View source for England vs Ireland (lost television coverage of boxing matches; 1937)

{{InfoboxLost 
|title=<center>England vs Ireland (1937 boxing matches)</center> 
|image=Cooksnightout2.png
|imagecaption=Issue 696 of ''Radio Times'' listing the broadcast.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span> 
}}
On 4th February 1937, two amateur boxing matches pitting English competitors against Irish counterparts occurred at the Concert Hall at Alexandra Palace. Featuring a welterweight bout between W.S. Pack and T. Byrne, and lightweights F.J. Simpson against Corporal T. Bonham, '''the matches were televised live by the BBC'''. The BBC also claims the matches were the first television sporting event to receive live commentary.

==Background==
Heading into the matches, all four boxers had captured championships during their careers.<ref name="genome">[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_bbc_television_service/1937-02-04#at-21.35 BBC Genome archive of ''Radio Times'' issues detailing the broadcast and summarising the four boxers.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="radio">[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/d85f09844df1400382c9924fc8783f05 Issue 696 of ''Radio Times'' listing the broadcast.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref> W. S. Pack captured the British Welterweight Championship, having also won the "Golden Gloves" during Great Britain's 1935 tour of America in New York, and a reverse 1936 tour at Wembley.<ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/> His opponent, T. Byrne, was Ireland's Welterweight Champion, having also participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics.<ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/> F. J. Simpson was the British Lightweight Champion, having won at the "Golden Gloves" event by beating Murray Kravitz, and participated in the Berlin Games, later turning professional.<ref>[https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/3496 ''Olympedia'' page on Freddie Simpson.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/> Finally, Corporal T. Bonham was the Irish Free State Army Champion.<ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/> Because the matches pitted English against Irish boxers, they were billed as England facing Ireland in Issue 696 of ''Radio Times''.<ref name="first">[https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/february/first-tv-sports-commentary/ ''BBC'' summarising its broadcast and claiming it became the "first television sports event to feature a live commentary".] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/>

Four years prior to the bouts, the BBC had televised [[Bill Lewis vs Freddie Baxter and Archie Sexton vs Laurie Raiteri (lost television coverage of boxing matches; 1933)|two boxing matches at the Broadcasting House on 22nd August 1933]].<ref name="golden">[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Golden_Age_of_Boxing_on_Radio_and_Te/_yqCDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT181&printsec=frontcover ''The Golden Age of Boxing on Radio and Television'' detailing the BBC's broadcasts of boxing matches in 1933 and 1938.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref> Following the opening of its high-definition Television Service on 2nd November 1936, the BBC were against interested in televising sports.<ref name="this">[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/This_is_the_BBC/ziFnEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA60&printsec=frontcover ''This is the BBC'' summarising its early programming for its Television Service, including the live commentary for the two boxing matches.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="opening">[https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/birth-of-tv/opening-night/ ''BBC'' detailing the opening of its BBC Television Service.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="first"/> Having based its Television Service at Alexandra Palace, the BBC decided to televise the Alexandra Amateur Boxing Club matches, who shared the Palace and typically conducted matches at the Palace's Concert Hall.<ref name="bbcsport">[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/BBC_Sport_in_Black_and_White/ZM-GDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA33&printsec=frontcover ''BBC Sport in Black and White'' detailing the coverage of the matches, including the BBC's agreement with the Alexandra Amateur Boxing Club and issues with lighting.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="first"/><ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/> This prevented the need for an outside broadcast, which often proved impractical until the BBC provided coverage of the [[Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (partially found television coverage of royal coronation; 1937)|Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth]] on 12th May that same year.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/may/coronation-of-king-george-vi-and-queen-elizabeth ''BBC'' detailing its broadcast of the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="first"/><ref name="this"/> The broadcast was intended to last around 25 minutes, with arena lighting being a primary concern for adequate television quality.<ref name="first"/><ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/><ref name="bbcsport"/> Up to 20,000 households were able to view the coverage.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sports_Business_Management/SLBYCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA405&printsec=frontcover ''Sports Business Management'' noting the broadcast could have reached up to 20,000 households.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref>

Alas, the match outcomes were not recorded.<ref name="first"/> Nevertheless, it is known that commentary for the bouts was provided by Harry Mallin, an amateur boxer who held the British Middleweight Championship from 1919 to 1923, and had earned gold medals in the middleweight divisions for both the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics.<ref>[https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/harry-mallin/ ''English Heritage'' detailing the career of Mallin.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref><ref name="first"/> The BBC's claims the broadcast was the "first television sports event to feature a live commentary".<ref name="first"/><ref name="this"/> It is unclear what the corporation means by this, as commentary was provided by Viscount Scarsdale and Jim Mollison for its 1933 broadcasts.<ref name="golden"/> It could be referring to its first television sports commentary since it opened its new Television Service, or alternatively, was the first television-exclusive sports commentary.<ref name="first"/><ref name="opening"/><ref name="this"/> Often, the BBC's early sports output would simply rely on the more popular radio commentary rather than producing a television version, as was the case with its [[The Boat Race 1938 (partially found footage of rowing race; 1938)|1938 Boat Race]] broadcast.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/april/boat-race-first-televised ''BBC'' detailing its broadcast of the 1938 Boat Race, utilising the same commentary for television and radio.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref> The BBC would continue with its boxing coverage, including providing coverage of the British Light Heavyweight Championship match between Jock McAvoy and Len Harvey on 4th April 1938, which was the first known televised nonexhibition professional match.<ref name="golden"/><ref name="bbcsport"/>

==Availability==
Ultimately, the boxing matches were televised live during an era where telerecordings seldom happened until videotape was perfected in the late-1950s.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/BbcTelevisionReceivedInNewYork-1938 ''Web Archive'' article discussing how most early television is missing due to the lack of directly recording television.] Retrieved 25th Dec '22</ref> No footage nor images of the bouts are known to have survived, though Issue 696 of ''Radio Times'' helps to document the broadcast's existence.<ref name="genome"/><ref name="radio"/><ref name="first"/>

==See Also==
*[[Bill Lewis vs Freddie Baxter and Archie Sexton vs Laurie Raiteri (lost television coverage of boxing matches; 1933)]]
*[[Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph (partially found early boxing film; 1894)]]
*[[Exhibition Boxing Bouts (lost early television coverage of boxing matches; 1931-1932)]]
*[[Georges Carpentier vs Ted "Kid" Lewis (lost radio coverage of boxing match; 1922)]]
*[[Heavyweight Champ (lost SEGA arcade boxing game; 1976)]]
*[[Jack Dempsey vs Billy Miske (lost radio report of boxing match; 1920)]]
*[[Johnny Ray vs Johnny Dundee (lost radio coverage of boxing match; 1921)]]
*[[Leonard-Cushing Fight (partially found early boxing film; 1894)]]
*[[Rocky (lost deleted scenes of boxing drama film; 1976)]]
*[[Uncle Slam and Uncle Slam Vice Squad (lost iOS presidential boxing games; 2011)]]

==References== 
{{reflist}} 

[[Category:Lost recordings of sports events]]
[[Category:Completely lost media]]
[[Category:Historic]]