Another nail in the coffin for live football?

In 1955, avid Burnley FC supporter and son of a local barber, Bob Lord, rose to the position of Chairman of Burnley FC.  The early days of his chairmanship oversaw the most successful period in the club’s history, seeing them become league winners in 1960 and FA Cup finalists in 1962.

Two years later, 1964 saw the first broadcast of Match of the Day, a weekly programme showing football highlights from across the league.

A vocal critic of televised football, citing that it would “damage and undermine attendances” Lord not only banned the BBC cameras from Turf Moor for five years, he successfully convinced fellow league chairmen that televised matches on a Saturday afternoon would negatively impact the attendance and income of those clubs not televised.

As a result of Lord’s actions, the broadcasting “blackout” was introduced.  An agreement made by the governing bodies and leagues in English Football that no matches would be permitted to be televised live between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on a Saturday within the United Kingdom.

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