Brian Moore (football commentator)

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Brian Baden Moore (28 February 1932 – 1 September 2001) was an English football commentator and television presenter who covered nine World Cups and more than twenty FA Cup finals.

Early life

Moore was born in

Moore began his career in newspapers. His first job, in 1954, was as a sub-editor on the monthly World Sports magazine. He subsequently worked for The Exchange Telegraph for two years before moving to The Times in 1958.

Radio

In 1961, Moore became a football commentator and presenter on

Shortly after that Moore moved to London Weekend Television, which was preparing for its launch on the ITV network in 1968. Brought to the station by head of sport Jimmy Hill, Moore remained with LWT and ITV Sport over the next three decades.

In 1970, Moore was the host of ITV's World Cup coverage, when Moore and Hill presided over a month of panel-based coverage. Malcolm Allison, Derek Dougan, Pat Crerand and Bob McNab were nicknamed the "Midnight Cowboys" by the press due to the late-night kick off times. In subsequent years, Brian Clough also appeared frequently with Moore as a pundit on ITV.

Although primarily a commentator, Moore also presented a number of other ITV Sport shows, including Saturday lunchtime preview

Shaw, Williams, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be! It is! Peter Withe!!

Moore also covered the

Moore presented ITV's coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 1970, 1974, 1978 and 1982. In 1986, he presented the coverage from London for most of the tournament before flying out to commentate on the final. From 1990 to 1998 he commentated throughout the tournament.

He retired as a commentator in 1998 after

Moore was a lifelong supporter of Gillingham and served as a director at the club for seven years. A stand at the club's Priestfield Stadium is named after him.

Moore suffered from serious heart problems in his later life and twice underwent life-saving surgery for blocked arteries. After the first health scare, he became a regular churchgoer and a committed Christian. He died at the age of 69 on 1 September 2001, the day that England beat Germany 5–1 in Munich during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup.^[1]

References