Gerry Harrison (born 1942) is a former leading football commentator
on English television in the 1970s and 80s, working for
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
. In the latter part of his career he was a senior television executive with production company TWI, who produce coverage of
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
football, international golf and tennis among other sports. He left this role in 2007.
Londoner Harrison played football to what he describes as a decent level on his way to becoming a news reporter with the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
''. He switched to broadcasting in 1967 with
BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC's local radio station serving Merseyside.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds, from studios on Hanover Street in Liverpool.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 203,000 ...
, taking up football commentary duties along the way.
Harrison entered the BBC's ''Find a Commentator'' competition in 1969. Despite making the final six he lost out on the prize of a working trip to the
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...
to Welshman
Idwal Robling. However, Harrison was to get the better deal out of it. Partly on the strength of his performance in the competition, he was offered a post as a commentator for Norwich-based
Anglia Television
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
. While Robling covered a couple of games in Mexico for the BBC, Harrison worked on the competition as part of ITV's commentary team covering seven matches. It was the first of six World Cups he would cover for ITV.
Anglia's staple football programme ''Match of the Week'' chronicled a superb spell for
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
under the guidance of
Bobby Robson
Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...
, as well as the fortunes of
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
,
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
,
Cambridge United
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...
,
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
,
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
,
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
and
Northampton Town
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
. Harrison worked as presenter and commentator before its eventual demise in 1983. He also covered the first leg of the
1981 UEFA Cup Final
The 1981 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match played over two legs between AZ '67 of the Netherlands and Ipswich Town of England. The first leg was played at Portman Road, Ipswich, on 6May 1981 and the second leg was played on 20 M ...
, featuring
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, for Anglia and the ITV network.
Network responsibilities rarely came Harrison's way outside of the World Cup. He commentated on live matches in 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986, and also worked on the 1990 tournament. He was also a regular voice on Football League highlights on both ''The Big Match'' and ''Midweek Sports Special''. He freelanced for
BSB in its early days - covering the 1990
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
semi-final between
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building
* ...
among other matches. He also covered matches for
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...
, British Aerospace Sportscast and
Screensport
Screensport was a pan-European cable and satellite sports television network that was on air from 1984 until 1993 before merging with Eurosport.
History 1984–1986: Early years
Screensport was founded in 1981 by Bob Kennedy — who had sta ...
.
In 1985 Harrison took over as Head of Sport at Anglia but left in 1993 frustrated at ITV's inability to maintain rights to top-flight football. He joined TWI as a producer and has worked on many shows including the long-running ''Futbol Mundial'' programme. He also occasionally commentates, notably covering the
FIFA World Club Championship
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
for international audiences since its inception in 2005. In 2005 Gerry returned to Anglia as a guest on their 50 years of ITV programme. In 2006, he hosted the first edition of Anglia Soccer Night of the season. He has also appeared as a studio guest and was seen regularly hosting Soccer Rewind on Anglia Soccer Night in the 2006/2007 season.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Gerry
Television personalities from London
English association football commentators
1942 births
Living people