A voice that takes off like a homing pigeon

SPORT ON TV

MY COLLEAGUE on our sister paper, Peter Corrigan, came up with an elegant solution last weekend to the BBC's problem of who to use for the World Cup final, John Motson or Barry Davies: team them up, each doing one half as commentator, the other as analyst.

It's an idea brilliant in its simplicity, the only possible drawback being the absence of a former player as "expert" witness. In most cases, this would be less of a handicap, more of a downright blessing. One or two managers - David Pleat, Big Ron, Ray Wilkins until the other day - are worth the airtime, but with one or two exceptions, players-turned- pundits manage to keep insight at bay with a boring, boring arsenal of platitudes and cliches. Back in the studio, Alan Hansen delivers, but he stands out from an uninspiring bunch.

Pleasant thoughts about what the Barry and Motty Show might be like were provoked by watching the Uefa Cup Final (BBC1), to which neither turned up, presumably giving their golden voice boxes a rest before France. Instead we had Jon Champion - unexceptionable but also unexceptional, like most of his colleagues. It's not so much what he says - his account of Internazionale's thumping win over Lazio was perfectly good, though he lacks Davies' consummate phrase-making and Motson's eccentricities. It's more to do with the quality of his voice. There's nothing unpleasant about it, it's just that it's as about as distinctive as a Newcastle replica shirt in the Gallowgate End.

The great commentators aren't held in the esteem they are just because of what they say or the way they say it. As with great singers, the vocal textures themselves matter. Take the words "They think it's all over. It is now!" Imagine them being said by Clive Tyldesley. I rest my case.

There was a classic example of unconscious racism during the Uefa Cup final from the otherwise benign Trevor Brooking, by the way. Matias Almeyda was sent off, not for the theatrics his name implies but for a nasty foul. "Not too clever," Brooking remarked. "It's the Argentinian coming out." Do the usual PC trick of substituting the word "black" for "Argentinian" and it takes on a different tone.

Brooking's remark might have been less surprising coming from one of the undeniably great commentators, Brian Moore, who has never knowingly been outjingoed. Moore's last game will be the World Cup final, after which he heads for the golf course, and he was on The Sports Show (ITV) to receive a few accolades.

We've all sometimes been as irritated as hell by Moore - the blind patriotism, the failure to see things in front of his nose - and given the choice of BBC or ITV have usually plumped for the former. But he'll be remembered with affection, partly for the rich, booming quality of a voice that at moments of high drama seemed to have a life of its own, breaking free and taking off like a homing pigeon.

The Sports Show exhumed his BBC radio commentary for Geoff Hurst's second goal in the 1966 World Cup final: "It's hit the bar!" roars Moore. "It must be in!" Wrong, as usual, but in his endearingly hammy way. "As biased as ever, as you can see," he remarked back in the studio.

This came during a debate on whether we should use a camera on the goal- line, and Moore was of the old school - "the referee is right even when he's wrong" - though a show of hands put him in a tiny minority.

There's a lot of wrong thinking in all this, incidentally. Eamonn Holmes used a recent example of a disallowed goal that was over the line; if it had been given, he said, Barnsley would be staying up and Everton going down. But how does he know that? If that goal had been given - i.e. if history had been different - then history would have gone on being different. Barnsley might have scored that goal then conceded two more themselves. Who's to say? I'm with Brian Moore: it all evens out, so let the referee get on with it. "At the end of it all, it's a game," he said. And though that's hopelessly naive, it's a sentiment you want to concur with. So what if a plc's share prices go down with their team? Tough.

Asked to pick out his greatest moments, Moore plumped first for the 1989 League decider at Anfield, and it was a classic of its type - starting off with the roar of, "Charging through the midfield!", the level sustained for "It's up for grabs now!", the last word elongated into a dramatic arc. Then the waves crashing against the rocks: "Thomas! Right at the end! An unbelievable climax to the League season!" It's not surprising, in these post-modern times, to find that his words now adorn a T-shirt on sale up and down the Holloway Road. Maybe it'll have to be ITV on 12 July. Just for old times' sake.