Falkirk 3-2 Newcastle United (lost footage of football match; 1953)

Issue 1562 of Radio Times listing the television broadcast of the match.

Status: Lost

On 20th October 1953, Scottish Division A side Falkirk hosted English First Division club Newcastle United at Brockville Park for a friendly football match. A match ending in victory for the host side, the game is notable for being the first televised professional football match in Scotland.

Background

Heading into the encounter, both sides were enduring seasons where they would finish in the bottom-half of the table. Ultimately, Falkirk would finish 13th of the 16 clubs in the 1953/54 Scottish Division A, avoiding relegation by ten points. Meanwhile, Newcastle United finished 15th of the 22 sides in the 1953/54 English First Division, avoiding relegation by eight points. Newcastle was also involved in the growing influence of sports television in the early 1950s. With the BBC breaking new ground by opening its Television Service in Scotland in 1952, and with ITV set to launch in September 1955, both channels had begun to offer the Football League vast sums of money to televise matches. The smaller clubs in the First Division agreed a one-season deal with the BBC to televise and record 75 matches, giving the organisation a tactical advantage before ITV launched. However, Newcastle and other big clubs were unhappy with these deals, most likely out of concern that televising matches would reduce stadium attendance. It alongside other clubs began to propose a new Anglo-Scottish League to counter this, but it ultimately fell through after just one season.

The match between Falkirk and Newcastle United symbolised the BBC's growing desire to televise matches from Scotland. The first of its kind was a match between Scottish Universities and English Universities on 20th December 1952. Thus, while the Falkirk-Newcastle game was not the first to be televised from the country, it would be the first televised professional Scottish game. The match is sometimes considered the first televised floodlit match, although the preceding game between Arsenal and Hibernian on 22nd October 1952 is known to have used floodlights. Nevertheless, the Falkirk match might have been the first televised floodlit match in Scotland, due to how few games from the country were broadcast prior to October 1953. Only the second half was televised, with commentary provided by Peter Thomson and Kenneth Wolstenholme.

Details of the match itself are limited, but according to The Newcastle Journal's Ken McKenzie, Falkirk were generally the stronger team despite conceding two goals. McKenzie praised the Falkirk side, believing they gave Newcastle a "sound beating", and deeming that Newcastle had gotten little of the game in spite of its historic nature. It is also known that Alex McCrae scored for Falkirk in the first minute of the televised second half.

Availability

Like all early television programs, the Falkirk-Newcastle United match was televised live and was unlikely to have been directly recorded. Although there were means of achieving this following the Second World War, recording seldom occurred until video tape was perfected in the late-1950s. Thus, televised footage of the match is most likely permanently missing, and no newsreels footage is known to exist. Nevertheless, issue of Radio Times helped to document the television broadcast.

See Also

Association Football/Soccer Media

• 1937 FA Cup Final (partially found footage of football match; 1937)
• 1938 FA Cup Final (partially found footage of football match; 1938)
• 1939 FA Cup Final (partially found footage of football match; 1939)
• 1947 FA Cup Final (partially found footage of football match; 1947)
• 1955 Scottish Cup Final (partially found footage of football match; 1955)
• 1966 FIFA World Cup Final (partially found original colour film of international football match; 1966)
• Arsenal 7-1 Hibernian (lost footage of charity football match; 1952)
• Arsenal vs Arsenal Reserves (lost footage of early BBC televised football match; 1937)
• Barbados 4–2 Grenada (partially found soccer match footage; 1994)
• Barnet 3-2 Wealdstone (lost footage of Athenian League football match; 1946)
• Brian Clough's Football Fortunes (lost DOS port of football management game; 1987)
• Charlton Athletic 1-0 Blackburn Rovers (lost footage of FA Cup match; 1947)
• England 0-1 Scotland (partially found footage of international football match; 1938)
• England 1-1 Scotland (partially found footage of international football match; 1947)
• England 3-0 France (partially found footage of international football match; 1947)
• England 3-0 Rest of Europe (partially found footage of international football match; 1938)
• Hallo! Bundesliga (lost GolTV series; mid 2000s-mid 2010s)
• Juventus 1-7 A.C. Milan (partially found footage of Serie A football match; 1950)
• Scottish Universities 1-1 English Universities (lost footage of international football match; 1952)
• Serbia vs Albania (partially found footage of abandoned UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match; 2014)
• United! (lost British soap opera; 1965-1967)

Early BBC Sports Television

• 1931 Epsom Derby (lost televised footage of horse racing event; 1931)
• 1937 International Imperial Trophy Race (lost footage of motor race; 1937)
• 1937 Wimbledon Championships (partially found footage of tennis tournament; 1937)
• 1938 Ashes Series (partially found footage of international test cricket match; 1938)
• 1953 British Grand Prix (partially found footage of Formula One race; 1953)
• Archery (lost early televised toxophily; 1937-1938)
• The Boat Race 1938 (partially found footage of rowing race; 1938)
• Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (lost early BBC televised professional wrestling matches; 1938-1939; 1946-1947)
• Darts and Shove Ha'penny (lost early BBC televised darts matches; 1936-1939)
• England 16-21 Scotland (partially found footage of rugby match; 1938)
• Horace Lindrum vs Willie Smith (lost footage of televised snooker; 1937)
• Woods and Jack (lost early televised lawn bowls; 1937; 1946)

Early BBC Television

• Alexandra Palace's wartime television demonstrations (lost footage of private television transmissions; 1943, 1945)
• An Inspector Calls (lost television adaptation of play; 1948)
• Ann and Harold (lost early BBC drama television series; 1938)
• BBC Election Night (lost coverage of British general elections; 1950-1951)
• The Care of Your Car (lost early BBC motoring show; 1947)
• Cook's Night Out (lost early BBC cooking show; 1937)
• Craftsmen at Work (lost early BBC documentary show; 1938, 1946)
• Dish of the Month (lost early BBC cooking show; 1937)
• First Aid (lost early BBC medical show; 1937)
• Foundations of Cookery (lost early BBC cooking show; 1939)
• Marcel Boulestin television shorts (lost early BBC programs; 1937-1939)
• Masks through the Ages (lost early BBC history talk show; 1937)
• Opening of the BBC Television Service (partially found coverage of inaugural day of high-definition television service; 1936)
• The Orchestra and its Instruments (lost early BBC music talk show; 1937)
• RCA recording of BBC Television Service (found footage of pre-Second World War BBC television broadcast; 1938)
• Sea Stories (lost early BBC talk show; 1936-1937)
• Spelling Bee (lost early BBC game show; 1938)
• Telecrime (lost early BBC crime drama; 1938-1939; 1946)
• The Wasp's Nest (lost early BBC television adaptation of Agatha Christie short story; 1937)
• Weaponless Self-Defence (lost early ju-jitsu television program; 1936-1937)
• The World of Women (lost early BBC talk show; 1937)

Early Sports Television Media

• 1934 Philo T. Farnsworth broadcasts (lost early television demonstrations; 1934)
• 1936 Summer Olympics (lost television coverage of Berlin Games; 1936)
• 1938 Pennsylvania Quakers football season (lost early televised college football games; 1938)
• 1960 Daytona Races (lost CBS and NBC televised footage of NASCAR prelude events to Daytona 500; 1960)
• Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
• Brooklyn Dodgers 2-5 6-1 Cincinnati Reds (lost footage of MLB doubleheader; 1939)
• Brooklyn Dodgers 23-14 Philadelphia Eagles (lost footage of NFL game; 1939)
• Columbia Lions 1-2 Princeton Tigers (partially found footage of college baseball game; 1939)
• Fordham Rams 34-7 Waynesburg Yellow Jackets (lost footage of college football game; 1939)
• Indianapolis 500 WFBM-TV Broadcasts (lost racing footage; 1949-1950)