So what *was* on TV the last time England didn't reach the European Championsip?
Today England embark on their warm-up campaign for not playing in Euro2008 with a friendly against the USA. It got me thinking (again) about the last time England didn't feature in a European Championship Finals.
Actually, when it comes down to it, England have a pretty dismal record in the Euro finals. Although at the time it was considered disappointing to exit the quarter-finals on penalties against Portugal four years ago, that and the semi-final appearance in 1996 are the only time England have made any impression on the field in finals. In 1980, 1988, 1992 and 2000, England played their 3 group games and promptly headed home. In 1984, as is the case this year, England didn't go.
Now, I've got absolutely no recollection of the 1984 European Championships in France whatsoever. This is distinctly odd, and has puzzled me a great deal. In 1982 for the World Cup in Spain, and in 1986 for the World Cup in Mexico I was frantically collecting Paninni stickers and watching every match possible.
So what happened?
Well, it is quite simple - Euro 84 (or UEFA 84 as it was known then) wasn't shown live on British television. Both the BBC and ITV decided that, with no domestic interest for the Home Nations, there was no point devoting whole evenings to live football. 1984 was before I had a TV in my own bedroom, and so I just didn't get to see the late night highlights packages, and the entire tournament passed me by.
There's very little chance of that happening in the UK for Euro2008, because of two very significant changes in the football and broadcasting.
The first is the influx of foreign players into the English game. In 1984, of the 8 squads appearing in the finals, not a single player was based in England. By contrast, in 2008, nearly every nation will feature a couple of players who ply their trade in the Premiership. Even if there is no domestic nation playing, club loyalties mean fans will be eager to watch household names like Torres, Ronaldo and Van Persie in action.
The second change is that the television market for sport has been utterly transformed. In 1984 ITV and the BBC showed all the sport, and the only competition was potentially from Channel 4. At the time C4 was more focussed on showing minority interest sports like basketball and the NFL than muscling in on football.
Nowadays Sky and Setanta are in the market. The European Championships are on the 'crown jewels' list which, by law, must be shown on terrestrial television, forbidding Sky, Setanta, or any fly-by-night pay-per-view channel[1] from purchasing the broadcast rights.
The BBC has committed to showing all the games it can on the main channels, but ITV has already ducked out of broadcasting the final itself. Unlike 1984, in 2008 it would severely weaken the terrestrial channel's argument that they should have the exclusive chance to show the European Championships, if they then can't be bothered to actually show them in full.
It seems we missed out in 1984, as by all accounts it was a fine tournament. There are plenty of highlights available on YouTube though, including the classic semi-final between France and Portugal decided in the final minutes of extra-time by a goal from the man who now heads up UEFA, Michel Platini.
I also found a video which, judging from the fleeting glimpses of Bob Wilson and Des Lynam, appears to have been the BBC's musical video montage of the highlights of the tournament played right at the end of the coverage.
Sadly, since I did the research for this blog post, the video has been taken down - so I can no longer link to it.
[1] Anyone else remember Finland vs England in 2000, Howard Wilkinson's sole game in charge of England, being shown on u>direct - the short-lived pay-per-view platform that nobody could receive? [Return to article]
I remember that England-Finland match as it was the only time Ray Parlour scored a goal for England. Sadly, the referee didn't agree and failed to award a goal despite it crossing the line. Most unfair, and one of the great underrated English players of his generation was denied his moment. From what I remember that was the only chance of the game so it was just as well no-one watched it.
By the way, although England's record in the Euros is woeful, you're not quite doing them justice - they did get to the semis and eventually third place in the 1968 finals as well.
Fair point, but I kind of discounted 1968 because it was such a different format.
For those that don't know, England qualified for the quarter-finals by being best placed in a group that was made by combining the Home Nations tournaments from 66/67 and 67/68. They then played a two-legged match against Spain, which was a good win home and away, to qualify for the Finals.
The final tournament was in Italy, and England lost their semi-final to Yugoslavia, but beat the USSR in the 3rd place play-off
Incidentally, just to show how different things were, the other semi-final was a 0-0 draw, and Italy advanced to the final on the toss of a coin. The final was then drawn, and there was a replay two days later, which Italy won.