Maurice Edelston (27 April 1918 – 30 January 1976) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who later became a sports commentator. Born in Hull, England, he was son of the

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

footballer Joe Edelston. At the age of 18, he played in the football tournament in the

1936 Berlin Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

Playing career

Edelston played

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

football with Fulham and Brentford (following his father, Joe Edelston, then a coach, to both clubs), non-league football with Wimbledon and

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

and in April 1939 he joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

(where his father was manager) and played for them successfully as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

until 1952. At international level, he represented

at the 1936 Summer Olympics, scored seven goals in eight games for England Amateurs and won five wartime caps for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He finished his playing career at

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 ...

in 1953.

Broadcasting career

Around the late 1950s he went into broadcasting and was a regular

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

commentator by 1960. During the 1960s he also commentated for BBC television and Southern Television. Although most of his commentaries were on football, he also covered

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, especially Wimbledon. He was a summariser on England's 1966 FIFA World Cup victor

as well as the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

in 1967 and 1968. He commentated on the event from 1969 to 1975. He reached his peak around the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he was broadcasting almost every week, covering

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

finals and England matches, as well as a number of league title deciders ( Arsenal's victory at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in 1971, and

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

' defeat of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

which handed the title to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in 1972). He also co-wrote the books ''Masters of Soccer'' and ''Wickets, Tries and Goals''. By the mid-1970s, his career was somewhat in decline as the emergence of

Alan Parry Alan Parry (born 1948 in Garston, Liverpool) is an English sports commentator, concentrating on football and athletics. He has commentated for all four main broadcasters of football in the UK – the BBC, BT Sport, ITV and Sky TV, as well a ...

was denying him the chance to commentate on matches such as England vs

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1975, and the controversial European Cup final in which Bayern Munich beat Leeds United four days later. However, he continued to cover tennis during the summer of 1975 and was still broadcasting regularly when he died suddenly from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

Tilehurst Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south. The suburb is partly within the boundarie ...

on 30 January 1976, aged 57.

Legacy

A library at the

Reading Blue Coat School ('Truth Conquers All) , established = , closed = , type = Independent day school Public school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

is named after him, as is an award that Reading present to the outstanding schoolboy in their

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edelston, Maurice 1918 births British association football commentators 1976 deaths Footballers from Kingston upon Hull English men's footballers Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Great Britain Reading F.C. players Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players England men's wartime international footballers Arsenal F.C. wartime guest players Watford F.C. wartime guest players British radio personalities British sports broadcasters England men's amateur international footballers English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards Fulham F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Isthmian League players Corinthian F.C. players Brentford F.C. wartime guest players