As a football fan, there is no more iconic music than the theme to the BBC’s Match of the Day. For those of you who may not be aware of the program, it is the weekly Saturday night fixture in which they show highlights of the top flight games for the day in England’s Premier League. If your team won that day, just the opening notes can fill you with excitement and anticipation to see the performance that brought you three points. If your team suffered defeat, the program allows you to glimpse into the failings of the team, the manager and more often that not, the match officials. Ask any football fan if they have watched MoTD on a Saturday night, or Sunday morning, and I’m almost positive that 100% of them will say yes.
In the days when there was no Premier League, and England’s top flight was simply called the ‘First Division’, Match of the Day signified the only way you could watch highlights of the games. Obviously these days, you have a number of options thanks to satellite television and the internet. But for many football fans, Match of the Day remains ingrained as part of our football routine. The real question is does Match of the Day hold a special place in our hearts like a piece of jewellery, handed down between generations; or is it more like that knackered old t-shirt that fits like a glove but your wife has been nagging you to throw away for years?
The problem with Match of the Day is that it signifies everything that is wrong with the BBC. The host of the show is a middle-aged ex-footballer who is there to try to appeal to the football fan, as an ex-England International, and the wives, as a bit of middle-aged perma-tanned eye candy. The panel of experts are quite possibly the most boring, uncharismatic bunch of know-nothings ever assembled on television. The format of the show hasn’t changed in the past 20 years and the term ‘technology’ seems like a dirty word at the BBC. From this viewers stand point, the whole years budget seems to go on a flashy new opening credits sequence, rather than investing in some new technology to help analyse the games.
Anyone who has watched Monday Night Football on Sky this season will have seen Gary Neville using the latest in video technology to help break down the games. They use interactive technology to enhance the viewers experience, instead of relying on Alan Hansen waffling on the same tired old lines in his monotone, Scottish accent. Even ESPN, who are basically like a watered-down version of Sky, have Robbie Savage to provoke a bit of reaction from the viewers. Yes, the majority of football fans would like nothing more than to see Robbie Savage tar and feathered, but he is young(ish), relates to the modern football fan and provokes honest emotion from the viewer. The only emotion Alan Shearer, Lee Dixon and Mark Lawrenson provoke is boredom (and the need to reach for the remote).
Part of me will always love Match of the Day, and it will be a sad day in my household when the BBC stop transmitting it. And believe me, they WILL lose the show eventually. When BBC won back the rights to show the highlights from ITV, they had a unique opportunity. They had the chance to re-invent the show under the same, well-known and long pined for, brand name. But instead they used the same tired pundits, commentators and format. And even this season they have changed absolutely nothing from the season before, except the fabled opening credits.
So really, how long can the BBC keep the viewers hooked with this exhausted show before a revamp is needed? And will the BBC learn this lesson before it’s too late and they lose the highlights package to another channel? Please feel free to leave a comment below.