In this country, we normally play football with a minimum of padding – in my days as a player (coincident with my time as a schoolboy) shin pads were the only option. Our ex-colony across the Herring Pond play something they call football which uses a lot more – but I don’t think that anyone can match ITV when it comes to padding.
Skimming my copy of the Mortician’s Gazette, I noticed the coverage of today’s FA Cup on our oldest commercial broadcaster. When I played, the games comprised two halves of 45 minutes each with a break in the middle. It strikes me that a couple of hours should be sufficient time to fully cover a match – unless it goes to penalties (not something that happened in the primary school leagues of north Kent in the seventies). ITV have provided four-and-a-half hours for the experience – and even then say that the programme may over-run in the event of extra time or penalties! (Later in the day they offer another hour of highlights: so 330 minutes of TV filled from a mere 90 minutes of activity.) The programme starts a full two hours before the game! Are they planning to pick the teams using some sort of audience participation talent contest? Well, it is a Saturday…
Glimpses of a disturbed mind 