HTV Football Highlights 1968-83
HTV originally launched as "Harlech Television" in May 1968 as the ITV "dual-region" service for Wales and the West of England. The station became known as 'HTV' in 1970. In an area where Rugby was regarded as the no.1 sport, local Football coverage was sporadic with HTV relaying London Weekend Television's The Big Match most Sunday afternoon's.

The HTV region's league teams 1968-1983
Bristol City, Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town*, Swansea Town, Cardiff City, Wrexham** and Newport County.

*ATV/CENTRAL cameras would also turn up at Swindon's ground.
** Wrexham were covered by GRANADA on a few occasions.

HTV commentators and presenters
Roger Malone (apparently a Bristol City fan) was the regular commentator. Born on 31st May 1933 in Egypt, Malone had been employed by previous Wales & West ITV franchise holders TWW as a continuity announcer but went on to become a part of ITV's 1970 World Cup commentary team. Bob Symonds commentated on Welsh matches from around 1973/74 (and is still doing football commentaries for ITV1 Wales), Graham Miller could also occasionally be heard voicing HTV games in the late 1970's/early 1980's (he went on to become an ITN newsreader circa 1990). Hugh Johns joined the station in August 1982 having worked for TWW in the early-mid 1960's before moving to ATV, John's had also commentated on Wales internationals during that time.

What matches were shown
The following lists detail all known matches recorded by HTV cameras for local highlights, the re-edits of other region's matches are not included here (see the other region's pages for those). Given dates are for when the fixture was played (not the broadcast). Known mid-week & pre-season Wales/West based matches (not necessarily aired under the title Soccer Special/Soccer Hour) are included in grey, networked ITV coverage of other matches of interest are in italics.

*Do please e-mail [email protected] if you are able to add any HTV matches or fill in missing scorers.

Season 1968/69
All of this season's editions of HTV football highlights were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only.
30/Nov    Cardiff City 4 (Bird 2, Clark, Jones) Sheffield United 1 (Addison)
14/Dec    Swindon Town 1 (Ropers) Brighton & Hove Albion 0
18/Dec    Burnley 2 Swindon Town 3 [League Cup SF R] *played at The Hawthorns, Granada coverage with Barry Davies commentating
11/Jan     Bristol City 3 (Galley 2, Sharpe) Middlesbrough 0
22/Feb    Swindon Town 1 (Noble) Rotherham United 0
15/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Swindon Town 3 (Smart, Rogers 2) Arsenal 1 (Gould)
12/Apr    Bristol City (Galley 2) Oxford United 0
19/Apr    Cardiff City 0 Huddersfield Town 2 (Cherry, Murray(og))

1968/69 footnotes to be added.

Season 1969/70
All of this season's editions of HTV football highlights were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only.
23/Aug    Bristol City 0 Cardiff City 2 (Clark, Bird)
04/Oct    Cardiff City 4 (Toshack 2, Bird 2) Aston Villa 0
06/Dec    Swindon Town 1 (Horsfield) Bristol City 1 (Burrows(og))
10/Jan     Cardiff City 3 (Clarke 2, Bird) Sheffield United 0
07/Feb    Swindon Town 3 (Noble, Horsfield, Trollope) Scunthorpe United 1 (Cassidy) [FA Cup 5th Round]
HTV first began colour transmissions on 6th April 1970

1969/70 footnotes to be added.

Season 1970/71
15/Aug    Bristol City 4 (Sharp 2, Skirton, Wimhurst) Sunderland 3 (Kerr, Baker 2)
12/Sep    Swindon Town 2 (Horsfield 2) Portsmouth 1 (Storrie)
19/Sep    Cardiff City 1 (Clark) Norwich City 1 (Bennett)
07/Nov   Swindon Town 2 (Horsfield, Noble) Bristol City 1 (Galley)
28/Nov   Cardiff City 0 Luton Town 0 *black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'
19/Dec    Bristol City 2 (Rooks, Sharpe(pen)) Charlton Athletic 2 (Plumb, Wimshurst(og)) *black & white.
09/Jan     Bristol Rovers 1 (Stubbs) Aston Villa 2 (B.Rioch, Parsons(og)) *black & white.
20/Mar    Bristol City 2 (Gow, Galley) Swindon Town 1 (Horsfield)
03/Apr    Cardiff City 1 (Wimshurst(og)) Bristol City 0

1970/71 footnotes to be added.

Season 1971/72
28/Sep  Possibly Bristol City 4 (Galley, Tainton, Wimshurst, Gow(pen)) Blackpool 0

1971/72 footnotes to be added.

Season 1972/73
No details available

1972/73 footnotes to be added.

Season 1973/74
08/Dec    Bristol Rovers 4 (Warboys 3(1pen), Jacobs) Southend United 0
09/Mar    Bristol City 0 Liverpool 1 (Toshack) [FA Cup QF]

1973/74 footnotes to be added.

Season 1974/75
31/Aug    Cardiff City 0 Manchester United 1 (Daly(pen))
14/Sep    Bristol Rovers 2 (Warboys 2) Aston Villa 0
28/Dec    Bristol Rovers 1 (Fearnley) Bristol City 4 (Fear 2, Mann, Tainton)
29/Mar    Bristol City 0 Norwich City 1 (Suggett)

1974/75 footnotes to be added.

Season 1975/76
30/Aug    Bristol City 1 (Cheesley) Bristol Rovers 1 (Bannister)
04/Oct    Cardiff City 3 (Dwyer 2, Evans) Wrexham 0
24/Apr    Bristol City 1 (Whitehead) Notts County 2 (O'Brien, Benjamin)

1975/76 footnotes to be added.

Season 1976/77
28/Aug    Cardiff City 2 (Alston, Showers) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Mitchell)
04/Sep    Bristol City 4 (Mann, Tainton, Ritchie, Gillies) Sunderland 1 (Robson)
30/Oct    Bristol Rovers 1 (Fearnley) Charlton Athletic 1 (Flanagan)
06/Nov   Bristol City 0 Coventry City 0
27/Nov   Cardiff City 0 Nottingham Forest 3 (Withe, Chapman, Woodcock)
04/Dec    Abandoned match - Bristol City 0 Leeds United 0 *Ref abandoned this at half-time
22/Jan     Bristol City 2 (Cormack 2) Arsenal 0
29/Jan     Swindon Town 2 (Syrett, Stroud) Everton 2 (McKenzie, Latchford) [FA Cup 4th Round]
12/Feb    Bristol Rovers 2 (Day, Williams) Fulham 1 (Mitchell)

1976/77 footnotes to be added.

Season 1977/78
20/Aug    Cardiff City 1 (Went) Bristol Rovers 1 (Randall)
03/Sep    Bristol City 1 (Mabbutt) Aston Villa 1 (Little)
24/Sep    Wrexham 2 (McNeil, Whittle) Swindon Town 1 (Moss)
01/Oct     Bristol City 2 (Tainton, Cormack(pen)) Queens Park Rangers 2 (Masson, Eastoe)
15/Oct     Swindon Town 1 (Aizlewood) Port Vale 1 (Sutcliffe)
05/Nov    Cardiff City 2 (Dwyer, Sayer) Stoke City 0
19/Nov    Bristol Rovers 0 Bolton Wanderers 1 (Waldron)
31/Dec    Bristol City 1 (Mabbutt) Nottingham Forest 3 (Needham, Woodcock, O'Neill)
21/Jan     Bristol Rovers 2 (Gould, Randall) Blackpool 0
28/Jan     Bristol Rovers 2 (Randall 2) Southampton 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
18/Feb    Bristol Rovers 2 (Williams 2) Ipswich Town 2 (Turner 2) [FA Cup 5th Round]
11/Mar    Wrexham 2 (McNeil, Whittle) Arsenal 3 (Macdonald, Sunderland, Young) [FA Cup QF]
01/Apr    Bristol City 3 (Nulty(og), Ritchie, Hunter) Newcastle United 1 (Barrowclough)
15/Apr    Swansea City 2 (Curtis 2)  Brentford 1 (W.Graham)
22/Apr    Wrexham 7 (Thomas, Lyons, Whittle 3, Shinton, Cartwright) Rotherham United 1 (Phillips)
29/Apr    Bristol City 1 (Royle) Coventry City 1 (Wallace)

1977/78 footnotes to be added.

More season's to be added soon
 

Sep 23, 2020: Cardiff 2 Blackburn 0
Sep 30, 2020: Bristol City 2 Everton 2
Nov 4, 2020: Bristol Rovers 2 Newcastle 0
9/12/78 - Wrexham 4 West Ham 3
Dec 16, 2020: Bristol City 1 Liverpool 0
Mar 3, 2020: Bristol City 1 Man United 2
Mar 24, 2020: Cardiff 1 Stoke 3

Mar 22, 2020: Bristol Rovers 1 Wrexham 0
May 3, 2020: Cardiff 1 Sunderland 1

10/3/81 - Swansea 2 Arsenal 0

Mar 27, 2020: Swansea 1 Ipswich 2
May 1, 2020: Swansea 1 Everton 2

Nov 20, 2020: Swansea 1 Arsenal 2
14/5/83 - Bristol Rovers 1 Cardiff 1
 

Email
[email protected]

ITV regional football highlights 1968-83 home page
It�s up for grabs now! The history of football on ITV

HTV football 1968-83 links

YouTube HTV Football Clips
15/Mar/1969 - Swindon Town 3 Arsenal 1 [League Cup Final] - LWT coverage, Brian Moore commentating
30/Aug/1975 - Bristol City 1 Bristol Rovers 1
21/Jan/1978 - Bristol Rovers 2 Blackpool 0 - Roger Malone describing Bobby Gould's goal (evidently not a popular commentator with Rovers fans!)
18/Feb/1978 - Bristol Rovers 2 Ipswich Town 2
16/Dec/1978 - Bristol City 1 Liverpool 0 - Highlights with Malone commentating

HTV stuff
TV Ark - HTV section
 

Page last updated June 2008