Big League Soccer

And other ramblings of an old man.

I remember this programme called Big League Soccer on the telly. For those growing up in the 70s and 80s , this was the window into the English first division as it was known then.

Many great teams battled it out year in and year out. I still remember it like yesterday. Teams were allowed only 1 substitute - the English version of the rules used for Division Football then.

In one episode the commentator casually remarked why the teams have to wear contrasting coloured jerseys for their home and away fixtures and their aways colours had to be contrasting with the home teams home colours. Hence some teams had to have 2 away kits. Reason was simply because the contrast was needed for televised football. Remember majority of people had black and white TV sets back then. Having 2 teams play in claret and blue would not show much difference I suppose on a black and white screen.

Well at least that’s what the commentator said. I have often repeated this story much to disbelief of many. I guess you had to be there, watching that exact same episode to know what I heard and watched.

This is a snippet for an episode of Big League Soccer. It’s great that some folks have uploaded it to the youtube.

Big League Soccer. Amazing times. One of the earliest memory is watching Ipswich Town play. There was a remarkably good player called Paul Mariner. Recalling back this name brings a flood of memories and many games suddenly come to the forefront of the mind, as if they just happened yesterday.

It’s a sign of aging I suppose, we forget what we had for lunch yesterday yet remember the goal scored in the 76th minute of a game which happened 40 years ago.