From a wooden shed at Highbury in 1927 to part of the furniture: How BBC Radio transformed football with commentary that still thrills us today

  • BBC Radio 5 Live coverage of the FA Cup third round was better than the football
  • A special programme will pay tribute to the  90th anniversary of the country's first sports commentary broadcast, a rugby match between England and Wales
  • The half-hour report will be broadcast on 5 Live, the home of sport commentary 
  • Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam was the first football commentator, reporting on an Arsenal match against Sheffield United from a wooden pitch-side shed
  • The BBC programme charts the growth of commentary and its iconic moments

The lowlight of BBC Radio 5 Live's brilliant FA Cup third-round coverage on Saturday was, strangely, the football.

Manchester United 4 Reading 0 was too one-sided. Sutton United 0 AFC Wimbledon 0 was lacking drama. Sometimes, the football just doesn't work out for you.

It was still difficult to switch off, however. Good radio commentators can keep you on the end of a hook. Good summarisers, too.

Bryan Butler's commentary of Diego Maradona's goal of the century vs England is legendary

Bryan Butler's commentary of Diego Maradona's goal of the century vs England is legendary

Butler with Frank McLintock during a match between Brighton vs Sheffield Wednesday

Butler with Frank McLintock during a match between Brighton vs Sheffield Wednesday

On Saturday at Old Trafford the gentle North East tones of 5 Live's John Murray contrasted with the clipped Glaswegian observations of Pat Nevin.


'This is the most open-looking team I have seen this season, it's shocking,' said an aghast Nevin of Reading after approximately 35 seconds of play. He had a point, mind. Fourteen minutes later, Reading were two down.

Later at Sutton's Borough Sports Ground, exuberance and experience blended off the field as the station's Ian Dennis sat alongside former Tottenham manager David Pleat. Dennis provided the joie de vivre and Pleat the detail.

'There are some great names to pronounce here,' said Pleat, providing a distraction to some mundane on-field activity by rolling three of them off his tongue.

John Motson has been part of BBC Sport's broadcasting team since 1968, 49 years ago

John Motson has been part of BBC Sport's broadcasting team since 1968, 49 years ago

RADIO FIRSTS 

First-ever live broadcast on BBC Radio

Arsenal 1 – 1 Sheffield United in Division One on January 22, 1927. Charlie Buchan scored the first goal

First-ever FA Cup final

Cardiff 1-0 Arsenal (Wembley) - April 23, 1927

First-ever live football broadcast on 5 Live

Sheffield United 3 – 2 West Ham United in the Premier League on March 28, 1994. Miles Harrison was the first commentator.

Extra, Extra!

5Live Sport Extra was launched in February 2002 to increase live sport coverage.

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It's part of the sporting furniture these days, 5 Live. Of all the things it does, it doesn't do much better than it does sport and on Thursday it will celebrate with a half-hour programme for the 90th anniversary of the first sports commentary broadcast in this country, a Five Nations rugby match between England and Wales on January 15 1927.

Exactly a week later football caught up when the same commentator, a chap called Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam, talked BBC listeners through a 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Sheffield United from a wooden shed on the touchline at Highbury.

Sadly, no recording of these early efforts exist. The Times was moved to comment, though, that Wakelam's efforts had been 'notably vivid and impressive', and The Spectator concluded 'that type of broadcasting has come to stay'.

Interestingly, parts of the written media had opposed the initiative, as had the sports' governing bodies. The former was convinced that live radio broadcasts would steal readers, the latter that they would steal match customers.

 'Maradona, turns like a little eel, little squat man… comes inside Butcher and leaves him for dead, outside Fenwick and leaves him for dead and puts the ball away... that is why Maradona is the greatest player in the world.'
 Bryon Butler - Argentina vs England: June 22, 1986

To this day, the same arguments remain but it's not radio that is seen by some to have smothered football. It's television and now, of course, the digital media.

Thursday's programme will chart the growth of commentary and will feature some of its greatest moments and contributors. Mike Ingham, Alan Green and Bryon Butler will all be heard this evening and it's worth repeating here the late Butler's virtuoso contribution as Maradona sliced Bobby Robson's England to pieces at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

We will never forget the 'Hand of God' goal but better maybe to think of this: 'Maradona, turns like a little eel, he comes away from trouble, little squat man… comes inside Butcher and leaves him for dead, outside Fenwick and leaves him for dead, and puts the ball away... and that is why Maradona is the greatest player in the world.'

We have all seen the TV footage of that goal but moving images only serve to illustrate the startling accuracy of Butler's commentary as Maradona undressed England from inside his own half. For one of radio's peerless contributors, it was perhaps Butler's own Kenneth Wolstenholme moment.

STILL HAVING FUN IN THE THEATRE OF YOUR MIND - JOHN MURRAY 

When Captain Teddy Wakelam sat back, 90 years ago this weekend, after delivering the first ever BBC sports commentary, there's a good chance he ended by giving the score. It was England 11 Wales 9 in a rugby union international at Twickenham and I say that because the basics are still true. 

And while Captain Teddy will not have been required to do a pre-match 'Facebook Live' — part of the modern commentator's duties — I fancy what he did once the game kicked off will not have been too different from what we do in 2017. 

The basics are just that: the score, the identification, weather conditions, the significance of the match, describing the play — everything you want to hear when tuning into a sporting contest. 

The commentators who captured my imagination were those who enjoyed a bit of fun in the theatre of the mind. 

That is the beauty of radio as opposed to television. On TV, you are there to interpret the pictures — an art in itself. 

On the radio, YOU create the picture. I try to remember that my job is to relay what is happening in as entertaining a way as possible. And I can tell you now that when I finish at White Hart Lane on Saturday, I will end by giving the score.

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MOTTY'S WISE WORDS WERE MY INSPIRATION - IAN DENNIS 

My commentating career began in earnest on January 31 1988 — the day I received a letter from John Motson. I was 16 and wrote to John for advice. His reply inspired me to pursue my ambition.

'Enthusiasm and perseverance' were the key — watchwords that I now repeat to people who ask me for advice, 29 years on. As to where my desire to be a commentator originated, that's not so easy to pinpoint. 

Was it the local field — 'the Rec' — where I'd play football against my twin brother, Steve, with Dad in goal, doubled up as our commentator, throwing in snippets to make it more exciting?

Or was it when Steve and I got our football fix from Subbuteo, with me delivering the voice-over?

Little did I realise that I would one day be covering the fortunes of England, working closely with Mike Ingham before he retired. As a listener, I had admired him. As a colleague, my admiration for him only deepened further.

Thinking about it, maybe the spark was a combination of three factors: footie games at the Rec, penalty shoot-outs at Subbuteo — and a few wise words from Motty!                                                       

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In 1986, 5 Live was still eight years away from being born. The station was to be a rebranding of Radio 5, launched in 1990. Before that, most of the BBC's sport was broadcast on Radio 2 and often you would only get one half. The second one, obviously.

That, though, was still a great advance on that day at Highbury in 1927. Wakelam, a former Harlequins rugby player, was neither a trained journalist nor a broadcaster. After getting the job at short notice he had one practice run, commentating on a schools match at the behest of his producer.

To help him, and indeed the listeners, with the football, a plan of the pitch, divided into eight squares, was published in the Radio Times. Wakelam could then say that a player had received the ball 'in square four', for example, and it is thought this is where the expression 'Back to square one' originated.

BBC Radio commentator John Murray before England's Euro 2016 qualifier vs Slovenia in 2015

BBC Radio commentator John Murray before England's Euro 2016 qualifier vs Slovenia in 2015

These days, 5 Live's experts arrive at matches with pages of multi- coloured notes. Not much is left to chance. When people ask what they 'do in the week', it is this and it is called research.

Standards continue to rise and although Thursday's programme will feature some amusing moments — such as the late Raymond Glendenning missing a goal because he was refilling his pipe — it should be viewed first and foremost as a celebration.

Some things in sport do get better with age.

 

The Art of Commentary, BBC Radio 5 live, Thursday night 7.30pm

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