The classified football results

It doesn't take much for a media storm to brew. Take something traditional, ditch it without giving any notice, and stand back to assess the damage. Removing the classified football results from the BBC Sports Report programme at 5pm on a Saturday was always going to be a move that would set teeth gnashing up and down the country.

A few caveats: I'm not angry, just disappointed. Yes, I know I'm possibly a dinosaur who should let go of things like this. But I'm still trying to get over the loss of Teletext, so cut me some slack. Yes, I know we all have access to football scores at our fingertips now. Personally I love the fact that checking the latest scores when out and about has progressed since the 80s. But there is surely still a space for something as cherished as the classified football results.

People may argue that hardly anyone listens to the results on Sports Report anymore, and that everyone knows the scores when they return to their various modes of transport after a match. If everyone who has been complaining about the culling of this service actually listened at 5pm on a Saturday then it would be the most popular radio slot since we all used to listen to the Top 40 countdown in the 80s.

But the response speaks volumes about the decision. For some of us, listening to the football results is part of the Saturday football experience. My son, mum and I have season tickets at Boreham Wood and we often get back to the car at 5pm to hear that famous Sports Report theme and start the journey listening to the classified football results. 

The fact that the decision seems to have been taken/announced without giving people warning indicates to me that the BBC knew this would not be a popular move. Perhaps they hoped that it could be swept under the carpet, nothing to hear here, move on. Does anyone really care that much about the classified football results? 

Another bit of all this that is bothering me is the fact that the decision was apparently made due to the fact that there is not enough time to read the scores between 5pm and the 5.30pm kick offs that the BBC have now acquired rights for on a Saturday. That, my friends, is absolute tosh. 

It takes about five minutes to get through the full list of matches. You don't need to worry about giving out the score draw numbers anymore - the Pools is one tradition that we possibly can live without - so why should it be so much of a hardship to squeeze in the football scores in this time span?

Do we really need to hear a couple of interviews where media-trained robots come out and spout their usual nonsense? The referee was terrible; VAR is a disgrace; the fans were marvellous; defensively we were awful; we didn't retain possession enough; you have to take your chances at this level. Snore.

Excuse me if I'm alone in this, but I would much rather hear Charlotte Green read out a list of results than listen to a couple of Premier League manager give their views/excuses about the match they have been at. Why not play those interviews at half-time of the 5.30pm match? Or maybe we could wait until Match of the Day for these words of wisdom.

You do get the feeling that the BBC won't be too bothered about this outcry. No publicity is bad publicity and all that. The petitions will begin, the debate will continue, and I have an inkling that a U-turn will be made. 

There is a history of this. The theme for Sports Report was accidentally not played on Saturday January 5, 2013. Presenter Mark Pougatch was forced into an apology: "It was like the ravens had left the Tower of London, it was like the worst thing you could have ever done." Hell hath no fury like a sports fan scorned.

I have often considered writing a blog about the things in sport that were once great but are now ruined. All our yesterdays, and all that. The FA Cup, European Cup, 3pm kick offs, a decent one day domestic trophy that had not been destroyed by its own cricketing board, free-to-air sporting coverage. In truth, 57% of my blogs probably do bang on about this.

Yet even I admit that not everything was better in the 80s. I really don't want to be an "in my day" type. But there are some things that should remain, and personally I think the classified football results is one of them. 

The magic of guessing the score from the intonation of James Alexander Gordon and his successors. Hoping and praying one day to hear East Fife 5 Forfar 4. The beauty of discovering who plays in the JD Cymru Premier League. Cheering the result of the match that you've just been to or that of a rival if they have lost.

Tavares were almost right. Don't take away my football results. It's the only thing I've got. It's my piece of the rock. Motty thinks the BBC has scored an own goal in taking this decision, so hopefully they can go down the other end of the pitch and atone for their error. Then I can double check the next time East Fife are playing Forfar.