I think it was Phil Liggett

Looking back to 1980, Phil Liggett reported for BBC Radio 2. In 1983, the (British) Milk Race was commentated by PL and Eddie Hemmings for Radio 2. Mike Price reported on the Tour for BBC Radio 2 in 1986 wih Phil Liggett was back (on the World Service at least) in 1987. In 1992, PL covered the Tour for BBC Radio Five whereas Paul Sherwen reported for LBC. I don't have details for 1993 but notice that Simon Brotherton was the reporter in 1994.

Arthur, Ian, thanks for the Beacon/WABC details. It is much appreciated.

Might Nigel Pearson have done some reporting on Walsall games for Beacon in those days? He was Walsall's ClubCall presenter between 1994 and 2006 so this would make sense.

Or was he always studio-based? I know he presented Beacon's Saturday Sports Show in 96/97 before joining Talk Radio as their West Midlands reporter the following season, where he's been ever since.

Nick Dye is another one who has turned up on talkSPORT in more recent times. He covered snooker and darts for them in the days when they took networked reports from most of the major tournaments in those sports. These days he commentates on Radio Wimbledon and reports on European tour golf for the PGA Tour website.

I don't know what Mike Hollis is up to at the moment, but in recent seasons I remember hearing him doing the occasional commentary for BRMB or Capital Gold Birmingham on occasions when they were able to do commentaries on all three of their clubs - Villa, Blues and the Baggies - over the course of a single day.

I don't agree with you Colin - I think Ali Bruce-Ball is one of Five Live's better commentators. I like his boundless enthusiasm and feel that he is developing a more recognisable style to many of their mid-ranking commentators.

Personally, it's the other two members of Five Live's commentary team at Eastlands who would have put me off listening last night had I not been watching the game.

I take Shaun's point here but in a way I think it was a good game to give him. If Five Live management are looking at sharing out the top end-of-season games reasonably fairly among their top commentators, then Ali may be one to miss out on doing a European/Wembley final.

So to give him a season-deciding game like this rewards him for the hard work he's put in over the past nine months, much like how others will end their (domestic) season with a Play-Off Final to show for their efforts.

When you have a commentary roster as big as Five Live does, then I'm all for sharing out the important games among different people rather than just letting the same old voices hog all of the big matches.


Speaking of last night's game, now the fourth place issue has been decided I think it's clear what the national stations will be doing on Sunday - namely full 90 minute commentaries on the main games they have picked.

Five Live will stick with Chelsea v Wigan Athletic throughout, even if they have the ability to go to Burnley v Tottenham (which, incidentally, will not be on Sports Extra - they will be airing the West Indies v India game in the World Twenty20 at that time), while talkSPORT will have full commentary on Manchester United v Stoke City on Sunday.

Even if talkSPORT has the ability to cut to West Ham v Manchester City, now they surely won't as there is nothing riding on that game and even if the title race looks over by half-time, a Manchester United dead rubber will surely bring them a bigger audience than anything else on offer.

I think he did cover The Saddlers looking back. I can definately remember Pat Foley commentating the day they went up in 1988

No idea - I watched it on TV (which was Iain Gwyn Hughes and Eddie Niedzwiecki *I think*)


You'd have to ask an older member of this forum for an answer to that one!

I wasn't able to hear any of Sportsound last night, but from what I've gathered there was something like: In Italics are people I'm not 100% sure of, but know they were either at that particular game, or else would be likey to do it.

If anyone can fill in the blanks that'd be great, as I haven't seen any other posts.

BBC Radio Scotland- Wednesday 5th May 2010

Sportsound presented by Richard Gordon

Commentaries (Online)
Aberdeen v. Kilmarnock - Scott Davie & Jim Leighton
Falkirk v. St Johnstone - John Barnes & Craig Patterson
Hamilton v. St Mirren - Paul Mitchell & Scott Booth
Hearts v. Dundee United - Liam MacLeod & Steve Cowan
Motherwell v. Hibernian - Rob MacLean & Pat Nevin

Open All Mics (810 MW)
Aberdeen v. Kilmranock - Jim Spence
Falkirk v. St Johnstone - Allan Preston
Hamilton v. St Mirren - Kenny MacIntyre
Hearts v. Dundee United - John Robertson
Motherwell v. Hibernian - Derek Ferguson

If i remember rightly, in England, we had the second half of that game after England had bowed out v San Marino

One or two edits, I'm still not sure about Hearts commentator or Hamilton OAM, however the highlight's of Derek Ferguson on OAM I'm sure I heard Charlie Mann's voice

Thanks again Arthur. I know Nigel is a Baggies fan so he might have pitched up at the Hawthorns on occasions, but I'm sure he must have done a fair few games at the Bescot given his long-standing connection with the Saddlers.

If I can ask, what point in time are you looking back to when talking about Beacon/WABC? I'm guessing it's the late 80s and early to mid-90s.

Also, were Pat Foley and Pete Moodie their commentary team whenever they did a live game, and were they the studio-based anchors when it was an around the grounds show? And when did Beacon lose Wolves commentary rights to The Wolf? I know they won them back in 2006/07 but I'm not sure when they first lost them to The Wolf (which only launched back in 1997).

The other fella i was thinking about was Nigel Dolman, who is now a newsreader / sports reporter on Radio Shropshire. Yes i'd say mid to late 80's and into the 90's. I took a job in Cumbria in 1991 and was working with a young lad who was a Wolves obsessive. He was from Ulverston and had never seen them play, one weekend i was coming back home to my parents house and he asked me to tape the commentary from Beacon of the game. Fair play to him, he listened back to it all on the Monday night

Yes Pat Foley was manily studio based but would go out for the big games. He sadly died a few years ago now. Steve Daley came on board as a summeriser. Beacon / WABC lost interest in sport around the time it was GWR'd. I remember thinking something was up when they started to play songs during the sports shows - something that had never happened before

...with network commentary from Barry Davies.

BBC1 may even have cut away a few minutes early from the England game when it became clear they weren't going through to World Cup 94.

(Did something similar happen for England's final group game at Euro 88 - was Ireland-Holland not shown instead?)

I remember Grahame Lloyd was BBC Wales' main TV commentator throughout the late 80s and early 90s, even up to the point of doing networked FA Cup games for Match of the Day...

Thanks once again for the info Arthur, I enjoyed your anecdote about your friend in Cumbria too.

According to Wikipedia, GWR purchased Beacon Broadcasting Limited in 1995 and rebranded WABC into a mostly networked Classic Gold in 1997, which coincides with when then sports anchor (and WABC drivetime host) Nigel Pearson left for Talk Radio.

It wouldn't surprise me if 107.7 The Wolf, which launched early in the 97/98 campaign, replaced Beacon as the commercial radio partner of Wolves during that season, although it would be good if someone could confirm that as being the case. I know Bill Hatton and Pete Moodie, the former being Beacon's Wolves commentator at present, were The Wolf's commentary team at the end of their run covering Wolves.

A few talkSPORT notes from today:

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has given his champagne-drenched suit from last night to talkSPORT which they are auctioning off in one of their text bid auctions, with all the proceeds going to male cancer charity Orchid. Nice coup for the station and a kind gesture from Harry.

Earlier tonight on Kick-Off, Ian Danter confirmed talkSPORT will be broadcasting all 64 games from the World Cup by splitting their frequencies between AM and DAB in order to do commentary on all of the concurrent final group games, as was the case at Germany 2006. He also mentioned that he'll be in South Africa for the station this summer.

And later tonight, the station will be utilising a number of their football reporters on their Election Special - which by the sounds of it will be done in the Around the Grounds style of their Saturday football programme. The trailer for their coverage says they'll be bringing us "all the polls as they go in".

Anyone know of any other football commentators/reporters becoming political commentators/reporters for tonight's election coverage?

I've quite enjoyed our end of season stroll down memory lane
Yes, a few football comms have doubled up as political reporters on election night in the past. Paul Rowley is the only one I can think of who's done it the other way around if you get my drift

Ps, lovely gesture by Harry, hope it raises a few bob

I've enjoyed our nostalgia-fest too.

On talkSPORT tonight, the following football reporters are covering the election - Dom McGuinness (rounding up the North-West and Wales), Geoff Peters (Midlands), Graham Courtney (North-East), Mark Donaldson (Scotland and Northern Ireland) and Mike Bovill (South of England), along with talkSPORT's Political Correspondent Sean Dilley who is in Westminster.

As for other stations, I know Paul Franks is anchoring BBC WM's coverage with Ed Doolan and I think Richard Wilford will be involved too, but I haven't tuned in yet.

Both Dylan Ebenzer and Gareth Rhys Owen have been working for S4C tonight, so I ask, Have there been cases of mainly Sports based commentators/reporters being used for Political coverage?

Radio 5's coverage of the CL Final will be hosted by Mark Chapman with comm from Alan Green and John Murray. Must be the first CL/EC final without Mike Ingham in a very long time.

Earlier in the day, the CCC PO Final is hosted by Mark Pougatch, no comm details yet

There are also no details of England/Mexico 2 days later. It wouldn't surprise me at all to hear Mike Ingham and Simon Brotherton on that one as possibly beign in Madrid and then Wembley 2 days later might be deemed too much for Green and/or Ingham

From what I heard of BBC WM last night, WM Sport frontman Paul Franks anchored their coverage while football commentators Rob Gurney, Dan Wheeler and Richard Wilford were reporting from the counts across the Midlands, as were Chris Blakemore, Ed Dawes and Richie Anderson.

The latter trio have all started reporting on football for WM this season, but are primarily regional reporters and newsreaders for the station.

Over on Beacon 97.2FM, I hear football commentators Mikey Burrows and Steve Hermon were providing their election coverage, which is not a surprise as during the week the pair read the station's news bulletins.

Sky Sports accept Ian Payne's resignation: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...pay-shock.html

It says that he's been linked with a move to Absolute Radio, who, of course have rights to 32 Premier League commentaries over the next three seasons. I'd be very surprised if this happens.

Perhaps, he'll join talkSPORT and be part of their World Cup coverage or next season's Premier League coverage?

Or.... a return to the BBC with Radio 5 Live?

Rob Phillips was working for BBC Wales TV at one of the counts (think it might have been Blaenau Gwent), he looks older than I expected!

BBC Radio 5 Live

Mark Chapman presenting 5 Live Sport from Elland Road.

Championship Play Off Semi Final First Leg
Blackpool v Nottingham Forest – Darren Fletcher, Nigel Adderley and Dean Kiely (12:45pm commentary)

League One
Brentford v Hartlepool United - John Southall
Exeter v Huddersfield - Andy Gillies
Leeds v Bristol Rovers - John Murray and Danny Mills (3:00pm commentary)
Millwall v Swindon Town - Alistair Bruce-Ball and Mark Bright
Oldham v Charlton Athletic - Peter Slater
Stockport v Tranmere - Conor McNamara
Wycombe v Gillingham - Simon Mann
Brentford v Hartlepool United - John Southall

League Two
Barnet v Rochdale - Mike Sewell
Burton v Grimsby - Juliette Ferrington
Cheltenham v Accrington - John Acres
Chesterfield v Bournemouth - Alan Biggs
Darlington v Dagenham & Redbridge - Steve May
Morecambe v Aldershot - Ross Fletcher
Northampton v Bury - Jacqui Oatley
Port Vale v Shrewsbury Town - Chris Dennis

FA Trophy Final, Wembley
Stevenage v Barrow - Andy Barwell

Nice to see 5Live have reporters at all the important games

BBC Radio Scotland - Saturday 8th May 2010

Sportsound presented by Richard Gordon live from Rugby Park

12.30 Kickoffs

Commentaries
Kilmarnock v. Falkirk - (810MW & Online) - David Begg & Craig Patterson with Kenny MacIntyre pitchside
St. Johnstone v. Hamilton - (Online) - Paul Mitchell & John Robertson
St. Mirren v. Aberdeen - (Online) - John Barnes & Steve Cowan

Later on they wil be doing coverage of the SFL playoffs but they are splitting the show for later

BBC London 94.9
Host Phil Parry
Brentford v Hartlepool Billy Reeves
Colchester v Leyton Orient Dave Victor
Leeds v Bristol Rovers Mark Taylor
Millwall v Swindon Phil Parry and Clive Walker (commentary)
Oldham v Charlton Andy Rowley
Barnet v Rochdale Barry Swain
Burton v Grimsby Callum Williams
Darlington v Daganham and Redbridge Dave Donaldson
R/U: Harlequins v Sale Sara Orchard


BBC Radio Humberside
Burton v Grimsby David Burns and John Tondeur (commentary)
Barnet v Rochdale Emma Jones

This is always a great day when BBC Local Radio stations cover matches not involving but having implications for local sides.
Last edited by IanFergus : 08-05-2010 at 15:19