1974: Making MATCH OF THE DAY | In Vision | Making Of... | BBC Archive

In Vision takes a look at the mammoth operation involved in getting Saturday night sports staple Match of the Day to air.
This edition of Match of the Day features West Ham United versus Liverpool FC, so the outside broadcast crew comprising camera operators, broadcast technicians, commentator Barry Davies and director Alec Weeks are at Upton Park. With just a few days to go until the FA Cup Final, this league game is a good opportunity for the crew to get match fit ahead of the the biggest television football match of the year.
Back at BBC Television Centre, the Match of the Day production team are busy preparing to edit the match into a highlights package, using the latest video disc technology to provide the smoothest slow-motion replays imaginable. In the Match of the Day studio, Head of Sports Sam Leech and studio director Martin Hopkins are thrashing out the running order of the show, while presenter Jimmy Hill is in makeup having his signature goatee beard trimmed.
Originally broadcast 2 May, 1974.
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[@jasonayres]

Barry Davies, back in the day, was an easily distinguishable voice, all over the world. And that theme tune, too!

[@jcampton1]

I know the BBC Archives provide a lot of fantastic content but as a telly geek, I'd love to see more behind the scenes content if you can. I know Swap Shop stripped back the world of television by moving outside of the studio so stuff like that is fascinating to watch. To the team, Keep up the good work preserving our history.

[@TV-FilmCameramanUK]

I know know a couple of the old Swap Shop camera people. They said mostly they didn't like doing it because of the start of the shift hours involved. They are either the blame or the credit for my career choice. 😂😂👁

[@phrtao]

I was never a football fan but this brought back many happy memories of my dad watching 'Match of the Day'.

[@enoz.j3506]

Stagering amount of organisation & technical procedures required to make any TV show,amazing and truly fascinating, Thank you.

[@edwardburek1717]

This is absolutely fantastic. A thoroughly fascinating insight into how MOTD was done in the 70's. It's interesting to see Barry Davies using a headset during the commentary, while contemporaries would use a lip-mic, even to this very day. It just goes to show that you can use a headset during outside broadcasts without the need to enclose the commentary position. Whoever was doing the editing back in Television Centre must have had the best and most difficult job in broadcasting, trying to distill 90+ minutes of football into 25 minutes, and to be done in the space of five hours. Hope they were getting double time. I am guessing that this was during the end of Jimmy Hill's first of many seasons at the MOTD helm, after he transferred from London Weekend. What a legendary broadcaster, and pipe-smoker extraordinaire.

[@thedave7760]

If only they knew what I can do now with my laptop. That 2 inch machine took about 4-5 seconds to lock on signal. LOL All the equipment so quaint and fragile, "you to loose a camera, cameras break down" like you can rely on the fact that cameras will break.

[@shaunfield7714]

Absolutely wonderful. This was my world in the early to mid 70's. Surprisingly, I can't remember Mervyn Day's penalty save but I do remember West Ham scored two brilliant goals, through Lampard and Brooking that day. Haven't seen Sam Leach since he used to present the Saturday lunchtime football preview on Grandstand back in 73 or 74. Thank you very much for this but I wish the Beeb would release it's MOTD archive in the way that ITV's The Big Match has been released

[@digeme69]

It wouldn't surprise me if they don't have much footage of the old MOTD (70s, 80s). I know for a fact that a lot of the beebs archive footage of sport has been erased. It certainly has with snooker championships, only keeping finals and 147s etc. ITV actually list all the archive sporting footage they have and will sell footage at £150 for 90 minutes footage but with a watermark right across the screen (so it's expensive and the watermark ruins it). The beeb won't help at all like this. I was even willing to pay up to £500 many years back for a particular snooker match but my request fell on deaf ears!

[@NoelPetty]

Yes definitely although I fear they have junked a lot of the colour full TV episodes - an updated and extended Match of the Seventies would be welcome at least

[@retunerman]

27th April 1974. Dr Who, Monster of Peladon Part 6 on the tx monitor during the editing session.

[@fluffymacaw933]

Oh I saw it, the third doctor

[@That_Random_Bloke]

Good knowledge!

[@KingKenny.]

They say we live in enlightened time ! But watching clips like this , makes me wish those times were still here !

[@johntomlinson6849]

This is wonderful. Very happy memories of Saturday nights with me enthralled by Doctor Who, all of us enjoying the Generation Game and Two Ronnies before mum had "a soak in a hot bath" while dad enjoyed MOTD. I've learned a little about television production techniques as they were at that time and how difficult it was to edit Ampex 2-inch quad tape, so seeing how these utter professionals cut down 90 minutes of footage to 25 within such a time frame is a real pleasure. Great days. Intereresting also how much work the backroom staff put into the final production, yet Hill got all the plaudits and probably got the highest salary of them all. Plus ça change. The crisp pusher proves that.

[@richard7crowley]

This really gives us an appreciation for how fiddly everything was "back in the day". Here in the 2020s, all the switching, effects, monitoring, instant replay, recording, editing, etc. is easily done with hardware (personal computers and digital video hardware like Blackmagic Design) and software available to the general public. And with cameras less than the size of a shoe-box vs. those old cameras the size of a dog kennel with a monster 44x zoom lens hanging off the front. These days they have 88x zoom lenses for sports coverage and they mount the lens to the pan/tilt head and hang the tiny camera on the back end of the lens. 🙂

[@dgreensuperhoops]

Ther late, great Jimmy Hill. True professional

[@Jumpmaster337]

Love it!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

my cat loves u too 🐱♥️♥️♥️

[@GorilieVR]

Magnificent 🎬

[@jdm65]

This is marvellous, though mid-70s fashion was really quite something.

[@rareblues78daddy]

...buddy, the mid-70s themselves were really quite something. What was in the water back then, anyway?

[@NoelPetty]

Absolutely fascinating

[@79narz]

Years before i was born and im old, but the technology is so advanced!

[@anthonyleighton4754]

Jumpers for goalposts ....mmmmmm marvellous isn't it.....great bit of history Ron manager would have loved this ...

[@latibes]

Absolutely fascinating stuff!!

[@jonnyhaw]

Interesting to hear discussion of the behaviour of the crowds, and talk of "fencing them in"........

[@lonniebishop9062]

When it came to covering English football coverage in the '70s, BBC Television did it best as this classic video proves.

[@damnft8218]

Lol that’s like saying Real Madrid did it best in the 70s and history proves it! Yeah but for a number of critical prerequisites 😂😂

[@original.dwornboy]

I preferred ITVs coverage in the 70s with Brian Moore, Kenneth Wolthiinstow and the likes of Brian Clough and Jack Charlton as pundits.

[@Spectrescup]

​@@damnft8218Real Madrid weren't even in the conversation in the 70's

[@johnnyworzel3741]

I was fascinated by this, so much has changed!

[@dlamiss]

Remember this day so well, was 9 years of age and the only time in my "football career" i scored a hat trick

[@welshlad6427]

Your 2nd was offside tho.

[@dlamiss]

@@welshlad6427 Nah VAR allowed it

[@JakePurches-Base2music]

The OB is a heck of a set up. Amazing.

[@guilhermecarvalhodarosa]

really awesome, thanks

[@djdrwatson]

4:57 What an incredible save by Mervyn Day with his bare hands, no gloves! 2:53 5:09 Clyde Best (11) was one of the first black footballers to play in the English First Division. Search his name here on KZbin to hear Harry Redknapp's story about Clyde Best's time at West Ham and the experiences he had to go through. 9:37 We later saw in the 1980s what happens when standing fans are fenced in with nowhere to go if a problem arises.

[@pressureworks]

Fantastic save !!!! Yes, thought exactly the same about the fencing

[@BulletProofKiD]

Wat a save bare handed wow

[@johnnyballenatl]

If today’s modern equipment were around in 1974, three different angles would’ve covered that save (including the goal cam).

[@imgoingtocountdownfromthir4580]

This was the day that Manchester United were relegated, ITV covered that game, Gerald Sinstat saying the immortal words "Denis has done it"

[@roaarylion5214]

That’s unrealistic 😊

[@imgoingtocountdownfromthir4580]

@@roaarylion5214 it happened, United needed to win against City and hope that other results went their way, 5 minutes from the end City scored and United were down....Ask your grandad if you don't believe it.😉

[@davidhamm7909]

I remember it well. To his credit, Denis Law was completely professional about it, scored the goal and didn’t celebrate.

[@MrEchoes1962]

@@davidhamm7909 Denis Law was completely professional about it, scored the goal and he should have celebrated big time 😀

[@asd36f]

If you tell someone today that Manchester United were relegated to the 2nd Division and Carlisle were promoted to the 1st Division they would have you sectioned LOL

[@robbflynn4325]

Brilliant!

[@syteanric]

5:10 - that's a top drawer save!

[@doublebo7]

5 cameras with one breaking down, these days a Wembley final can have 45 cameras😱

[@NoosaHeads]

I had no idea that a football match involved such complexity.

[@eddiebrennan126]

I did 😅

[@eddiebrennan126]

I know everything

[@swanvictor887]

Every OB is technically complex. Broadcasting is hard work requiring highly-skilled professionals trained in cutting-edge technology. That's why the crews are well paid.

[@YHBW1001]

@@swanvictor887 They used to be!!!

[@swanvictor887]

true...the glory days of the 1980s are long gone sadly...lol......@@YHBW1001

[@homevideotransfer-vhstodvd9744]

At timecode 3.18 is Pete Dunkley on VT and time 5.40 John Sedgwick at 6.58 is the Hexiplexer desk in the basement under the TVC fountain and is now a Gym, at timecode 11.23 top left monitor shows The Black and White Minstrel Show!

[@TheGolga]

Did anyone else automatically think that Jimmy Hill was about to take out a laptop from that bag, when he sat at the desk!? 😂

[@robertpollock1986]

Always preferred Barry Davies to John motson

[@johnnyvasiliou]

0.27 was Jimmy savile a mobile crane operator?

[@alijanlondon]

Martin Hopkins. The nastiest man in TV production. Continually swearing and shouting at the presentation department over talkback

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

Did you see the EMI-2001 Camera 00:01 in this video... They were the "Bread and butter" camera used by the BBC from the late 1960s and they did not fully retire them until 1991.

[@seamusellis1450]

Introduced in 1967 along with Colour..initially the BBC went with Marconi MKVIIs but soon realised the 2001 was more suited -The MkVIIs were relegated to news, continuity and situations where they remained static. Eastenders was their last stronghold I believe ? The OB units also used a Phillips camera I believe ?

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

@@seamusellis1450 Indeed Eastenders was their last stronghold.

[@adeh503]

State of the pitch , love the seventies

[@monteceitomoocher]

Somewhat prescient right now, this is the world i remember, normal people doing normal stuff, smoking' tut tut!, no agenda or guarded language, and proper sports journalists, there for no other reason but their professionalism, wonderful stuff.

[@KevinM913]

Happier days!

[@Mark12367]

That sense of impending doom hearing that woman count down

[@knownpleasures]

Fascinating stuff, technology unsurprisingly looks a bit ropey. That game at Upton Park must have been Bill Shankly’s last league game for Liverpool

[@Return26-p4t]

Yes it was, nobody knew it at the time.

[@oxouk]

Long before goalies wore ridiculously giant gloves.

[@danabrahams7892]

my beautiful late father was the longest serving producer/director of MoTD

[@Skizzores]

They’ll be showing MOTD as long as the game is played. Happy 60th

[@oldschoollondoner4674]

That chap with the moustache at 07.26 looks suspiciously like Kate Bush's brother John Carder Bush, otherwise known as Paddy Bush.

[@thebat7048]

Changed days eh..

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

I would love to understand more how the vision was relayed from the stadium.

[@yellowbelly06]

It would have been sent via a microwave link. At 0:35 as the crane lifts one of the cameras above the stadium you see a shot of the OB vehicles - the one on the left shows a lattice-frame stand; at the top of this would have been a dish literally aimed at TVC. Microwave links required a clear line of sight to work, something largely impossible in modern London with its’ skyscrapers. Microwave links were phased out by satellite links which removed the need for a fully clear line of sight.

[@sh-ig9fm]

6:57 on the right monitor looks like a episode of the 3rd Dr who.

[@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206]

Almost 50 Years on... 03:44 in this video ...MOST of these people will be gone now. Life is short... Enjoy every day you are on this planet.

[@cerneuffington2656]

The other match covered that day was Everton v Southampton.

[@original.dwornboy]

Sounds like dulll encounter. 😑

[@cerneuffington2656]

@@original.dwornboy Not exactly. Although Southampton won 3-0, they were relegated after Birmingham beat Norwich. Highlights of that game were shown on ITV the following day. I was only 4 years old at the time, so remember it well 😂

[@Zlervo]

The old West Ham football ground.

[@Mark12367]

That slow motion moves faster than my nan, and she’s been dead a while…

[@Selous_Scout]

12 minutes 40 seconds…I didn’t know lofty was multi talented?? A actor by day and a tv producer by night lol

[@michael7286]

Great save by Mervin Day the brilliant West Ham goalkeeper, but in a different match between Sheffield United and West Ham United covered by Match of the Day at Bramall Lane back in the 70s the Sheffield United midfield magician Tony Currie twisted and turned the West Ham defence inside out and with a swerve of the body sent West Ham goalkeeper Mervin Day in the wrong direction before passing the ball into the goal. What a Quality Goal By A Quality Player. Sheff Utd 3 West Ham Utd 2

[@Spectrescup]

Look at his face etc

[@videonut1988]

Really different than the current productions of #MoTD...

[@joshclarkethemudlark8048]

What’s Noel Edmonds doing in Goal @4:18

[@ajs41]

When keepers couldn't afford gloves.

[@Darwinion]

Leeds won 1-0 at QPR that day and paraded the League Championship trophy (which they'd already won) round Loftus Road in front of their record crowd. They literally only came to see Leeds. That wasn't on MotD either. Think ITV had that with Brian Moore on The Big Match.

[@elchinkazum5726]

may I share on my page?

[@steveluckhurst2350]

And not a daft replica shirt in sight!

[@danikahn5378]

0:05 smoking at work

[@QuizWriterMark]

COYI ⚒️

[@noyoureafuckintube]

10:45 - style personified. 😍

[@redareda4470]

Come on hammers ⚒️

[@howardgilpin8818]

Didn't Sam Leech die reasonably young?

[@dlamiss]

jumped ship to ITV in the late 70s

[@howardgilpin8818]

@@dogbreaththe3rd851 Yes I was taking spelling from text accompanying the video. Just checked on Wikipedia and he died in his early 50's from a heart attack. I remember him presenting Football Preview slot on Grandstand.

[@joannefitzpatrick6720]

@@dogbreaththe3rd851 During "Football Preview" on 23rd October 1971, he famously dismissed Partick Thistle as having "No Chance" against Celtic in the 1971 Scottish League Cup Final: approximately 2 1/2 hours later, they were winning 4-0.....

[@anthonyleighton4754]

Just one woman there ....and she was a typist.....things have moved on quite a bit ...

[@PjD-pk1fg]

MOTD when it was about the football and not the overpaid,self important,self indulgent,little boys club pundits.

[@original.dwornboy]

The Black & White Minstrel Show then MOTD.... BBC Saturday night at its worst.

[@cerneuffington2656]

And Jimmy Savile's Clunk-Click, after Doctor Who... a great line-up 🙂

[@rareblues78daddy]

@@cerneuffington2656 You could always just watch The Old Grey Whistle Test.

[@valuetraveler2026]

back when soccer mattered

[@kmurphy994]

Soccer….really?

[@original.dwornboy]

Yes, soccer was a widely used term in England during the 1950s to the 1980s.

[@kmurphy994]

@@original.dwornboy bullshit..not by real football fans…where did you get that information? Widely used where?

[@steveluckhurst2350]

@@dogbreaththe3rd851 whoosh!

[@aronroyle1523]

@@original.dwornboy Football or Soccer, all the same thing. Don't know why people get such a bee in their bonnet about using the word soccer. As kids in the 80's we'd use both names.

[@seosamhofionnaghain5555]

Jimmy Hill smoking !! Ah the good old days , before political correctness invaded the Earth !!

[@flaggerify]

Health is not political correctness.

[@flatoutflatbroke]

Getting lung/throat/oral cancer being the ulitmate way to 'own the libs' eh!?

[@seosamhofionnaghain5555]

@@flaggerify Smoking is not harmful to anyone UNLESS THEY BELIEVE IT IS ! Remember it is done unto you as you BELIEVE!!

[@flaggerify]

@@seosamhofionnaghain5555 Because we're in the Matrix, right?

[@christopherhulse8385]

Long before women appeared on screens screeching their heads off!

[@ChaimkeProductions]

back when females knew their place and didnt but in, show off their tattoos and sports wasnt about woke political gestures

[@welshlad6427]

My favourite ever football commentator is Barry Davies. Great days and great memories. Loved the 70s and 80s watching MOD ❤️

[@Me-ll4ig]

Brilliant video. The guys doing the editing after the match that must have been cumbersome, to go through the whole match again to find the best bits !!!

[@AlanTaylorCRSmusicproduction]

Back in the day when the BBC were great.

[@richardsharpe2966]

A time when Match Of The Day was done properly and professionally with dear old Jim the Chin

[@MattFreestonePictures]

Anyone know what studio at Television Centre this was?