Football and Ceefax are synonymous with each other- my memories include a magic Newcastle United moment and Tottenham Hotspur legend Glenn Hoddle’s moment of infamy.
Long before the days of the internet and digital television, Ceefax ruled the roost.
Ceefax was the BBC’s teletext information service, which provided all the up to date football news and live scores.
Users would have page numbers ingrained into their memory, 302 for the football home page, 324 to check the latest league table, and 330 to see the top scorers charts.
With Britain’s digital switchover in full effect, in many areas of the country, Ceefax is effectively dead, killed off after being made redundant by the vast array of information on the internet, smartphones, and Twitter news feeds.
With that in mind, here are my three most memorable Ceefax-football related moments.
Glenn Hoddle cocks up
In 1999 then England boss Glenn Hoddle dropped an almighty clanger. His beliefs are strange to say the least, and reached tipping point when he came out with the statement that disabled people are paying through karma for sins committed in a previous life. Understandably there was outrage, with Hoddle crucified in the media, leading to his eventual resignation. Beforehand though there was one last salvo. One of my favourite Ceefax features was page 356 – the sports letter page. It typically only featured around seven letters a day and was pre-e-mail, so contributors would actually have to mail their thoughts into the BBC. One who did such, was Glenn Hoddle’s 13-year-old daugher Zara. She wrote an emotional letter into Ceefax pleading ‘Leave dad alone’ so upset was she over the public outcry – adding it would be a ‘pathetic reason for someone to lose their job over’. Her letter made national news, and while unsuccessful in saving her father’s job, was effective in giving a bit of balance to the media witch hunt.
Watching an amazing goal in print
We all used to follow live games on Ceefax didn’t we? There were no ‘live text commentaries’ to speak of, just staring at a blank screen and two team names, anxiously waiting for a scorer to pop up. There were times it never did, with 0-0’s especially boring affairs. One game I vividly remember ‘watching’ through Ceefax was Manchester United’s visit to Newcastle in 1996. It was Kevin Keegan’s finest hour, with a vintage performance sending Newcastle to a crushing 5-0 win. I remember seeing Darren Peacock’s name pop up when he opened the scoring, a prelude to strikes from David Ginola, Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand. The best of the lot was a sublime chip from Belgian defender Philippe Albert over Peter Schmeichel. Not that I knew that- all I had as information was ‘Albert 86’ denoting the scorer and minute. I had to wait until the BBC filed their match report to later find out the finer details ahead of Match of the Day. Nowadays such is technology we can access goals on YouTube through a click of a button. The simpleness of the situation summed up football’s relation with the service.
Ceefax did serious too
One of the biggest breaking news stories I can remember ‘following’ on Ceefax was the death of Colombian international footballer Andres Escobar during the 1994 World Cup. Colombia had gone into the tournament much-fancied, but crashed out in the first round. Escobar scored an own goal against the USA, which when back home led to an argument in a bar, causing him to be shot dead. Ceefax ‘went big’ on the news. The four shortcut buttons were often links to ‘results’ and ‘top scorers’ – but the blue shortcut was devoted to ‘Escobar’ through the remainder of the tournament. I had never seen that before, and it truly drummed home the seriousness of such a grim situation, reminding me that football is only just a game after all. There was nothing flash here, but it always sticks in my mind as one of the biggest stories I accessed through the service.
So Ceefax, it’s sad to see you go, the memories I recall are part of the pre-internet culture we all shared. Gone but not forgotten.
Let us know your Ceefax-Football memories- What sticks out in your mind?
Here’s that Albert goal again…
image: © mrs_logic
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
