The armchair view- ITVs mistake is the one to beat them all
06 Feb 2009 - 09:53:44
You wait all night for a goal and all of a sudden along comes irritating anthropomorphic mint sweets squeaking about on a golf course. Which just about sums up ITV's coverage of the FA Cup this season.
The appearance on our screens of the Tic Tac men, who make the Teletubbies look like the finest Michelangelo sculptures, at precisely the time Everton
were scoring was just the latest in a series of gaffes in the commercial station's coverage of England's premier cup competition.
Naked players in the dressing room, swearing fans by the pitch, low-angle static cameras with seemingly frosted lenses, rigid and crazy editorial decisions, stale and simplistic analysis — ITV Sport have given the football fan the lot during this campaign.
And this columnist has chronicled their failings every false step of the way.
JOIN THE DEBATE - Are ITV unfit to broadcast the Cup?
Flashback: ITV realise the error of their ways and restore pictures from Goodison - just as Everton celebrate Dan Gosling's winner
The great ITV own goal: Cup howler was 'inexcusable', says chairman Grade
The broadcast view: A bad night for Liverpool ... an even worse one for ITV
FA demand explanation from ITV over broadcast blunder that saw millions miss Everton's dramatic winner against Liverpool
VIDEO: ITV broadcast 117 mins of turgid, goalless football then show adverts instead of Everton's glorious winner against rivals Liverpool
ITV are FA muppets - Sportsmail's roll of shame for Cup broadcaster
Alan Fraser's screen test: ITV's pathetic highlights ended in a triffick jam
JOIN THE DEBATE - Are ITV unfit to broadcast the Cup?
At this stage, a confession. With the Liverpool
defence and the Tic Tac men pretty much indistinguishable in terms of mobility, this observer was slow in realising the programme had gone to a break before the match had finished. The mint who headed the golf ball rather gave the game away. He looked too good in the air to be Arbeloa.
All ITV's previous mistakes paled alongside this particular act of folly. For 118 of the 120 minutes the viewer watched the sort of football horror show that would have had A Clockwork Orange's Alex DeLarge screaming for mercy. So much so that, had it not been for what we missed, the 30 or so seconds of adverts would have represented blessed relief.
Back to Goodison and there in a heap lay the Everton players like a collapsed pyramid. Only two things could have caused that, and Cristiano Ronaldo was not present to take a free-kick.
Contrite: Rider was forced into an apology after ITV's blunder
The whole episode reminded me a little of the early days of the North American Soccer League in the Seventies when British footballing missionaries/mercenaries told tales of being rugby-tackled by American TV personnel trying to stop them taking a quick throw. Time for a commercial break, though crucially they stopped the action in those circumstances.
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Perhaps a better parallel was the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix when ITV missed a crucial passing manoeuvre at a time in Formula One when you would be forgiven for thinking that all circuits featured a No Overtaking sign on the exit of the pit lane.
ITV's Michael Grade is a football fan, an ardent follower of Charlton Athletic. If it had been Charlton and not Everton scoring — pretty unlikely I know — there would have been a flogging rather than an inquiry yesterday.
The profusely apologetic Steve Rider, ultra professional in his embarrassment, must have been privately cursing the day that he left the BBC to join those second raters, or should that be third Graders.
The great ITV own goal: Cup howler was 'inexcusable', says chairman Grade
The broadcast view: A bad night for Liverpool ... an even worse one for ITV
FA demand explanation from ITV over broadcast blunder that saw millions miss Everton's dramatic winner against Liverpool
VIDEO: ITV broadcast 117 mins of turgid, goalless football then show adverts instead of Everton's glorious winner against rivals Liverpool
ITV are FA muppets - Sportsmail's roll of shame for Cup broadcaster
Alan Fraser's screen test: ITV's pathetic highlights ended in a triffick jam
JOIN THE DEBATE - Are ITV unfit to broadcast the Cup?
