Brian Moore - football commentator par excellence

 Brian Moore- football commentator par excellence.

Today marks the 21st anniversary of the passing of one of Britain's greatest British football commentators. Brian Moore was the most gentle and charming of all football commentators in as much that nothing seemed to either faze or trouble him. Moore was the quiet, humble and unassuming commentator who would only become really animated when a microphone was thrust in front of him. He was the voice of ITV and the then newly formed London Weekend Television.

In 1968 London Weekend Television were looking for a brand- new football magazine type programme that would capture the weekend football's highlights in one hour. In those far off days of course, football was predominantly played on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm. These were the certainties and formalities of life way back when. You knew where you were and didn't have to consult the listings page in case your game was being played on Tuesday afternoon. Sky TV certainly solved that problem.

But back then a young Brian Moore, fresh from his days on the Times sports desk and a brief stint on BBC radio, had provided the radio commentary for BBC Radio 2. It was at this point that Moore's life would change almost overnight. From being the sound only voice of football, Moore would become a visual entity, London Weekend Television's answer to the recent arrival of BBC's Match of the Day. And so it was that a legend was born. 

The title of the new commercial TV football vehicle would be The Big Match, a football festival of three matches from all four divisions of the Football League and a sprinkling of chat, humour and probing interviews with all the latest players, managers, characters, charmers, rogues, rebels, mavericks, renegades and party animal socialites. None could have known just how dramatic impact the Big Match would have on TV audiences but at the time football's relationship with TV was still in its infant stages.

When Kenneth Wolstenholme became the first Match of the Day TV commentator in August 1964, none could have predicted which direction football would take in its eager quest for much greater media exposure and publicity. Of course, there were teething problems and difficulties in those black and white days but by the time The Big Match aired in the late 1960s, football had already enjoyed heady, salad days. 

England had won their only World Cup in 1966, Manchester United had kept the European Cup in Britain after Celtic's Bobby Murdoch and Tommy Gemmell had so magnificently won it the year before in Lisbon. Everton had won the FA Cup in 1966 followed by Spurs victory over Chelsea the following year. Football craved yet more and football was about to provide them with a healthy banquet of more and more football. The Big Match ticked all the relevant boxes and the programme was launched in 1968.

The Big Match format consisted of three recorded matches on a Sunday afternoon just as most of us were devouring the Sunday roast and dad was washing his car. Now, viewers could feast their eyes on one London based match with commentary from Brian Moore, a regional variant from Granada, ATV, and Anglia. The programme would be lively, informative, entertaining and very topical. By the end of the programme mum had wiped up all of the Sunday lunch dishes and the weekend was almost over. 

But Brian Moore sadly died today at the age of 69 in September 2001. Bizarrely, it coincided with the day England famously beat Germany in a World Cup qualifier in a stunning 5-1 victory in Munich. It was the day Steven Gerrard hit a rocket of a shot that had goal written all over, Emil Heskey scored and Michael Owen chipped in as well. 

Moore though was the consummate professional, a thorough and meticulous analyst of the game from all angles. His voice would become instantly recognisable, at first possibly too loud by his own admission since none in TV knew exactly what they were letting themselves in for. And yet it was a voice of conviction, sincerity, first- hand knowledge, reliability and professionalism. Slowly, the straight- forward, tough talking, clear and strident vowels and consonants could be heard right across the country. 

There are perhaps too many Brian Moore classics to be related now but there is one that sticks in the memory indelibly, never to be forgotten. After Sir Alf Ramsey's England had laboured their way through a World Cup qualifier in October 1973, the truth dawned on us that England had been knocked out of the competition to be held a year later in West Germany. In a heated discussion with Brian Clough, Moore had insisted that the heroic Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski should have taken much more of the credit than Clough was prepared to offer. Clough thought the Polish keeper had been a clown and Moore challenged him.

And unforgettably there was the World Cup in 1970 held in Mexico. Moore chaired a distinguished panel of guests ranging from the flamboyant Crystal Palace and Manchester City manager Malcolm Allison, the former Wolves striker Derek Dougan, Manchester United's firm but fair, abrasive but dependable Pat Crerand and of course Brian Clough, never ever short of a forthright opinion. TV had never seen its like before and in many ways it was a pioneering trail blazer.

During the 1980s and 90s the Big Match would both lose and win the rights to edited highlights and live games. Moore was still as enthusiastic as ever but the game had now entered a new age of extensive marketing of the sport and sponsorship on the players shirts. Trevor Francis had just become the first million- pound player for Clough's Nottingham Forest and football had other priorities.

Then Moore, who used to host a Saturday lunchtime preview of matches called On The Ball and then reported on a London game on the London Weekend Television sports magazine programme World of Sport presented by the ever smiling, chipper Dickie Davies, must have thought football had reached an awkward fork in the road. 

It was no longer the game that he used to love and revere. Players had become pampered prima donnas, wealthy beyond belief and had lost touch with the supporters who had pumped so much oxygen in the game, the lifeblood of its working -class origins in many ways. You were personally privileged to chat to the great man in an Independent newspaper where he would lovingly regale you with details of his football team Gillingham, the old days, the players and the loyal fans at the Priestfield Stadium.

Sunday lunchtimes were always special for this young child. The Big Match was top of your menu, a footballing culinary must. Moore was the complete football commentator and while his BBC contemporaries Barry Davies and John Motson were painting vivid pictures with their commentaries, Moore stoically shivered on TV gantries in his comfortable sheep coat. He was though permanently cheerful, upbeat, courteous, sharp and acerbic at times but always passionate in his unwavering beliefs on the Beautiful Game. Brian Moore, surely one of football's most heartfelt of all football orators. We'll always miss you, sir.