Gerald Sinstadt
Sports commentator and reporter who covered World Cups and Olympics as well as the Boat Race
GERALD SINSTADT, who has died aged 91, was a sports commentator and reporter who covered nearly a dozen World Cups and was one of the most recognised faces of football coverage on television during the 1970s; he was behind the microphone for many celebrated moments, such as Denis Law’s cheeky backheeled goal for Manchester City against their local rivals United at Old Trafford in 1974 – “and Denis has done it!” – and Liverpool’s epic European Cup victory over St Etienne at Anfield three years later.
Racism on the terraces was usually ignored by commentators of that era, but in December 1978 Sinstadt became one of the first to call it out, during West Bromwich Albion’s 5-3 victory at Manchester United when the winning goals were scored by the black players Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham.
In 1989 he was the BBC’S pitchside reporter in Sheffield as the Hillsborough disaster unfolded, appearing seven years later in Jimmy Mcgovern’s docudrama about that day’s dreadful events.
Gerald Morris Sinstadt was born on February 19 1930 in Folkestone, Kent, to Jim and Winifred; his father was a shopkeeper. He attended the Harvey Grammar School in the town and was evacuated during the war, but while he was away his mother and father were killed in an air raid. “I have wondered what might have been if my parents had survived,” he told the Sunday Mercury in 2000. “Who knows, I may have followed my dad and become a shopkeeper.”
He was called up to the Intelligence Corps for his National Service before transferring to the British Forces Broadcasting Service in 1949. He made his first live commentary at a game between an English and a Scots regiment: “The match was full of goals and excitement and finished 7-6,” he recalled. “The game made my job easy and I thought, ‘hang on, I can do this.’
“Unfortunately I soon realised you couldn’t just turn up on the day and hope for the best. If you don’t do your proper research the listener will soon catch you out.”
During his time in West Germany he met his future BBC colleague Barry Davies, a 2nd lieutenant also on National Service who was doing a bit of work on the side for BFBS in the hope of getting into sports broadcasting full-time. When they were both back in Britain, Sinstadt helped Davies to get a foot in the door at BBC Radio.
Sinstadt’s bosses at BFBS were so impressed with him that they snapped him up when his National Service was done, and he covered the 1954 and 1958 World Cups. The station was so well-respected that the BBC soon came for Sinstadt, and he was offered a job in Birmingham to replace David Coleman, who was going down to London.
He rose to deputy head of sport, then in the mid-1960s he switched media, joining Anglia Television. In 1969 he was recruited by Granada in the North West – replacing Davies, who was returning to the BBC. He presented the station’s football preview show as well as the weekend’s football highlights on Kick Off Match, Granada’s regional variant of The Big Match.
He covered four World Cups for ITV, from 1970 in Mexico to 1982 in Spain, and figured as No 3 commentator behind Brian Moore and Hugh Johns. In 1982 he left Granada for TV South then rejoined the BBC, reporting for Football Focus (making his final appearance in 2013) and commentating on Match of the Day.
He commentated on other sports, including, briefly, the Boat Race, in the interregnum between Harry Carpenter and Barry Davies. His Olympic reporting took in Steve Redgrave’s first four Olympic rowing golds, and he also covered golf for Channel 4 and did voice-overs for Trans World Sport.
Later on in his career he delivered many obituaries for the BBC, working with the producer Andrew Clement, who recalled: “He used to sit in on the edit, which was rare in those days. If I produced a shot for him, he would bring it to life with a perfectly chosen phrase or image. He crafted his pieces.”
Away from sport Sinstadt was a passionate opera buff, and in the 1980s was executive producer of two films of Glyndebourne performances, Albert Herring and Carmen.
In retirement he lived in the Potteries, and wrote a weekly column for the Stoke paper The Sentinel until 2019. A qualified referee, he officiated at local matches, and was a member for Staffordshire of the FA Council.
Gerald Sinstadt married his third wife, Margaret Moran Smith, in 1997; she was working at Port Vale FC when he rang the club to arrange a feature, and she was detailed to meet him at the station. She survives him.
Gerald Sinstadt, born February 19 1930, died November 10 2021