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Arthur Montford (25 May 1929 – 26 November 2014) was a
Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...
sports journalist, best known for his 32-year tenure as the presenter of
Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...
's ''
Scotsport ''Scotsport'' is a Scotland, Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on STV (TV channel), STV in northern and central Scotland between 1957 and 2008, as well as on ITV Border in southern Scotland. It was first broadcast in 1957 as ''S ...
''. Although he was most associated with
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, he covered a number of other sports for ITV, notably
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
.


Early life

Montford was raised in
Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
and was a lifelong supporter of local football club
Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...
.


Journalism

Montford worked as both a print journalist and radio broadcaster before joining
Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...
in August 1957 as a continuity announcer. He was then chosen to present STV's new sports programme, ''
Scotsport ''Scotsport'' is a Scotland, Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on STV (TV channel), STV in northern and central Scotland between 1957 and 2008, as well as on ITV Border in southern Scotland. It was first broadcast in 1957 as ''S ...
'' (originally ''Sports Desk''), where he remained as anchorman for 32 years. In all, he hosted over 2,000 editions of the programme. During his time on ''Scotsport'', Montford became famous for his trademark checkered pattern sports jackets, and some classic lines of football commentary, including ''What a Stramash!'' and ''Disaster for
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
!'' He also presented the Scottish version of '' World of Sport'' which was broadcast under the ''Scotsport'' banner. During the
1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...
, a technical fault with the feed from Argentina prevented ITV from broadcasting Hugh Johns' commentary on the Scotland-Peru game, so Montford's commentary, originally only intended for Scottish viewers, was used on the entire network (the same fault affected the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in reverse, with Scottish viewers having to listen to
David Coleman David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from ...
instead of
Archie MacPherson Archibald "Archie" Macpherson (born 1937) is a Scottish football commentator and author. He has been commentating on Scottish football, via both radio and television, for over four decades. Early life Macpherson was born and raised in the ...
). Montford's last ''Scotsport'' programme was live coverage of the
1989 Scottish Cup Final The 1989 Scottish Cup Final was played between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on 20 May 1989. Celtic won the match 1–0. The only goal came when Joe Miller capitalised on a defensive error and slotted the ball past Rangers' goalkeeper. T ...
. After retiring from television, Montford continued to comment on Scottish football, both in the national press and in the matchday programme at
Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...
. In 1990, he narrated the film documentary ''Scotland: The World Cup Story''. In late 2010, Montford served as an occasional commentator on the Greenock Morton webcast. In May 2010, Montford received the SPFA Special Merit award for his services to football broadcasting and journalism alongside fellow broadcaster Archie Macpherson.


Other positions

He served as a director of Greenock Morton for several years under the chairmanship of his close friend Douglas Rae. After stepping down as a director, Montford continued his affiliation with the club as an Honorary Vice-President. In 1974, Montford was elected as
Rector of the University of Glasgow The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within University of Glasgow, the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior manage ...
, the first sports journalist to receive the honour. He remained in the position until 1977. Montford wrote a column for Scottish golf magazine, ''
Bunkered ''bunkered'' is a Scottish golf magazine published by DC Thomson. Based in Dundee, Scotland, the magazine was launched in 1996 and is published eight times per year. It covers the entire spectrum of golf, with a particular emphasis on Scottis ...
''. His recollections of some of golf's greatest players, moments, and tournaments were popular with the magazine's readers and he was the title's longest-serving regular contributor. He died on 26 November 2014 aged 85. His funeral was held in Bearsden on 3 December.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montford, Arthur 1929 births 2014 deaths Scottish association football commentators Scottish sportswriters Scottish television journalists Golf writers and broadcasters Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Journalists from Glasgow People from Inverclyde Rectors of the University of Glasgow