TYLER’S APOLOGY SHOULD ALSO BE FOR IGNORING PRE-1992 FOOTBALL
WHETHER you accept Martin Tyler’s explanation that he did not intend to link the Hillsborough tragedy with “other hooligan-related issues” is a personal choice.
Listen to the clip and make up your own mind.
For what it is worth, it sounds to me like the sort of automatic subconscious connection that so many people have made down the years – one that, somehow, has still not been fully eradicated by years of campaigning, education and, finally, justice.
In his apology, Tyler said: “There is no connection at all between the Hillsborough disaster and hooliganism – I know that.”
But, in common with many, perhaps he did not know that at the time and, hence, the conflation of the two in his radio interview
Whether you want to give
Tyler the benefit of the doubt or not, his comments have given Sky Sports a problem.
And, considering the reason Tyler (below) was talking on BBC Radio Four in the first place, that is ironic – because the veteran commentator was there to blow a celebratory trumpet for the 30-year collaboration between his TV station and the Premier League.
Yes, it appears it is time for another reminder that football was invented in 1992 by the characters who dreamed up the Premier League in cahoots with Sky.
In its simplicity, its promotion, its administration and its concept, the Premier League has been a roaring success, let’s get that right.
And in its innovation, its quality, its sporting commitment and its punditry, Sky Sports’ coverage has been superb.
But the reason Tyler brought up Hillsborough was to try and highlight the idea that football was “in a bit of a crisis at that time” – i.e. in the years leading up to the formation of the Premier League.
Again, whether subconsciously or not, the implication is that the good old Premier League and good old Sky dragged football out of the Dark Ages.
The implication is a slight on all those wonderful footballers who thrilled equally as many people as the Premier League currently thrills.
Sky have brought us thousands of live games, but at a cost to the supporter – a cost that will be felt even more keenly in the unfolding recession. But never mind the recession, clubs still sign kit deals that mean replica shirts go for £100 a pop and Fulham charged some fans that same amount to get into a game on Saturday, while fixtures are moved to times and dates that show scant regard for the travelling fan.
When Tyler said football was “in a bit of a crisis at the time”, it is all relative.
For different reasons, Tyler – who is said to be ‘distraught’ and who, for what it is worth, has always come across as a thoroughly decent chap – will be regretting his appearance on the radio on Friday morning.
But no matter how much of a coincidence, it would not have happened if we were not being told we should be celebrating the Premier League and Sky yet again.
There have been good things, there have been bad things – let’s just get on with it.