Southern Football Highlights 1966-1981
Southern Television began broadcasting an ITV service to the Hampshire area in August 1958. Local football highlights first appeared in late 1966 on Sunday afternoon's, by which time Southern had added the South East corner of England to their coverage area, indeed the 2nd game they recorded was Gillingham 1 Swindon Town 0 on 12th November 1966 (See the matchday programme article here). Sadly, details of the other 1966/67 and 1967/68 Southern matches are not available, 1968/69 saw the station turn up at a match on a weekly basis but coverage appears to have been severely cut the following season, presumably Southern viewers saw London Weekend's The Big Match when their local service was not covering a match of their own.

The Southern region's league teams 1966-1981
Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove Albion*, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Reading, Gillingham, Aldershot and Southend United**.
*LWT cameras also occasionally turned up at Brighton. Reading and Aldershot may also have been considered LWT clubs before Southern added a TV mast in that area in 1971.
**Coverage of Southend United was shared with Anglia.

Southern commentators
Late 1966 - May 1968
Maurice Edelston was a former Reading centre forward (70 goals in 202 appearances 1946-52) who went on to join the BBC in 1968, he presented Match of the Day that year whilst David Coleman was covering the Olympics.
August 1968? - circa 1978
Gerry Williams was a West London born Crystal Palace fan who also covered football for the Daily Mail, he later became better known nationally as a BBC Tennis commentator before retiring circa 2005.
December 1974 - Late 1976
Martin Tyler first commentated for Southern on 28/Dec/1974 when Williams was unavailable, he was then asked back and may have become Southern's first choice commentator with Williams remaining with the station until 1978. Tyler left Southern for Yorkshire TV early in the 1976/77 season and went on to become the voice of football in the Granada region before joining Sky Sports.
Mid 1970's
Dave Lanning, from Poole, was a darts commentator on ITV's World of Sport, he commentated on at least one football match for Southern and is now covering darts for Sky Sports.
Mid-Late 1970's
Nigel King's main ITV job was as a commentator on stock car racing (and other motor sport) for World Of Sport but he also commentated on a number of football matches for Southern.
Circa 1978 - December 1981
David Bobin joined Southern TV in 1975 having worked for local newspapers and radio in Oxford, he was also among the original cast of faces employed by Southern's successors TVS but he was replaced by Gerald Sinstadt in the commentary box. Bobin also worked for Meridian before joining Sky.

*Note:- It has been suggested that Tony Gubba was 2nd choice commentator for Southern in the early days, but apparently he only presented at the time (he left Southern for BBC Sport in 1973).

What matches were shown
The following lists detail all known matches recorded by Southern 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 Southern based matches (not necessarily aired under the title Southern Soccer) 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 matches or fill in missing scorers.

Season 1968/69
All of this season's editions of "Southern Soccer" were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only.
10/Aug
17/Aug
24/Aug
31/Aug
07/Sep
14/Sep
21/Sep    Southampton 2 (Channon, Sydenham) Ipswich Town 2 (O'Rouke, Crawford)
28/Sep    Gillingham (Woodley) Mansfield Town 1 (Sharkey)
05/Oct    Portsmouth 3 (Trebilcock 2, Pointer) Oxford United 0
12/Oct    Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Lawton) Swindon Town 3 (Smith, Rogers, Butler)
19/Oct    Bournemouth & Boscombe A. 2 (Hold., East) Southport 1 (Redrobe)
26/Oct    Southampton 1 (Davies) Sheffield Wednesday 1 (McCalliog)
02/Nov    Portsmouth 2 (Hiron, Pointer) Sheffield United 1 (Colguhoun)
09/Nov    Southend United 2 (Moore, Chambers) Doncaster Rovers 0 *Anglia were at Ipswich
16/Nov    Portsmouth 2 (Jennings 2) Aston Villa 0
23/Nov    Southampton 2 (Davies 2) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Greaves)
30/Nov    Bournemouth & Boscombe A. 2 (Pound, Simmons) Gillingham 0
07/Dec    Southampton 1 (Channon) Nottingham Forest 1 (Lyons)
14/Dec    Portsmouth 1 (Pointer) Blackpool 0
21/Dec    Southampton 2 (Davies Channon) Manchester United 0
28/Dec    Portsmouth 1 (Brown) Bristol City 1 (Galley)
04/Jan     Portsmouth 3 (Jennings 2, McCann) Chesterfield 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
11/Jan     Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (K. Napier) Stockport County 1 (Young)
18/Jan     Portsmouth 3 (Trebilcock, Travers, Pointer) Fulham 1 (Haynes)
25/Jan     Southampton 2 (McGrath, Davies) Aston Villa 2 (Golfre, Hole)
01/Feb    Southampton 5 (Channon, Gabriel, Webb(og), Davies 2) Chelsea 0
08/Feb    Portsmouth 1 (Hiron) Hull City 0
15/Feb    Showed LWT's match
22/Feb    Portsmouth 2 (Hiron 2) Bolton Wanderers 2 (Wharton, Taylor)
01/Mar    Showed other region's FA Cup ties
08/Mar    Southampton 1 (Davies) Sunderland 0
15/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Swindon Town 3 (Smart, Rogers 2) Arsenal 1 (Gould)
22/Mar    Showed Manchester City 1 (Booth) Everton 0 [FA Cup Semi Final]
29/Mar    Portsmouth 4 (Jennings, Trebilcock(pen), McCann 2) Charlton Athletic 1 (Tees)
05/Apr
12/Apr     Portsmouth 5 (Hiron 4, Jennings) Norwich City 2 (Bennett, Foggo(pen))
19/Apr     Southampton 3 (Stokes, Paine, Judd) Manchester City 0
26/Apr     Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Manchester City 1 (Young) Leicester City 0

1968/69 footnotes to be added.

Season 1969/70
All editions of "Souther Soccer" were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only until December.
04/Oct    Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Bristol Rovers 3 (Stubbs, Graydon, B.Jones)
18/Oct    Southampton 0 Coventry City 0
25/Oct    Portsmouth 3 (Hiron, Ley, Pointer) Swindon Town 1 (Smart)
29/Nov   Southampton 1 (Gabriel) Crystal Palace 1 (Kember)
Southern began broadcasting in colour on 13th December 1969.
20/Dec    Portsmouth (Trebilcock 2) Leicester City 3 (Farrington, Fen 2) *Presumably the first colour Southern match
03/Jan     Southampton 3 (Saul 2, Channon) Newcastle United 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan     Portsmouth 1 (Jennings) Bolton Wanderers 1 (Byram)
17/Jan     Southampton 2 (Channon 2) Everton 1 (Morrisey)
24/Jan     Southampton 1 (Stokes) Leicester City 1 (Farrington) [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan     Portsmouth 5 (Storrie, Hiron 3, McCann(pen)) Charlton Athletic 1 (Peacock)
14/Feb    Portsmouth 2 (McCann, Jennings) Blackpool 3 (Pickering, Green, Suddick)

1969/70 footnotes to be added.

Season 1970/71
01/Aug    May have showed LWT coverage of Reading 2 (Habbin, Cumming) Man Utd 3 (Edwards, Charlton 2) [Watney Cup QF] *Brian Moore comm.
12/Sep    Southampton 4 (Davies 2, Channon 2) Derby County 0
19/Sep    Portsmouth 1 (Hiron) Birmingham City 0
31/Oct     Portsmouth 4 (Trebilcock 3, Pointer) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Knighton) *Recorded & broadcast in black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
07/Nov    Southampton 2 (Channon, Gabriel) Newcastle United 0
21/Nov    Southampton 1 (Gabriel) Manchester United 0 *black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
05/Dec    Southampton 4 (Davies 2, O'Neill(og), Jenkins) Nottingham Forest 1 (Cormack) *black & white.
19/Dec    Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (Gilliver, K.Napier(pen)) Mansfield Town 0 *black & white.
26/Dec    Showed LWT coverage of Arsenal 0 Southampton 0 *black & white.
16/Jan     Portsmouth 1 (Youlden) Cardiff City 3 (Plurray, Warboys 2) *black & white.
20/Feb    Bournemouth & Boscombe A. 0 Southport 1 (Kelley) *Technicians strike ended, now back in colour
13/Mar    Southampton 1 (Paine) West Bromwich Albion 0
10/Apr    Southampton 1 (Paine) Arsenal 2 (Radford, McLintock)

1970/71 footnotes to be added.

Season 1971/72
13/Nov    Reading 1 (B.Wagstaff) Gillingham 2 (Knight, Tydeman)
15/Jan      Southampton 1 (Gabriel) Manchester United 1 (Charlton) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
05/Feb     Probably showed LWT coverage of Reading 1 (Wagstaffe) Arsenal 2 (Morgan(og), Rice) [FA Cup 4th Round]

1971/72 footnotes to be added.

Season 1972/73
No details available

1972/73 footnotes to be added.

Season 1973/74
25/Aug
01/Sep
08/Sep
15/Sep
22/Sep
29/Sep
06/Oct
13/Oct
20/Oct
27/Oct
03/Nov
10/Nov
17/Nov
24/Nov
01/Dec
08/Dec
15/Dec
22/Dec
29/Dec
05/Jan      [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan
19/Jan
26/Jan      [FA Cup 4th Round]
02/Feb
09/Feb
16/Feb     [FA Cup 5th Round]
23/Feb
02/Mar     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Wolves 2 (Hibbitt, Richards) Manchester City 1 (Bell)
09/Mar     [FA Cup QF]
16/Mar
23/Mar
30/Mar     Possibly networked coverage of Newcastle United 2 (Macdonald 2) Burnley 0 [FA Cup SF]
06/Apr
13/Apr
20/Apr
27/Apr
04/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Liverpool 3 (Keegan 2, Heighway) Newcastle United 0

1973/74 footnotes to be added.

04/Jan/1975     Southend United 2 Queens Park Rangers 2 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
01/Feb/1975    Southend United 1 (Brace) Preston North End 1 (Holden)
26/Apr/1975    Portsmouth 0 Norwich 3 (Maguire, Peters, Boyer)
25/Mar/1978   Aldershot v Southend
 

More season's to be added soon

Email
[email protected]

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

Southern football 1966-83 links
12/Nov/1966 - Gillingham programme article - hailing the arrival of  Southern TV cameras to the region's football grounds
23/Apr/1983 - Brighton programme article - inlcudes a section on ITV's FA Cup SF coverage
Interview with Gerry Williams - a 2004 interview for tennis4everyone.com
My Life in Media - Martin Tyler - a 2007 interview with The Independant.

YouTube Southern Football Clips

Southern Television stuff
TV Ark - Southern section
Southern-tv.co.uk
 

Page last updated May 2008