Following on from yesterday's publication about the "loss" of a footballing "hero", today we hear of the death of John Motson, the very well known football commentator, who graced Big Ground at Charterhouse School (Godalming, Surrey) one Sunday afternoon. John Motson played football for the "Commentators Eleven", a team that turned out regularly for Charity and included the well known names such as Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Jim Rosenthal. His team visited Charterhouse School, one Sunday and Motty played on the right wing, hugging the touchline effectively and not wasting a pass. The potch he played on had been used for "soccer" since 1872 when the school moved out from London to its "Surrey" home. I wrote to the Daily Telegraph Letters about this and managed to get published! (25th Feb).
Motty was a delight during the game, when he "commentated" throughout the match, especially when he had the ball, and he played his part after the game, chatting to the Old Carthusians, his opposition, and a generous crowd.
John Walker Motson OBE (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) began as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the mid-1990s. In winter months Motson was well-known for wearing a sheepskin coat, something of a trademark that started in December 1990, when he "battled horizontal sleet showers ahead of Wycombe Wanderers and Peterborough United cup tie
In 2008, Motson announced his retirement from live television commentary. He continued to cover games for Match of the Day highlights and appeared on BBC RadionFiove Live as well as commentating on CBeebies' Footy Pups. In September 2017, he announced his full retirement from BBC commentary, having commentated on 10FIFA World Cups, 10 UEFA Championships and 29 FA Cup finals. In July 2018, he announced he was returning from retirement to work for Talksport.
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