by

Rob Jones

The Matt Easley book – ‘Brian Moore saved our Sundays’ – The golden age of televised Football’ (Pitch Publishing) is a remarkable read that transports characters of a certain age (yes, me) back into the 1970s in order to delve into an era of real football with real characters and real innovators. We accept the mega bucks, over the top, Hollywood style, sports provision of the current days and the egos, stat-heavy analysis, graphics and other technology that remove the viewer from what the game was once all about.

This excellent account heads back to a starting point with the Sunday afternoon coverage of the Saturday afternoon games from across the UK. This is an exploration of the regional outlook, the clubs, players, managers et al, plus the commentators that sprouted to fame and the behind-the-scenes wizards that fired a little screen exposure of the beautiful game into our living rooms.

Advancing apparatus and skilled broadcasters moved football from a black and white era into a glorious technicolour display – and from there the matches described were sometimes (or often) played on a selection of mud baths, snow landscapes and dry bone, grass free pitches that are far removed from the billiard table surfaces of contemporary soccer. The grit and great of several decades ago are brought back to life and the names from all four divisions of football and those giants of the microphone are put back on the pedestal that they deserve to be on. The yesteryear fans had to work hard to find football on the television and locate information about their heroes elsewhere. This account would be alien to a young fan of the now but it certainly resurrected a mine of memories for yours truly – and none of them are bad – well apart from the Leeds defeats but then again it was also an era that had my Elland Road icons at the top of the tree.

The 80s moved the game on with major sponsorships, flash kits and then in the 90s huge strides were taken to jettison the sport into the Premier League, corporate, mega money world of today. However, the late 60s and the early to mid 70s offered a halcyon era – not full of finance – but terrible haircuts, wild moustaches, rusty stadiums and on the whole basic shirts, shorts and socks. However, as the years pass changes are becoming evident and the author Matt Easley does a great job of cataloguing the catalysts.

As such lots of legends who were worthy of an elevated status are put centre stage when in their era it may have not been the case apart from the illustrious upper echelons.
Brian Moore is central to the tale but this master of the mike is just one hero in a bible of the ball. A follow up covering the 80s will be a lovely compliment to this colossus. Please read now!