Television Sport Awards 2004
RTS Television Sport Awards 2004
The RTS Television Sports Awards 2004 were presented on Monday 23 May 2005 at a ceremony hosted by Desmond Lynam.
Live Outside Broadcast Coverage of the Year
UEFA Champions League: Manchester Utd v Fenerbahce - Rooney's Debut Granada Sport for ITV
“A remarkable sporting occasion covered by a skilled and experienced production team. The winning entry superbly commemorated Wayne Rooney’s hat-trick debut for Manchester United.”
Also nominated:
Channel 4 Racing - Cheltenham Gold Cup Day Highflyer Productions
for Channel 4
Six Nations Rugby Union: England v Ireland BBC Sport for BBC ONE
Sports News Reporter
Mike Hall Granada Television
“The Judges were impressed by the winner’s infectious enthusiasm and the way in which he brought life and humour to his work.”
Also nominated:
Alex Thomson ITN for Channel 4 News
Sue Turton ITN for Channel 4 News
Sports Documentary
Not Cricket: The Basil D'Oliveira Conspiracy A Berwick Universal Pictures/Diverse Group Production for BBC FOUR
“A passionate, personal and definitive film which showed how the efforts of one man on and off the cricket pitch really did help change the world.”
Also nominated:
The Fight BBC Bristol for BBC TWO/BBC Worldwide
Wheels Of Gold BBC Sport
Sports Feature
Sports Personality of the Year: Kelly Holmes Feature BBC Sport for BBC ONE
“A highly polished piece of work which brought the Golden Girls of British Athletics together in celebration of Kelly Holmes’s amazing achievements.”
Also nominated:
Cambridge City Feature Sunset + Vine for Five
FA Cup Final: Let 'Em all Come Down The Den BBC Sport
National or Regional Sports Actuality Programme
Fight Night Raw ITV Yorkshire/Granada Television
“Well filmed and edited, with incredibly honest interviews, the jury described the winning programme as first class.“
Also nominated:
North West 200 Highlights Programme ITV
Rugby League Raw Paul Doherty International for BBC English Regions
National or Regional Sports Presenter or Commentator
Dan Walker - North West Tonight BBC North West
“The winner stood out for his confident hands-on approach to broadcasting – and for a refreshingly wide range of topics from a region dominated by football.”
Also nominated:
Kevin Piper Anglia TV
Roger Tames ITV Tyne Tees
National or Regional Sports Programme
King John ITV Yorkshire
“This beautifully crafted programme with strong production values and lovely stories held the interest even of a generation who never saw John Charles play. To have transmitted a programme of this quality within six days of the death of John Charles was highly commendable.”
Also nominated:
Late Tackle A BBC East Midlands/Bite Yer Legs Co-Production for BBC ONE East Midlands
Martin O'Neill - Man and Boy About-Face Media for BBC ONE Northern Ireland
Sports Innovation Award
Interactive Olympic Games BBC Sport
“The winning innovation showed the extent to which the viewer can have a full interactive relationship with the broadcaster on multiple platforms. The provision of information, news and programme choice was truly innovative and provided the viewer with an unparalleled service.”
Creative Sports Sequence of the Year
Champions League Weekly: Arsenal v Chelsea Granada Sport/Input Video for ITV
“This sequence showed real creative quality from concept, through shooting to post production. It captured the expectation and drama of a huge football match from literally every angle and was painstakingly constructed.”
Also nominated:
The Derby BBC Sport
Euro 2004: France v England Granada Sport for ITV
Sports Pundit
John Francome - Channel 4 Racing Highflyer Productions for Channel 4
“… a pundit at the top of his profession who brings his sport to life, the winner’s examination of good raceriding was truly a masterclass.”
Also nominated:
Alan Hansen - Match of the Day BBC Sport
Michael Johnson BBC Sport
Sports Presenter
Gary Lineker BBC Sport
“The winner has first-hand knowledge of his sport, but that doesn’t stop him bringing a sense of fun to his work. He’s smart, articulate, and, for the BBC anyway, football wouldn’t be football without him at the helm.”
Also nominated:
Adrian Chiles BBC Sport
Jim Rosenthal - Formula One North One Television/Granada Sport for ITV
Sports Commentator
John Motson BBC Sport
“… a legend in the world of football commentary. An exceptional year in an exceptional career.”
Also nominated:
Simon Holt - Channel 4 Racing Highflyer Productions for Channel 4
Clive Tyldesley ITV Sport
Sports Show or Series
Freesports on 4 Boomerang Productions for Channel 4
“Passionate, energetic and presented with intelligence and humour, the winning series performed that unique balancing act of satisfying a niche audience while still entertaining and informing the newcomer. Sharp camera work and clever editing contributed to its overall appeal.”
Also nominated:
The Cricket Show - Channel 4 Cricket Sunset + Vine Productions for Channel 4
Sports Personality of the Year BBC Sport for BBC ONE
Sports Programme of the Year
Athens Olympics: Coxless Fours Gold Medal BBC Sport
“… with great assurance, and without in any way being over-intrusive, the winning programme took viewers right into the heart of the atmosphere of one of the year's most thrilling events: with superb contributions from Steve Rider and Sir Steve Redgrave in particular.”
Also nominated:
Euro 2004: France v England Granada Sport for ITV
Formula One – Monaco North One Television/Granada Sport for ITV
Lifetime Achievement Award
Barry Davies
“… a true exponent of multi-skilling – what used to be called an all-rounder – but our man should more accurately be described as a true expert in many fields. On numerous memorable occasions across a wide variety of sports, he has matched the excitement of the moment with judicious words and a keen sense of perspective.
When Britain’s hockey players raced through a missing German defence to Olympic Gold in Seoul in 1988, he cried: ‘Oh, where were the Germans – but frankly, who cares?’ When Maradona scored that wonderful goal against England in Mexico in 1986 his fairness and impartiality prevailed in the instant praise he gave it, however much it hurt his patriotic instincts. And when Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill so nearly regained their Olympic title in Lillehammer in 1994, he captured, alongside the late Alan Weeks, the anguish of the watching 23.9 million viewers. Just three examples. But, of course, the portfolio extends far far beyond, in this distinguished career.
Back in the Sixties, after three years as a journalist on The Times, he gained his first broadcasting experience with the British Forces Network in Cologne, and joined BBC Radio in 1963 before moving to ITV, where he was part of the 1966 World Cup commentary team – the first of 10 World Cups – a record for a British commentator. He moved to the BBC in time for the 1970 World Cup.
Beyond football, alongside more than thirty years of front-line commentary and presentation involvement on Match of the Day, FA Cup and World Cup Finals, and his noteworthy and sensitive handling of a full 90 minute commentary in the dreadful circumstances of the Heysel tragedy twenty years ago – beyond football, he’s covered 10 summer Olympic Games from hockey to gymnastics to badminton, and when David Coleman retired, he took over the ceremonial commentary on the great Opening and Closings of the Games. He mastered the mysteries of the world of the lutz and the salchow with his skating commentary, and indeed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, he instantly decried the judging of the pairs skating – bold live journalism, later totally vindicated when a judge was banned, and the decision altered. And, not least, until it switched channels, he was the voice of thirteen Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races.
Throughout all this he has brought to his work amazing enthusiasm and vigour, a sense of humour, a breadth of knowledge that refined his editorial judgments, and an unfailing sense of perspective that derived from his vast experience and a truly rounded approach to life.
His has been a distinctive voice, a thoughtful voice, a popular voice, a big occasion voice, and one deserving of its place over the last nearly forty years, in the history of sports broadcasting.”
Judges’ Award
Peter Dimmock CVO CBE
"… one of the giants of our business, our craft – a true pioneer who set in place many of the systems and techniques that still survive today, and who set standards both in front of and behind the cameras that soon made television coverage of sport in Britain the envy of the world in his time.
In April 1954 our recipient came on screen with these words: ‘Welcome sports fans to this first edition of your own programme’. It was Sportsview, the first TV sports magazine programme anywhere. Its presenter, who sat in front of the show for the next 10 years, became one of the most recognizable figures in Britain – as well known to audiences as he already was to sports promoters in his other role as the boss of BBC Television Outside Broadcasts. His actual title – unlike other BBC Heads at the time - was General Manager, which was probably due to his business drive which was said in one internal memo to ‘rival that of the head of a million-pound commercial firm’. But it might just have been his wish to be unique.
Sportsview made its mark, not just with coverage within weeks of the first Four Minute Mile, but with its melange of action and live studio interviews with stars like Sir Gordon Richards, Freddie Trueman, Stirling Moss, previously rarely seen talking, and it won huge acclaim – from audiences and the press alike. At the end of the year he introduced the first Sports Review, with its famous trophy for the Sportsman or Woman of the Year. Always, memorably, to a fanfare from the State Trumpeters, he was announcing the winners ‘in reverse order’ long before Eric Morley.
Our recipient had joined the BBC back in 1946 after his demob from an RAF career when he’d been first a pilot, and then an Air Ministry Staff Officer. He was soon heavily involved in one of the most adventurous developments in early post-war television – the coverage of the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Two mobile units, each with three cameras produced 70 hours in 15 days.
He was asked to take on the negotiations for TV broadcasts from Sandown Park, Kempton and Royal Ascot, which proved successful. A tougher nut to crack was the formidable Mrs Mirabel Topham, the owner of Aintree – she kept our man at arms length throughout the fifties, but after a long courtship, and no doubt a characteristic combination of arm-twisting and his legendary charm and flattery, the lady finally consented – and the Grand National was televised for the first time in 1960 solely through his efforts, becoming of course one of the greatest annual television events.
In the midst of all this activity, he’d also persuaded Buckingham Palace that cameras should be allowed inside Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, a broadcast which he produced and directed himself.
But back to sport – and when commercial television arrived on the scene, he secured the cash to support his new strategy of long-term contracts, and devised the notion of listed events, still in place today, to ensure access for all, to the top events.
And quicker than anybody, he recognised the importance of international sports rights, and became the EBU’s first sports adviser, with the Rome Olympics in 1960 exploiting the Eurovision network to bring extensive live coverage of the Games for the first time. And it was his personal relationship with Sir Stanley Rous, then President of FIFA, that brought Europe the rights for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, and, crucially, he shrewdly included in the same deal the rights to the 1966 World Cup.
He ran OBs at the BBC for 18 years in all – 18 formative years for our industry in which he spotted and groomed many commentators who enjoyed long and distinguished careers As a commentator himself he shared the box with Kenneth Wolstenholme on the famous Stanley Matthews Cup Final in 1954, and he was also the first studio presenter of Grandstand.”