John Motson – A Tribute

As soon as I heard the sad news of John Motson’s passing this morning, I immediately set to work on writing this tribute. He was a footballing legend (a phrase often used but seldom warranted, but in this case more than necessary) and broadcasting supreme.

As I grew up in the 1990’s, sports commentary was simple: Athletics was David Coleman, Formula One was Murray Walker and snooker was Clive Everton.
Football had more than one commentator, however. The BBC had John Motson or Barry Davies, ITV had Brian Moore and the voice of Sky’s coverage was Martin Tyler.

Davies, Motson’s colleague at the BBC, was something of an all-rounder. As well as football, he also commentated on the Boat Race and would also chip in during the Wimbledon fortnight. It was purely football that was Motson’s forte.

‘Motty’ as he was affectionately known, would have statistic for nugget of information for everything. His enthusiasm for the game was so apparent and at times of great excitement, his voice would become higher in pitch. He wouldn’t hold back and would almost sound child-like and giddy with excitement. It was truly endearing.

Motty was one of the contestants on Fantasy Football League, a comedy show based on football that was broadcast in the mid-1990s. Fronted by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, they got celebrities to create a fantasy football team and the progress of the competition was discussed between football-related comedy sketches.

The competition had several contestants who were clearly not interested in football or had little knowledge of how the concept worked. I have recently found all of the old episodes and Motty took the league extremely seriously and when he was one of the guests on the show it seemed as if some of the jokes almost went over his head in the semi-raucous and laddish studio. Motty’s colleague Des Lynam picked up on the jokes and lightly ribbed Motty.

Motson’s big break would come in 1972. He was sent to Hereford United vs Newcastle United for a replay in the FA Cup. He wasn’t expecting much as the game was originally due to get shown for five minutes on Match of the Day.

The game became one of the biggest shocks in the history of the FA Cup and it was shown as the main game on the show and Motty had proved himself to the powers-that-be at the BBC.

Hereford’s first goal of the game by Ronnie Radford that day is played over and over every year and Motty’s voice in the background is the soundtrack of the giant-killing. The Hereford United fans running onto the Edgar Street pitch to celebrate both of their team’s goals remains an iconic and enduring moment of football in the 1970’s.

Motty could (and often would) cover quieter spells of the game with quirky facts and statistics from his vast knowledge. He was sitting on an encyclopaedic knowledge and was like and took delight in telling the viewers about Davies was more descriptive of what was going on around the game and also had a great way of staying quiet and letting the crowd’s reactions to events do the talking.

Motty was also known for wearing a sheepskin coat and it became his trademark look. He was famously shown wearing it in the middle of a snowstorm whilst broadcasting from Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers. Hunched forward, flat cap on, clutching at his microphone but still getting his report in, Motty cut the figure of a cold but ultimate professional.

In 2017, Motty announced that he would retire at the end of the 2017/18 season. He was greeted by well-wishers at every game that he commentated on during that final season. He had been the voice of football for almost half a century and become a legend in the game.

The commentary box was Motty’s second home and he couldn’t stay away. After retiring from the BBC, he picked up his microphone and joined the radio station TalkSport just two months later.

If the likes of David Attenborough and Stephen Fry can be described as a ‘national treasure’, then I can see no reason why John ‘Motty’ Motson can’t be placed firmly on that list. Although I’m sure that he would see a list of national treasures in the form of a league table, such was his love of the game!

In true Motty style, I’m ending this tribute with a handful of stats and facts about the great man:

FA Cup Finals commentated on: 29

World Cup Finals covered: 10 (1974-2010 inclusive)

European Championships covered: 10

First radio commentary: Everton vs Derby County, December 1969

First television commentary: Liverpool vs Chelsea, October 1971

Total matches commentated on: Over 2000

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