Final Score
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Final Score is a BBC TV programme which runs on Saturday afternoons to present the viewers with a full results service from the afternoon's football matches.
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[edit] Early days
Final Score had been part of BBC's long-running show Grandstand as far back as the 1950s, when the results were broadcast on a device dubbed the Teleprinter, with each character of the results displayed one-by-one. Football fans, particularly those of lower division teams would wait anxiously for news on their team's result as live score updates during matches in those days were rare. The one-by-one letter typing by the teleprinter always heightened the anticipation.
The results came from the Press Association (PA), who appointed a correspondent to attend each match and report back the half-time and full-time scores to its offices in London. The PA would then use the technology of the day to provide a feed to BBC television centre. The Press Association still provide the vidiprinter results service to this day.
Technology gradually improved, but even the modern-day graphics (the Vidiprinter) used by the programme still emulate the original typing system. There are now Goalflashes throughout the afternoon for every match played in the English and Scottish leagues, plus the Conference making the nervous wait for results at 4.45pm a thing of the past.
The host of the main Grandstand programme used to present the scores and often try to reflect how each result affected the league (eg "Leicester go top of the league" or "Cambridge's thirteenth defeat in a row") which meant meticulous preparation was necessary.
After the majority of the results came in, the scores would then be collated and announced in alphabetical order starting with the highest leagues first (up to 1992 the First Division, subsequently the Premiership). Remarkably, only two people have regularly read out the classified football results on the programme: the Australian Len Martin (from the first programme until his death in 1995) and Tim Gudgin.
[edit] Recent years
During its last few years there was no longer a main presenter for Grandstand so Final Score was presented by the host of its spin-off programme called Score, which is broadcast from 1430 on the BBC's interactive service BBCi. Score broadcasts to digital television viewers with pundits analysing the games in progress and all goal flashes are read out and broadcast on screen with the vidiprinter. Viewers can also email in their thoughts about the scores and other topics. It is a rival show to Sky Sports' successful Soccer Saturday which pioneered the Saturday afternoon football results service in 1998.
[edit] Present and future
The current main presenter of Score and Final Score is Ray Stubbs. Since 2006 Manish Bhasin, Celina Hinchcliffe and Jake Humphrey have been stand-in presenters for the show.
Grandstand ended over the weekend of January 27-January 28, 2007, but Final Score still continues as a programme in its own right (as it has been, formally, since August 2001). Final Score is also shown on the BBC Sport website. The times of the show on the internet are the same as the times of the BBCi show.
