It is a job few broadcasters can manage, persuading people to follow you to BBC Two for the tennis while at the same time convincing them to not to go to ITV for the football. Thankfully Sue Barker was there to strike the balance on Sunday afternoon as Wimbledon was superseded by the World Cup final on BBC One. “On this super sporting Sunday you have the best seat in the house,” she purred, “and best choice available of two world-class finals.” Perfectly judged. Let the game begin.
Underneath France v Croatia was another contest, one which occurs only once every two years: BBC against ITV for the nation’s sporting eyeballs. Neither channel gets much experience of live football during the regular season. Only at international tournaments are they able to trawl the world for pundits, craft together poignant video packages and polish those short phrases that linger in the memory. The final is where the two face off against each other, vying for our validation.
It is quite odd to watch how differently they went at it. Gary Lineker opened with the kind of Des Lynam-lite epigram he has made his own: “It’s the final we all wanted, well almost.” ITV’s anchor Mark Pougatch was more prosaic, giving a general introduction that went on for 28 words. In the BBC studio it was all suits, Alan Shearer and Rio Ferdinand dressed as if they were auditioning for James Bond. ext to Pougatch slumped four open-necked shirts, Ian Wright’s a mind-bending design of concatenating yellow cubes.
After the introductions ITV dived headlong into punditry, posting the teamsheets and asking Gary Neville to assess Croatia’s level of performance, game by game. The BBC opted instead for a montage summing up the tournament, short clips enhanced by sound-effects (Ronaldo rubbing his beard like it’s sandpaper, a big ‘splat!’ as the ball hits Michy Batshuayi’s forehead). As the BBC passed into an England item and went through Croatia’s footballing history, ITV was still talking about the game.
The different strategies were clear. The Beeb, as national broadcaster, wanted to create a sense of occasion and stir up goosebumps wherever possible. ITV was pitching to the football fans. The sort of people who would be there, dressed down like their pundits, even if it was the Champions League group stage.
This seemed a smart point of differentiation for ITV but it will always be dogged by an inevitable hindrance: ad breaks. When offered a choice of football or gambling commercials, most will choose football and so I watched the preamble on the Beeb. Its first-half commentary, with Guy Mowbray and Martin Keown, was dull, however. Keown’s critique of the Croatia defensive line at set pieces was about the high point.
Returning to ITV for its half-time analysis, I waited five minutes for it to start. “We’ve got too much to talk about!” gabbled Lee Dixon after the break. With a heated discussion about VAR on the second French goal obligatory, ITV’s four pundits had barely any time to share their opinions on the game. Roy Keane knew the score and ramped up his rhetoric: “Bet you he’s never played football!” he said of the referee, Néstor Pitana
The celebrations will go on and on, said both channels, as the rain began to pour and both prepared to wind down for another two years. The BBC wrapped up with its goal of the tournament, Belgium’s late winner against Japan. “A team goal in a tournament of team spirit,” summarised Jürgen Klinsmann quite neatly. ITV, meanwhile, was on another break.