Voices of Football: John Motson; goodbye to all that

The passing of John Motson in 2022 marked another step on the path to the end of a golden era for sports broadcasting in this country.

It’s now been almost 52years since a 26 year old radio commentator made the step up from BBC Radio Two to the televisions screens. The match, between Liverpool and Chelsea, turned out to be something of a damp squib—a goalless draw, it took second billing to that evening’s main event on Match Of The Day, a 2-2 draw between Derby County and Tottenham Hotspur—but it proved to be the beginning of an era.

John Motson, one of the most instantly recognisable voices in the history of sports broadcasting, had arrived. For more than three decades, he would become the voice of football on the BBC, and his death in 2022 would be met with an outpouring of grief from within the game that was unexpectedly heartfelt.