Broadcast Magazine’s 50 Greatest Televison Moments: The Greatest Sporting Moments

Source: Broadcast Magazine’s 50 Greatest Televison Moments: The Greatest Sporting Moments – 2005

Shergar wins the Derby
1981

Back when ITV showed horse-racing, it captured the outstanding Epsom Derby of 1981 that saw the legendary Irish horse Shergar romp home by a record 10 lengths.

Ridden by Walter Swinburn, trained by Michael Stoute and owned by the Aga Khan, Shergar won six of the eight races it entered, including easy victories in the Irish Derby, the King George VI and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, to become one of the most valuable race horses in the world. “He won the Derby by a country mile,” recalled ITV controller of sport Brian Barwich. It was the start of the legend.

The real drama, however, came some two years later, after retirement, when the horse was stolen from a stable in Ireland, allegedly by the IRA. A £2m ransom was demanded and not paid and the horst was never seen again.

Arsenal win the League with the last kick of the season
1989

On Friday 26th May 1989 Arsenal went to Liverpool needing at least a 2-0 win to clinch the old First Division title.

The odds were stacked against Arsenal. Liverpool hadn’t lost by two goals at home in more than three years. With the nation glued to ITV for a live midweek match – a rare enough thing in those pre-satellite days – the Gunners had a 1-0 lead when the game entered injury time. It wouldn’t be enough. Liverpool would win the League on goal difference. With the clock ticking on to 91:22 the Londoners launched one last attack. Smith fed Michael Thomas who surged towards the box. As he went through on goal, legendary ITV commentator Brian Moore famously shrieked “It’s up for grabs now!”.

Thomas calmly dinked the ball over the advancing Bruce Grobbelaar and won the league. Immortalised in print by Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch, this is still arguable the most exciting moment in 116 of top-flight English football and without doubt the most enthralling end to any First Division season ever.

Lance Armstrong wins the Tour De France
1999

In 1999 Channel 4 still had the rights to the Tour De France and benefited from the moment when US cyclist Lance Armstrong, who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer just three years earlier, won the world’s most gruelling road race.

After his remarkable return, Armstrong’s presences among the 180 riders starting the 86th tour was news enough. Nobody expected him to win a stage, let alone the entire race. Yet he defied the pundits, who said he was “damaged goods”, by winning four stages including a mountain stage.

It was a remarkable achievement in the face of extreme adversity. TV viewers shared the experience from start to finish. Held over 22 days and covering more than 2,000 miles, the final leg was broadcast on 25 July and watched by 1.2 million viewers, giving the channel 9% of the audience share.

Michael Schumacher’s sixth F1 Championship win
2003

When Germany’s Michael Schumacher won a record-breaking sixth championship in the 2003 Formula 1 in Japan, he earned his status as the world’s greatest motor-racing driver.

In the race, shown on ITV, the Ferrari driver actually finished in eighth place, but it was enough to guarantee the world championship for the fourth successive year and take him past the five titles held by Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio.

F1 has been one of ITV’s most valuable assets since it was poached from the BBC. The fact that it draws significant numbers of ABC1 viewers means advertising around the coverage can be sold at a premium. But regardless of social standing, seeing the greatest living racing driver complete his sixth win makes for television gold.

Michael Owen’s wonder goal
1998

Words don’t do justice to Michael Owen’s wonder strike against Argentina in the summer of 1998. An 18-year-old striker. A second round World Cup match against one of England’s great adversaries. A hostile crowd in St Etienne. And a watching television audience back home of 26 million.

The Liverpool striker waltzed through a static Argentina defence before smearing a shot into the top corner of the goal net to give England a 2-1 lead. A viewing nation celebrated and a legend was born. Unfortunately the euphoria was short-lived. Argentina equalised, David Beckham was sent off and the England 10 were suddenly in trouble. When Sol Campbell has a perfectly good goal ruled out in extra time the tension was almost unbearable.

But it was nothing compared to the pain of penalties. First Paul Ince and then David Batty missed and England were out. As Granada’s Jeff Anderson pointed out, it was the game that had everything: “There was Beckham’s sending off, Owen’s wonder goal and a dramatic penalty shoot-out. All in one game.” And ITV’s highest ever audience to boot.

Mike Tyson snacks on Evander Holyfield’s ear
1997

This moment, broadcast live by Sky Sports, both fascinated and repelled viewers and made headlines around the world. Boxer Mike Tyson was disqualified after the third round of his WBA heavyweight championship bout with Evander Holyfield for biting a chunk out of the champion’s ear.

At first, the ringside doctor allowed the fight to continue until Tyson took another bite and the referee called it a day. Close-ups of Holyfield’s savaged ear appeared on the front pages of most of the UK newspapers the following day, but on the night 500,000 people paid to watch it on pay-per-view but that just a traction of the total audience.

Manchester United’s last gasp win
1999

The Champions League final against Bayern Munich and the world’s biggest club, Manchester United, having already won the Premiership and the FA Cup, looked set to miss out on the European Cup and a historic treble.

Trailing to an early goal from Mario Basler and missing the suspended Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, a makeshift United team struggled to make an impact.

With a last roll of the dice, Sir Alex Ferguson sent on two substitutes. Deep into injury time, they changed everything. Two Beckham corners and two goals, the first from Teddy Sheringham, the second courtesy of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, led United from the brink of defeat to victory. Some 30,000 United fans in the Nou Camp, Barcelona, and a peak watching audience of 19 million went wild.

But it was not the winning goals that made the defining television moment. It was the sight of Bayern defender Sammy Kuffour banging his fist on the floor in frustration that satisfied the watching audience. Seeing the Germans suffer in sport has become a national pastime.

Wilkinson’s golden boot
2003

Televised sport couldn’t get much more dramatic than this. Before breakfast on a cold November morning the streets were deserted as people sat glued to their TV sets watching a national sporting team compete in a World Cup final for the first time since 1966.

Despite playing Australia on home soil, England went into the game as overwhelming favourites. They led 14-5 at half-time but couldn’t finish the job. The Wallabies clawed their way back, thanks to some poor England line-out play and inspired kicking from Aussie centre Elton Flatley, whose last-minute penalty took the game to extra time.

Tied at 17-17, the game then headed for sudden death and ITV captured the deep sense of tension. England gave it one last push in the last minute. A rehearsed set-piece saw scrum-half Matt Dawson throw a dummy before setting up Jonny Wilkinson right in front of the posts for a drop goal. An estimated 12.7 million people at home and millions more in pubs held their breath as the fly-half’s right boot connected. The rest is history. England won by 20 points to 17 with virtually the last kick of the game. “You can’t beat Jonny Wilkinson, the kicking machines, and that last-minute drop goal,” said BBC1 controller of sport Peter Salmon. Unforgettable.

England’s victory, World Cup
1966

Hosts and favourites England, under the studious approach of manager Alf Ramsay, beat all before them and won their one and only football World Cup. The Germans equalised in the last minute of the final to send the game into extra time. Then came one of many famous moments. Centre forward Geoff Hurst’s shot hit the underside of the bar, bounced down onto the line and then bounced out again. The linesman signalled a goal. The referee – after some debate – agreed and England took the lead. The West Ham man then scored England’s fourth goal in the last minute to complete his hat trick and England won 4-2. But it is the words of commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme that created the legend. “There’s some people on the pitch,” he proclaimed. “They think it’s all over. It is now!” The Saturday game was simulcast by the

BBC and ITV in black and white and an estimated worldwide audience of 400 million took in the action as Bobby Moore paraded the trophy around Wembley stadium. The pictures remain some of the most memorable and instantly recognisable in television history.

However, it wasn’t until Monday that the action was witnessed in full colour when Pathe distributed it to cinemas with its news reel. The team had been treated to a sneak preview the morning after the final.

Pic: British Pathe