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22 January 2010

On this day in history: First live radio broadcast of a soccer match, 1927

On New Year's Day 1927, the British Broadcasting Company Ltd received a Royal Charter and became the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation. Two weeks later the BBC made the first ever live radio broadcast of a sporting event - a Rugby Union international match between England and Wales at Twickenham. A week later, on 22nd January, BBC radio broadcast the first live coverage of an association football match between Arsenal and Sheffield United.

The game was a First Division fixture played at Arsenal's ground, Highbury, in North-London. The commentator was Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam, a former rugby player who commentated on the rugby international the week before. The producer of the show, Lance Sieveking, came up with an idea to help the listeners keep track of the action. The Radio Times magazine of that week included a diagram of the pitch that was divided up into numbered sections. As Wakelam described the action, a fellow broadcaster, C.A. Lewis, told the listeners which sector the ball was in.

Bad visibility hampered the commentators but they still managed to keep their listeners informed of the goals. On an icy pitch, Arsenal took the lead when Charlie Buchan headed home with ten minutes to go. The Sheffield United captain, Billy Gillespie, soon equalised and the match ended as a 1:1 draw.

Related posts
First black international footballer, 12th March 1881
English Football Association legalised professionalism: 20th July, 1885
First Italian football championship, 8th May 1898
BBC Radio first broadcast the Greenwich Time Signal: 5th February 1924
Uruguay win first FIFA World Cup: 30th July, 1930
BBC Television Service started broadcasting: 2nd November 1936
First commercial transistor radio announced: 18th October 1954

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