Happy Birthday Match of the Day.

 Happy Birthday Match of the Day.

It only seems like yesterday and yet, quite clearly, it wasn't because it was 60 years ago on a late August Saturday tea time that one programme made its debut appearance on BBC 2 and a nation was startled, stunned into stupefied silence but then there was an excitement it could hardly control. Match of the Day, TV footballing heaven to all of football's most enthusiastic and loyal, hardcore supporters, has been a staple diet for fans all across Britain who now take the programme for granted but feel very privileged to be a part of when the famous signature tune tinkles out every Saturday night.

Today, Match of the Day, now on late night TV, celebrates its 60th birthday. There is still a freshness and originality about the programme that will never fade but now it's in colour and can be seen at any time of your choosing thanks to our modern day electronic gadgets. But back in 1964, the world was still in black and white, a monochrome monument that, to  21st century eyes, must have looked both tired, grey, wizened, grizzled, grainy, and quite frankly, very dull. But thank goodness for evolution and progress.

Now Match of the Day is on both Saturday and Sunday night so we're almost spoilt for choice. No longer do we have to wait until Monday morning before delving into the redtop papers and broadsheets - although even broadsheets are very much extinct, if not endangered species. Social media has sadly rendered Match of the Day pointless in a world of TV modernists where everything now has immediacy and accessibility rather than historic Teleprinters chattering out results on BBC One's sports magazine programme, Grandstand.

But let's turn back the clock to that fabled day in August 1964. Kenneth Wolstenholme, by then a well known football commentator, held his microphone in front of him at Anfield like a man who couldn't wait to open up his birthday present. Wolstenholme spoke with that plummy, precise and fastidious accent that the BBC almost insisted on after the Second World War. The BBC newsreaders, including the likes of Robert Dougall, Kenneth Kendall and Richard Baker, had embraced the vowels and consonants with a tenderness that most viewers had come to expect of them.

Wolstenholme would be there on that historic and timeless day when West Ham captain Bobby Moore and his World Cup colleagues of 1966 leapt around the old Wembley like excitable playground children who'd just been told they were going to grammar school and probably university in later years. Wolstenholme spoke with all the assurance and economical eloquence of a sergeant major barking out orders to a soldier's parade. He was the ideal choice for that far off day in 1964 because everything felt right during that pivotal moment in BBC broadcasting history. 

Match of the Day's first match was Liverpool against Arsenal at Anfield and, little did we know it at the time, but football would receive its first Saturday evening of weekly exposure and publicity on TV screens that were almost as small as goldfish bowls won at your local fairground. In front of a very limited audience in those days, Match of the Day made its first inroads into our tea time viewing. 

After those early evening starters, consisting of Dixon of Dock Green and the Black and White Minstrel Show, Match of the Day held its breath. Dad loosened his work belts and braces, cleaned his hands thoroughly, tucked into the egg and chips that his loving wife had just made for him. Then the Pools coupon was carefully picked up from a mahogany cabinet and table that mum and dad had been given at their wedding. Tonight though, would be different. It's Match of the Day and dad was in his element.

Football would be revolutionary, life changing, dominating our sporting horizon, dictating our Saturday evening's schedule. For a while we had to settle for, quite literally, the one match in the old First Division. In later years experimentation gradually crept into the programme with slow motion replays, thorough analysis from Wolstenholme and then, more importantly, match details. With his fellow co- commentator Wally Barnes, who had served Arsenal with such distinction, Wolstenholme grabbed the ball and ran with it.

Come the days of colour TV and now Match of the Day was now cooking. There would now be an additional three matches to an otherwise superb product. And then there was the late and still deeply missed John Motson, who had cut his teeth in newspaper journalism before Radio 2 came calling. Motson would become a frequent and much loved football commentator renowned for his meticulous attention to detail, distinctive voice and factual accuracy on another level.

In 1972, Motson was summoned to Match of the Day headquarters as a young rookie. Hereford United, a non League club at the time, were pitted against old First Division maestros Newcastle United. At a classically dramatic and atmospheric Edgar Street, kids clung precariously to tree branches around the ground, dangerous rooftops and floodlights that should never have allowed thousands of football supporters anywhere remotely close to them. It was the FA Cup third round and Motson was the man on the spot. Cue winning goal reaction from a commentator who must have thought he was living in dream land.

When Ronnie Radford completed a mud caked one two with his Hereford colleague, the ball fell almost perfectly for Radford whose low shot whistled past the Newcastle goalkeeper Ian Mcfaul. Non League Hereford United had knocked out Newcastle United and Motson's blossoming career had now just taken off into outer space. He would never look back since from that point onwards and Motson would become the yearly commentator for vital European matches, FA Cup Finals and a whole host of Saturday afternoon football banquets live from football's biggest day of the week. 

Then Barry Davies, equally as learned and scholarly, erudite and well educated in the game's finest poetic vocabulary, joined Motson from Radio 2. Davies, a Kentish lad from the Garden of England, made his debut appearance but Davies was more restrained, economical with the facts and just content to let the players do the talking. Words were vitally important to Davies but Davies paced himself, chose the salient moments, described what he saw quite clearly but never embellished on the obvious.

Of course the Big Match, Match of the Day's friendly commercial rival on London Weekend Television had also made its assertive presence felt. The late and wonderful Brian Moore was the presenter for this lunchtime Sunday appetiser. Moore perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the late 1960s before surging ahead into the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with a glorious, in depth, almost scientific dissertation on the weekend's football. Football was rather like all of Moore's favourite school subjects rolled into one.

And so we arrive at Match of the Day which is still there, almost a permanent fixture, sitting in that late night spot just after the pubs had announced chucking out time. Barry Davies has retired, but with former Spurs, Everton, Leicester and England striker Gary Lineker at the helm, Match of the Day may be an ageing veteran but we can't get enough of its nostalgic back stories. 

Now every Premier League match is simply stripped down, scrutinised from every angle, examined with forensic eyes and just highlighted with consistent criticism or praise. Steve Wilson, Guy Mowbray, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Bower and Simon Brotherton have continued in the tradition of polished football commentary while not forgetting the likes of Vicky Spark with the female perspective on the game.

So Happy 60th birthday Match of the Day. You deserve it. We'll buy the first round of drinks and then we'll pop into a fragrant patisserie for a cake of your choice and we've already got the candles. You've excelled yourself and we'll always watch you. Have a good day and never forget the bristling beard of Jimmy Hill. What a programme, what style.