Ronnietheranger
Well-Known Member
The recent thread on David Francey’s 1976 Scottish Cup Final radio commentary brought back to mind the days when radio used to be THE source for us football fans who couldn’t get to a game for one reason or another. Back in the pre-internet, pre-cell phone days when even television coverage was about 20 minutes of highlights, radio was a lifeline to live commentary. Personally I can only go back to the late sixties as far as my memories of listening intently to the ‘radiogram’ (google it!) go, but I’m sure many posters older than me (yes – there are a few) can go back even further. The best of them all would certainly be the aforementioned David Francey, who could make the most boring 0-0 draw sound like it was the best game of the season. Other stalwarts of radio at the time would be Alistair Alexander and George Davidson, who both had broadcasting careers spanning more than 40 years between television & radio.
For me though, David Francey’s was the voice I associated with radio commentary as I was growing up in the sixties and starting to follow Rangers. He just had a tone that was suited to football commentary & a way of painting a picture in your mind that could put you right there at the match. Back then you got the last 5 minutes of the first half & the entire second half of the featured game live, and if you couldn’t get to the game, I was too young in the sixties to be allowed to go on my own, then it was a Saturday afternoon staple. The only disappointment would be the weeks that the Rangers game was not the live game.
One of my earliest recollections of radio commentary was the Ne’erday game on January 2nd 1968 at the piggery. I was 9 at the time & I’m not quite sure who the commentator was that day, but if I had to guess my money would be on Francey. Two of my Dad’s workmates had dropped in for their Ne’erday drink & to listen to the game and I remember jumping around the living room when Kai Johansen’s late equalizer made the final score 2-2 and kept Rangers top of the league. This was Davie White’s first Old Firm match in charge of Rangers and the draw ended a run of 9 straight league wins since he had taken charge of the team.
Other notable games I can remember listening to on the radio back then would be the 1970 LCF when I tuned in seconds after big DJ had sent his header past Williams and into the Celtic net for one of the most famous goals in Rangers history. I can still hear Francey, ‘and the Rangers fans are going absolutely delirious away to my left’. Then Colin Stein hitting the post in the second half only for the ball to roll back along the line into Williams hands & Willie Johnston sitting on the ball outside their penalty area.
The 1972 ECWC final was another match that those who weren’t lucky enough to attend in person had to tune to the radio for coverage. No live TV due to the SFA refusing permission! The last ten minutes of that game on the radio were probably the longest ten minutes I’ve went through in 50 plus years of following Rangers as we held on for victory.
As for the 1976 SCF against Hearts, I was at that game but years later I bought the record of Francey’s commentary and have since listened to it many times. Wonderful stuff!
I moved to Canada for a few years in 1980 & my first purchase was a short wave radio so I could listen to a crackly BBC Word Service and get the scores each week without having to wait for the Canadian papers on the Monday, who would post the ‘Scores from the Old Country’ most weeks. So radio continued to be a lifeline to The Rangers for me until I returned to Scotland & started going to games again.
Fast Forward to 2019 & I’m now in Houston, Texas and up at 6am for the early kick offs on my big screen High Def tv in glorious technicolor every week! It’s like a different world, but thanks to the likes of the late David Francey and others, I have great memories of listening to Rangers games back in the days when radio was king.
For me though, David Francey’s was the voice I associated with radio commentary as I was growing up in the sixties and starting to follow Rangers. He just had a tone that was suited to football commentary & a way of painting a picture in your mind that could put you right there at the match. Back then you got the last 5 minutes of the first half & the entire second half of the featured game live, and if you couldn’t get to the game, I was too young in the sixties to be allowed to go on my own, then it was a Saturday afternoon staple. The only disappointment would be the weeks that the Rangers game was not the live game.
One of my earliest recollections of radio commentary was the Ne’erday game on January 2nd 1968 at the piggery. I was 9 at the time & I’m not quite sure who the commentator was that day, but if I had to guess my money would be on Francey. Two of my Dad’s workmates had dropped in for their Ne’erday drink & to listen to the game and I remember jumping around the living room when Kai Johansen’s late equalizer made the final score 2-2 and kept Rangers top of the league. This was Davie White’s first Old Firm match in charge of Rangers and the draw ended a run of 9 straight league wins since he had taken charge of the team.
Other notable games I can remember listening to on the radio back then would be the 1970 LCF when I tuned in seconds after big DJ had sent his header past Williams and into the Celtic net for one of the most famous goals in Rangers history. I can still hear Francey, ‘and the Rangers fans are going absolutely delirious away to my left’. Then Colin Stein hitting the post in the second half only for the ball to roll back along the line into Williams hands & Willie Johnston sitting on the ball outside their penalty area.
The 1972 ECWC final was another match that those who weren’t lucky enough to attend in person had to tune to the radio for coverage. No live TV due to the SFA refusing permission! The last ten minutes of that game on the radio were probably the longest ten minutes I’ve went through in 50 plus years of following Rangers as we held on for victory.
As for the 1976 SCF against Hearts, I was at that game but years later I bought the record of Francey’s commentary and have since listened to it many times. Wonderful stuff!
I moved to Canada for a few years in 1980 & my first purchase was a short wave radio so I could listen to a crackly BBC Word Service and get the scores each week without having to wait for the Canadian papers on the Monday, who would post the ‘Scores from the Old Country’ most weeks. So radio continued to be a lifeline to The Rangers for me until I returned to Scotland & started going to games again.
Fast Forward to 2019 & I’m now in Houston, Texas and up at 6am for the early kick offs on my big screen High Def tv in glorious technicolor every week! It’s like a different world, but thanks to the likes of the late David Francey and others, I have great memories of listening to Rangers games back in the days when radio was king.