator Ken Wolstenholme. ITV (except
in the Scottish region) broadcast live coverage as part of "World of Sport"
with "FA Cup Final Scene" at 1:40-1:50pm and again at 2:05-2:25pm, then
continuous coverage from 2:35-4:45pm except for Racing results at HT. Jeff
Astle scored the only goal to win it for West Brom three minutes into extra-time.
BBC1 showed highlights on "Match of the Day" at 10:05-10:55pm, ATV London
showed highlights on "Star Soccer" at 2:30-3:20pm on Sunday, ABC had their
own "World of Soccer" presentation at the same time, the other regions
took one or the other except Scottish who had their own 30 minutes highlights
show (they had also shown 10 minutes towards the end of Saturday's "Scotsport
Special").
Gerry Loftus article - part
1 / part
2
Email
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Page last updated November 2009
