Commentary: Going mad and not caring as we listen with Davies

BBC commentator appears to condone a pitch invasion and attempted lynching

My list a fortnight ago of the Ten Greatest Bits of Commentary Ever provoked a lively response. Jon Ladd, for example, sent me an actual transcript of Barry Davies' commentary from the celebrated Leeds United v West Bromwich Albion match of 17 April, 1971, the one in which Jeff Astle scored a winning goal which should have been disallowed because his team-mate Colin Suggett was offside by about the length of two cricket pitches.

"Pass intercepted, but Suggett is offside," said Davies – this after Tony Brown (ah, what evocative names these are) had cut out Norman Hunter's pass and set off for the Leeds goal, only for the linesman to flag against Suggett. Brown then slowed to an amble waiting for the inevitable whistle, but no whistle came.

"The referee's waving him on! Brown is going straight through... taking on Sprake..." Here, Brown passed to Astle, who scored into an empty goal.

"And the goal by Astle," continued Davies, his voice rising several octaves.

"And Leeds will go mad and they've every right to go mad because everybody stopped with the linesman's flag. Leeds have every justification for going mad although one must add that they played to the linesman and not the whistle..."

There followed a pitch invasion by Leeds fans furious that their team appeared to have gone behind to a blatantly illegal goal when they needed a win to maintain their title challenge (they were duly pipped by Arsenal by a point). In the centre circle incandescent Leeds players surrounded the referee Ray Tinkler while police tried to restrain fans from attacking him.

"But you can understand the feelings of those Leeds players," said Davies, as Don Revie then walked on to the pitch, carrying, for reasons best known to himself, a tartan travel rug under his left arm.

"Don Revie is on the pitch, the linesman is going to talk to the referee," cried Davies, adding, as the goal was given, and Revie trudged off the pitch shaking his head: "Don Revie, a sickened man. Look at him looking at the heavens in disgust. So many fans on the field being taken off and more police on the field than players."

According to Jon, who either has a photographic long-term memory or a Match of the Day classics video, a middle-aged man in a mustard-coloured suit was then frogmarched off the pitch by two policemen, while another fan ran headlong at the referee.

"And the Yorkshire spirit is really coming to the fore," said Davies. "There's a wrestling match going on in the centre circle, but when all is said and done the goal is going to stand. But what a cruel goal. Listen to the crowd going mad."

This piece of commentary established Barry Davies, Jon quite reasonably asserts, as not only the first BBC commentator to appear to condone a pitch invasion and the attempted lynching of match-day officials, but perhaps also the first to use the same three-letter adjective – mad – four times in 17.8 seconds.

Which may well be, but fair's fair, it was more than 30 years ago. As a member of the Davies rather than Motson tendency (what was Motty going on about with his handcuffs, jail, and Cry Freedom allegory during the England v Macedonia game?) I feel I must step forward in Barry's defence, for as well as being a thoroughly nice fellow he is surely the most versatile sports commentator in British broadcasting history, and should be lionised as such.

Which brings me to another e-mail about my Ten Greatest Bits of Commentary Ever, from Chris Rogers of Kenilworth. "As a hockey player at Swansea University, watching at breakfast time, I will never forget Great Britain winning the men's gold medal in Seoul in '88 against the overwhelming favourites, and arch-nemesis of British sport, Germany," Chris writes.

"But it was the commentary by Barry Davies that made the event so much more memorable by conveying completely the feelings of all of us watching. When Imran Sherwani stole in unmarked at the far post to score the third goal, which sealed the game, he uttered the immortal words: 'Where were the Germans? Frankly, who cares?''

Naturally I remember that famous line, and indeed it was a contender for my own top 10, but was narrowly pipped by Tony Adamson's eloquent commentary – "YEGGGGHHHHHSSSSSS!" – as Paul McGinley holed the putt that won back the Ryder Cup for Europe last month.

Knowing of my mild affection for Everton, however, Chris appealed to me to see that Olympic final from a different perspective. "Get the tape, watch the game, put yourselves in the shoes of a hockey player and tell me it shouldn't be in the top 10! If you are struggling with this, imagine the Toffees playing Man Utd in the last game of the season to win the Premiership and substitute Wayne Rooney for Sherwani. 'Where were United? Frankly, who cares?' That's how much it meant!"

b.viner@independent.co.uk