![]() ![]() The one thing I dislike about digital television is the sad death of teletext. How did a once great competition come to this? It’s money, isn’t it? That didn’t take long to solve. An age when semi-finals and finals were not played at the same venue, where teams at both ends of the table in all divisions would play their strongest sides, and the final kicked off at the wacky time of 3pm on the final Saturday of the domestic season. The sad demise of the FA Cup as a special competition is the one that leaves me yearning for a time gone by. I still love football but there are quite a few things to dislike about the current game. And after the climax, it would be time to get down the local park to recreate the moments of the day. The main action was often satisfying enough. The foreplay was often the best part of the magical day – special features, such as Lawrenson v Lineker at snooker prior to the 1986 final the team trip on the coach journey (or helicopter for Brighton) a visit to the team hotels clips of the team songs the road to Wembley, to name a few. Christmas Day for young football supporters would arrive every May, as both the BBC and ITV provided us with hours of non-stop football coverage. Hawkeye, Snicko, Hot Spot? You must be joking.Īh, now I am going to get submerged in a sea of nostalgia. As for the rest of the technology available, well the mind boggles at how I would have reacted had I seen the future back then. Now there hardly seems an angle that is not covered: cameras at both ends of the ground square leg cameras stump cam a blimp camera. Watch a cricket match on TV today and you get a completely different experience to that of the 1980s. A pain in the bum though if you wanted a decent view of the match, even from your living room. Fine if you were an admirer of Paul Downton’s rear. Strange as it may seem, even in the 1980s, viewers in England would still spend half their time staring at the back of a wicket-keeper’s bum. One of his many innovations was to introduce cameras at both ends of the ground. ![]() Love him or hate him, you must admit that Kerry Packer revolutionised cricket on television from 1977 onwards. It wasn’t just football that kept us guessing though, as I recall spending many a Wimbledon trying to grab a look at the big courtside scoreboards, just to get an idea of what was going on. ITV did once leave the clock up on the screen towards the end of the greatest football match ever (Liverpool v Arsenal, May 26, 1989), Brian Moore shocking us all by informing us of this radical decision. As soon as Sky introduced their on-screen clock and scoreline in 1991 it became apparent that we had all been duped for years, and we collectively wondered how someone hadn’t thought of this idea before. There will be highlights on RTE2's 'Allianz League Sunday' at 9:30pm.Can you imagine turning on your TV today to watch a live football match and potentially having to wait for five or 10 minutes to find out the score? This was acceptable in the 1980s, when we simply sat back and waited to catch a glimpse of the score or get a clue from the commentator. MacHale Park, Castlebar on Sunday 26th March. READ MORE: Grace Walsh nonplussed about Kilkenny's poor League showing Monaghan have won just twice so far in the league and will be hoping Mayo rest some of their bigger hitters ahead of the final at the beginning of April. That result would keep Monaghan up and send Armagh down. They need to beat Mayo and hope that Tyrone beat Armagh. All eyes though will be on Monaghan with a tense afternoon ahead for Vinnie Corey's side. They are unbeaten after six matches with four wins and two draws. Mayo welcome Monaghan to Castlebar on Sunday with their place in the final already booked.
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