BBC radio broadcast its first
commentary on a professional football match in January 1927 when it
featured a game between Arsenal and Sheffield United. Later that year
the BBC broadcast the FA Cup Final. By 1931 the BBC was broadcasting
over 100 games per season. At this time only about 30% of households
owned radios.
The BBC's leading commentator in 1930-31 was George Allison. To help the
listener understand what was going on, a diagram was published in the
Radio Times which showed a football pitch divided into numbered squares.
During the game Allison's assistant would call out the number of the
square in which the ball resided.
The Great Depression resulted in a fall in attendances at football
matches. Some club chairman partly blamed radio coverage for this
situation and in June 1931 the Football League banned all broadcasts of
its fixtures. This ban was to continue until after the Second World War.
The Football Association did not share these negative views of radio and
during the 1930s every FA Cup Final was broadcast by the BBC. By 1939
about 71% of households owned radios and 8,900,000 licensed sets were in
use.
|
