Gerald Sinstadt
Gerald Sinstadt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerald Morris Sinstadt 19 February 1930 Folkestone, Kent, England |
| Died | 10 November 2021 (aged 91) |
| Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, commentator, columnist |
Gerald Morris Sinstadt (19 February 1930 – 10 November 2021) was an English sports commentator, broadcaster and newspaper columnist, usually on football.
Early life
Born in Folkestone, Kent, Sinstadt attended The Harvey Grammar School.[1][2]
Broadcasting career
Sinstadt began broadcasting on the
From 1969 to 1981 he was the main football commentator/presenter for
He often commentated nationally on European matches involving north-west clubs, notably Manchester United's victory over
Sinstadt covered four World Cups for ITV, from 1970 in
During his ITV years he commentated on other sports, including all ball games at the 1972 Munich Olympics, snooker, golf and cricket.
Sinstadt left Granada after the
In September 1976 he also presented World of Sport, covering for regular presenter Dickie Davies who was on holiday on the 18 September edition, which led to Gordon Burns covering the presenter and commentator roles on both Kick Off and The Kick Off Match.
Subsequently, he commentated on golf for Channel 4. He rejoined the BBC in the mid-1980s, working as a reporter and commentator for Football Focus and Match of the Day. He also covered other sports such as rowing, including commentating on some of the Steve Redgrave/Matthew Pinsent Olympic successes, and covering the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in the early 1990s, succeeding Harry Carpenter but soon replaced by Barry Davies. While at the BBC, he presented episodes of a BBC2 documentary series Football Fussball Voetbal, a history of European football leading up to Euro 96.
He appeared in the Jimmy McGovern television docu-drama Hillsborough (1996), about the football tragedy, having been a BBC television reporter at the stadium while the disaster unfolded seven years earlier.[9] In 1987, he was the first to voice the long-running Trans World Sport.
Well into the 2000s Sinstadt continued to report from football grounds for BBC Sport's Final Score programme, broadcast on Saturday afternoons on BBC One and the BBC's interactive digital service. On 22 January 2011 he voiced a short obituary for former Bolton Wanderers and England forward Nat Lofthouse at the end of the BBC's Football Focus programme, and on 16 March 2013 he did the same following the death of his former BBC colleague Tony Gubba.
Writing
As of 2014, Sinstadt wrote a weekly column for The Sentinel newspaper in Staffordshire, reflecting on football and other sports. An author of three published novels in the 1960s, he remained an avid reader and posted book reviews on the Goodreads website, and as a Vine Voice on the Amazon website under the name of GS-trentham.
Personal life
Sinstadt lived in Stoke-on-Trent and remained actively involved in football, as a Staffordshire member of the FA Council and as vice-chairman of the North Staffordshire Youth League.[10]
He died on 10 November 2021, at the age of 91.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Gerald Sinstadt: Former BBC and ITV commentator dies aged 91", BBC Sport, 10 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021
- ^ https://www.folkestonehistory.org/uploads/pdf/7%20Sum%202001.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b "Kick Off Match". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 27 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ "ITV World Cup 1978". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 27 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ "ITV coverage of Europa 80". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ "European Football Finals on ITV 1968–1983". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ "ITV Cup Final Coverage 1968–1983". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ a b "TVS – The Saturday Match". ITV Football Highlights 1968–1983. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
- ^ "Damian Kavanagh – Hillsborough Football Disaster". Contrast.org.
- ^ "Contacts – 2010–2011 Season – North Staffs Youth League". www.football.mitoo.co.uk.
External links
- Gerald Sinstadt at IMDb
- Gerald Sinstadt discography at Discogs