C4’s football programme concentrates on the action from the Italian Serie A which is the equivalent of England’s Premier league. A full match is broadcast live each Sunday but even better is the magazine style programme called Gazzetta which is broadcast on a Saturday morning.
The Gazzetta programme is presented by James Richardson who is easily the best presenter of a football related programme on British TV. Richardson is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about Italian football but in a more mature way than the patronising way BBC and to a lesser extent ITV presenters are. Fluent in Italian, Richardson has football interviews with players and managers which avoid cliches and the usual drivel which passes for comment on for example Football Focus on Grandstand at Saturday lunchtime.
He reviews the Italian football press, it too far ahead of anything we publish in the UK, and often presents from a location in the heart of the beautiful cities of Italy. Whenever BBC have a location report it tends to look like an item from the Holiday programme – all dramatically photographed and musical background. Richardson always has the previous weeks action and news including updates of the progress of the Italian clubs in the European competitions and the Italian Cup.
The match broadcast on a Sunday is well presented. The commentaries of Clive Tyldesley or Peter Brackley are excellent and avoid the idiosyncratic nonsense which John Motson still thinks of as a commentary. The C4 commentators realise that viewers have switched to watch the football not listen to someone chuckle inanely and provide bland wallpaper comments.
Football Italia and Gazzetta succeed for 2 reasons, firstly the chosen subject of Italian football is infinitely more exotic and interesting than the Premiership and secondly the production and presentation is far superior to that of ITV and BBC.
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Nov 12th, 2000
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