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Voices of Sport: Kenneth Wolstenholme - The BBC man that will forever be remembered for his iconic 1966 line

In our weekly series, Yahoo Sport’s Nick Metcalfe features a famous voice of sport. On the 50th anniversary of England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, the BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme goes under the spotlight.

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Some people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over. It is now.

Kenneth Wolstenholme was one of the true giants of the early days of sports broadcasting. His career was a significant one, but will always be most remembered for his description of the finest moment in English football history in 1966.

Wolstenholme started his career in journalism in newspapers in Manchester, before he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

After the war, he became a freelance journalist, spending time with BBC radio before moving to television in 1948. It quickly became clear the medium was a natural fit for the eloquent, well spoken Englishman.

In those days, football on TV was extremely rare, but Wolstenholme would still become a familiar voice. He was the main commentator at all the big matches of the time, including the FA Cup final, which back then was an enormous affair. In fact, Wolstenholme covered every final from 1949 to 1971.

The European Cup final was often shown in Britain too, and Wolstenholme commentated on many of the memorable finals of the 1960s. The match between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt at a Hampden Park full with 127,621 fans has become a fabled one in the history of club football. The Spanish giants were mercurial and won the final 7-3. Wolstenholme was the perfect companion on that special night.

‘Di Stefano… it’s always better when he moves. And it’s 7-2. Oh my goodness.’

He was also present for two British triumphs later in the decade, Celtic’s team of local players seeing off Inter Milan in 1967 and Manchester United beating Benfica on an emotional night at Wembley in 1968.

By that time, the most famous TV football programme of all time, Match of the Day, was well into its stride. It was broadcast for the first time in August 1964, in a Saturday teatime slot on BBC2.

Wolstenholme was the first presenter, and he welcomed viewers to highlights of Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal at Anfield, a match he commentated on.

‘Welcome to Match of the Day, the first of a weekly series coming to you every Saturday on BBC2. As you can hear, we’re in Beatleville for the Liverpool versus Arsenal match.’

That first sentence was used at the beginning of the Match of the Day titles during the 2014/15 season, as the grand old football show celebrated its half century.

There was a small audience for that first programme in the summer of 1964 - estimated to be only 20,000 - but as the months and years went on, Match of the Day would become a ritual for millions of fans. In 1966, the programme was switched to the main channel, BBC1, and shown at a later time on a Saturday night. It has been there ever since.

Viewers always knew what they would get with Wolstenholme. The voice of authority, of gravitas. A gentleman too, the voice of old England in a way. And someone that had the precious gift of being able to produce a memorable turn of phrase when the occasion called for it.

‘A lovely one to Charlton. This will be it, number five I should think. What a superb goal. That is the pink ribbon on this luscious box of chocolates that Manchester United have given us tonight.’

Wolstenholme accomplished so much in his broadcasting career, but his finest hour came on a warm summer’s day at Wembley in 1966. The afternoon of July 30th to be precise.

England had reached their first World Cup final and a huge TV audience of more than 32 million tuned in for their clash with West Germany, still the largest ever for any broadcast in Britain.

It turned out to be a momentous afternoon. The two teams were locked at 2-2 after 90 minutes, but England went 3-2 in front during extra-time when Geoff Hurst’s shot was adjudged by the officials (well, the ‘Russian linesman’ to be precise) to have bounced down off the crossbar and over the line.

With seconds remaining, and Wembley at fever pitch, the hosts broke forward one final time. Cue Wolstenholme.

‘And here comes Hurst. Some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over. It is now. It’s four.’

There have been some wonderfully resonant moments in sporting commentary over the decades - like ‘Do you believe in miracles?’ or ‘Where were the Germans?’ - but perhaps none have become such an embedded part of collective consciousnesses.

There can’t be a sports fan in the country of a certain age that doesn’t know those words. Many decades later, a BBC sports quiz programme was named ‘They Think It’s All Over’ and featured that iconic commentary.

Among everything else, some of Wolstenholme’s other memorable words on that glorious Wembley afternoon were somewhat overlooked. He also described the moment when the Queen handed the Jules Rimet trophy to England captain Bobby Moore.

'It’s only 12 inches high, solid gold, and it means England are the world champions.’

At the start of the 1970s, Wolstenholme was still the BBC’s main football voice. He commentated on one of the most celebrated matches ever played in 1970, the World Cup final between Brazil and Italy in Mexico City. The fourth goal scored by Brazil in their 4-1 win bordered on the poetic. And Wolstenholme, typically, found the right words.

'Oh this is great stuff. They’re taking it in turns to give us an exhibition. Jairzinho, number seven. Pele… up comes Carlos Alberto on the right. And it’s four. That was sheer delightful football.’

It wasn’t long after that tournament that Wolstenholme departed the BBC, with David Coleman installed as the BBC’s No.1 commentator in 1971. His last FA Cup final was fittingly a memorable one, Charlie George scoring an extra-time winner to give Arsenal victory over Liverpool.

And his final match working for the BBC was the 1971 European Cup final between Ajax and Panathinaikos at Wembley. Trust Wolstenholme to go out at the top.

Later in the 1970s, he commentated for Tyne Tees Television, before heading into semi-retirement. Wolstenholme would still crop up doing reports and features on TV sports coverage after that, most notably on Channel 4 when they won rights to show live Serie A games in the 1990s.

In the below picture, Wolstenholme is pictured with Brazilian legend Pele and England’s goalkeeping great Gordon Banks in the final days of the old Wembley in 2000.

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Wolstenholme died of heart failure in 2002 at the age of 81. It was the end of a long era.

As long as football is enjoyed, you feel many more generations of fans will see that clip from 1966, and hear those famous words. Wolstenholme’s voice will live on.