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       #Post#: 16745--------------------------------------------------
       MOTD returns!
   DIR By: Acme Thunderer
       Date: March 20, 2020, 12:08 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       This from BBC Football:
       Match of the Day will return on Saturday as part of a variety of
       football content on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this weekend.
       Football in England has been suspended until at least 30 April
       because of the coronavirus outbreak. But the BBC will continue
       to provide programmes featuring interviews, debate and repeats
       of FA Cup classics.
       This includes Match of the Day, in a new visualised version of
       the new MOTD podcast, at 22:20 GMT on Saturday. In the new show,
       Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright debate the greatest
       captains of the Premier League era.
       Earlier in the day, at 12:00 GMT, Dan Walker introduces some of
       the best interviews and features from the season so far on
       Football Focus.
       At 16:00 GMT, Guy Mowbray unearths some memorable games,
       including Watford v Arsenal from 1987 and the 1978 match between
       West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest, in the first part of
       his FA Cup quarter-final classics.
       The second part, which features Everton v Ipswich in 1985, Derby
       v Sheffield Wednesday in 1993 and Manchester United v Portsmouth
       in 2008, is on BBC One on Sunday at 16:40 GMT.
       I didn't think it would be too long before this came up and well
       done to the Beeb on giving us our weekly fix from the armchair.
       Now all we need is Brian Moore and The Big Match on ITV.
       I suggest we play 'spot the ref' (where not called by the
       commentator) and then rate performances on RTR
       afterwards.[emoji1]
       #Post#: 16751--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: reflector
       Date: March 21, 2020, 4:32 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Good idea, AT.  At least it'll be a chance to see whether or not
       football really was better 'in our day.'  Same with match
       officials although I guess some of us might be in for a shock!
       As for commentators, my favourite was probably Brian Moore but
       what about Kenneth Wolstenholme, David Coleman, Barry Davies and
       John Motson?  How do they compare with todays team?  And for ITV
       there was also Fred Dinenage and those of us 'lucky' enough to
       be in the West Midlands had Sunday afternoon Star Soccer with
       Hugh Johns and some extremely wooden post match interviews by
       Billy Wright.  Ah, the good old days...……….but were they?
       #Post#: 16752--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: TheThingFromLewes
       Date: March 21, 2020, 7:03 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       --- Quote from: reflector link ---
       >
       > Good idea, AT.  At least it'll be a chance to see whether or
       not football really was better 'in our day.'  Same with match
       officials although I guess some of us might be in for a shock!
       >
       > As for commentators, my favourite was probably Brian Moore but
       what about Kenneth Wolstenholme, David Coleman, Barry Davies and
       John Motson?  How do they compare with todays team?  And for ITV
       there was also Fred Dinenage and those of us 'lucky' enough to
       be in the West Midlands had Sunday afternoon Star Soccer with
       Hugh Johns and some extremely wooden post match interviews by
       Billy Wright.  Ah, the good old days...……….but were they?
       >
       --- End Quote ---
       Fred Dinenage is still going on our local evening news!!
       Aside from commentators, I was flicking through the vast
       collection of football programmes I have as I’m an avid
       collector. Some of the referee names looking at those bring back
       memories.
       Roger Milford, Roger Dilkes, Clive Wilkes and of course the late
       Alan Gunn from near to my home town of Lewes. I also had the
       pleasure many many years ago (although my memory was very
       sketchy) of meeting Victor Callow. A lovely chap who signed my
       programme at a Spurs game as one of the assistants in the PL on
       that game at the time went to school with my mum.
       Of course, the other name that appears on one of them was some
       card shark called Parker from Preston. He makes Breakspear on a
       par with Grant Hegley when it comes to cards!!
       #Post#: 16753--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: guest42
       Date: March 21, 2020, 9:32 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       From reports of the 1987 Quarter Final above:
       Brian Stevens; now there is a name that will be lodged in the
       memory banks of many Arsenal supporters of a certain vintage.
       The appointment of Stevens as referee for the quarter final had
       caused controversy, Taylor contacting the FA in an attempt to
       get the official dropped for the fixture. Stevens had refereed
       Arsenal's 3-1 win at Highbury in October, a match that had seen
       Watford keeper Tony Coton sent-off, and had led to Taylor
       accusing a linesman of manhandling him, an accusation that
       Stevens had refused to include in his match report.
       Watford's appeal fell on deaf ears, the FA understandably
       reluctant to switch officials on the request of a club, leaving
       Taylor philosophical: "I have no doubt Mr Stevens will handle
       the match fairly". After the match, Taylor defended his actions.
       "We did not request that the referee be taken off the game
       because we queried his ability, experience or his know-how,"
       Watford's manager explained. "The FA had not been aware when
       they appointed him of what happened here last October. In the
       light of that we asked whether or not he was being placed in an
       intolerable, no-win situation."
       #Post#: 16764--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: guest42
       Date: March 21, 2020, 12:33 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Very good watch the first one with the Arsenal - Watford game.
       Anyone give me more detail on the linesman at the centre of the
       incident at the end. Didn’t catch the name clearly on the
       commentary - but was something like Graham Crofter of Maidstone?
       #Post#: 16765--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: bmb
       Date: March 21, 2020, 12:57 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Graham Crafter - my old maths teacher!
       Absolutely lovely man. Great teacher. I loved double maths with
       him on a Monday morning. We would spend the whole lesson talking
       about the weekends games, after he realised I was referee
       obsessed. He was a very strict teacher and was not that popular
       but I loved him. Maths has never been my strong point but it is
       down to him that I got my maths O'Level. He sought permission to
       take me to his games and I'd often go with him, he was
       completely different outside of school. Due to my age I would
       sit in the dressing room with him until just before kick off
       when the assessor would collect me & I'd sit with them so they
       could 'babysit' me during the game. They would always make me
       write a report as 'homework' and post it to them for marking! Mr
       Crafter trained me when I did my referee course aged 13 (I was
       the youngest female to pass the test in England for many many
       years). The economics teacher was also a referee, Bill Stoneham.
       I literally worshipped the ground he walked on - still do! He
       was my appointed mentor but they were both very supportive and I
       learned so much from them. Bill is still involved in refereeing,
       he is an assessor and mentor on the Southern league. We keep in
       touch regularly. He is one of the most influential people in my
       life as a teenager, I owe him a lot. Mr Crafter (I still won't
       call him by his first name out of habit) is now involved in
       korfball/handball at National level. Can't remember his exact
       role but he's on the national committee/board and very high up.
       I speak with him occasionally.
       #Post#: 16766--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: guest42
       Date: March 21, 2020, 1:08 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       From what I could find out - it seems that he’s now the
       Referee’s Chairman for the English Korfball Association
       #Post#: 16768--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: Acme Thunderer
       Date: March 21, 2020, 1:51 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Nice one bmb. However...sorry but Mr Crafter landed Mr Stevens
       in the proverbial with his flag for who-knows-what. If it was a
       penalty, then Stevens was in a much better position to judge
       than Crafter on the far side. And it didn't look like offside,
       even with the much more liberal interpretation of the offside
       law in those days.
       Brian remained on the FL list until 1991, but the QF at Highbury
       and a Full Members Final in the same year were the pinnacles of
       his career which seemed to lapse into obscurity after that. A
       pity because he was a decent ref and I remember seeing him have
       a good game at Selhurst Park when Crystal Palace were in Div 1.
       I recall the old RTR had a piece on his final retirement from
       refereeing after (?) X000 games and he was obviously a fine
       servant of the game.
       I noticed John Martin running the line to Pat Partridge in the
       WBA v Forest game. Steve Bennett was the ref for Leicester v
       Wycombe, and I laughed when Robbie Savage complained bitterly
       after being dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Some
       controversy here with the Wycombe scorer being sent off for
       over-celebrating (I believe). Strictly in accordance with the
       laws but did seem unnecessarily harsh.
       Roll on 10.20pm! [emoji2]
       #Post#: 16769--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: bmb
       Date: March 21, 2020, 1:54 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Watching it reminded me just how much better the presenting and
       commentating was back then! Oh to have that back instead of the
       absolute rubbish they talk now!!!
       Jimmy Hill - Everybody will talk about about Watford's 3rd goal
       well let's try and make sure its not careless talk because it
       costs reputations, first point to note as Williams takes this
       free kick is the position of referee Brian Stevens as he runs to
       the left, the second and without any doubt whatsoever, Sims,
       thats number 5 in the yellow shirt doesn't commit any offence,
       he jumps fairly against Quinns challenge, eye on the ball only
       and as clean a header as you'll ever see. As we look again from
       the normal angle and confirm that 1st impression, we can see how
       the confusion arose because the linesman on the far side
       incorrectly thought Sims had committed a offence and flagged.
       The referee was much nearer saw clearly what had happened and
       quite rightly allowed play to proceed, overruling his linesman's
       raised flag. Its true that both Williams and Adams stopped
       having seen the linesman's flag allowing Blissett a clear run on
       goal and Luther happily took the 2nd chance with some gratitude.
       The referee the consulted the linesman to check whether in fact
       he'd seen an offence unconnected with Sims and Quinn, the answer
       was no and the goal stood, leaving these conclusions. If the
       referee had not over ruled the linesman a penalty against
       Watford would have been awarded unjustly. 2: Players should play
       to the whistle and not the flag and 3 linemen should make sure
       at all times, especially in the nail biting final minutes of a
       cup tie that they do not raise their flag unless they are 110%
       certain. It's a pity that incident occupies our minds so much
       because it really was a most riveting game with both teams
       deserving much credit.
       Jimmy Hill > Gary Lineker. John Motson > 99% of the current
       commentators!
       Apologies for the appalling grammar!
       #Post#: 16771--------------------------------------------------
       Re: MOTD returns!
   DIR By: SuffolkRef
       Date: March 21, 2020, 2:02 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Brian Stevens commented about this match September last year in
       this article.  He retired at the grand old age of 80.
  HTML https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/17909979.final-whistle-referee-brian-stevens-80-calls-time-career-3-102-matches/
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