''Scotsport'' is a Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on 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 ''Sports Desk'' and continuing until the end of its football highlights show in May 2008. As such, the programme was officially recognised as the world's longest-running

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

programme; however, it has since been overtaken by ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

''.

History

Launching less than a month after the opening 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 th ...

, the programme first aired on 18 September 1957, as ''Sports Desk''. The ''Scotsport'' title was adopted a short time later, and the vast majority of its coverage was of football, rather than sport in general, as the name might imply. The football coverage, in turn, concentrated mostly on Scottish Premier League clubs. The show also followed Scottish clubs in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

via live matches and highlights programmes. ''Scotsports main rival was the long-running BBC Scotland strand ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around 5 ...

'', which continues to broadcast to this day. Prior to the 2007–08 season, ''Scotsport'' faced competition for viewers of its SPL coverage. On 18 July 2007, it was announced that the SPL had signed a similar deal with BBC Scotland for non-exclusive television coverage of the league. This did not affect ''Scotsport's'' production, although the programme lost ratings. ''Scotsport'' continued in its 10.40pm-11.40pm Monday night slot for the remainder of the 2007–08 season, with ''Sportscene's'' SPL highlight airing later in the week on Wednesdays at 10pm on

BBC Two Scotland BBC Two Scotland ( gd, BBC Dhà Alba) was the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Scotland. It was broadcast via digital television and was the sister Scottish channel of BBC One Scotland and Gaelic-language BBC Alba. Unlike BBC One Scotland, ...

. On Hogmanay 2007, STV broadcast ''50 Years of Scotsport'', a programme taking a look back at the shows best moments over the 50 years it had been on air. Featuring colleagues from past and present, one of the show's most recent presenters, Grant Stott presented the Hogmanay special. A month before the anniversary programme aired, STV decided to axe ''Scotsport'', after BBC Scotland won a five-year deal to show SPL highlights. The programme aired for the last time on Thursday 22 May 2008. A smaller-scale sports magazine show, '' STV Sports Centre'' was launched on Friday 5 March 2010 but axed fifteen months later.

Presenters

Despite being one of the world's longest-running

television programme A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

s, there were only five main anchors in its 51 years on air, largely due to the 32-year tenure of

Arthur Montford Arthur Montford (25 May 1929 – 26 November 2014) was a Scottish Television sports journalist, best known for his 32-year tenure as the presenter of Scottish Television's '' Scotsport''. Although he was most associated with football, he covered ...

, who retired in May 1989. Montford was succeeded by Jim White (now with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Jim Delahunt James Martin Delahunt (born 1962)Time & Place: Finding m ...

, and finally, the pairing of

Grant Stott Grant Stott (born 13 May 1967) is a Scottish broadcaster from Edinburgh. He formerly worked as a DJ on Edinburgh radio station Forth 1 until January 2017. He then joined BBC Radio Scotland and now appears on the television soap opera ''River Cit ...

and Andy Walker, who also anchored STV's '' Champions League'' coverage. Other key members of the ''Scotsport'' on-air team during its run included the likes of

Bob Crampsey Robert Anthony Crampsey (8 July 1930 – 27 July 2008) was a Scottish association football historian, author, broadcaster and teacher, described as a "much loved Scottish cultural institution" by ''The Times''. Early life and career Crampsey wa ...

Jock Brown John Winton Brown (born in May 1946) is a Scottish football commentator. He also served as general manager of Scottish club Celtic from 1997 to 1998. Early life Brown was born in Kilmarnock in May 1946. He is the younger brother of former Scotl ...

, and Gerry McNee. In 1982,

Sally McNair Sally McNair (born 1956) is a female television sports journalist in Scotland. She worked as a presenter and reporter at STV on the world's longest-running TV sports programme, "Scotsport" from 1982. Career In 1982, McNair joined ''Scotsport'' a ...

joined the show and become the first female TV sports journalist in Scotland. Six years later,

Hazel Irvine Hazel Irvine (born 24 May 1965) is a Scottish sports presenter. Early life Irvine was born in St Andrews, Scotland. Educated at Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh, she achieved an MA in History of Art at the University of St. Andrews, and comp ...

(who joined Scottish Television as a continuity announcer) became co-presenter of the Friday night preview show, ''Extra Time'' - she defected to the rival ''

'' programme in 1990. A controversial revamp of the SPL highlights show in 2004 saw the arrival of

Sarah O'Flaherty Sarah O'Flaherty (born 1973), known as Sarah O', is an Irish television presenter who has worked on Irish, English and Scottish television shows.

(known as ''Sarah O'') and

Julyan Sinclair Julyan Sinclair is an Orcadian television and radio presenter. He won a BAFTA in 2002 for "Best New Television Presenter" for his work on various Scottish Television arts and entertainment programmes. Television career He has previously hosted '' ...

, who co-anchored ''Scotsport SPL'' on Monday nights for two seasons. In its latterday run, match commentators included

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 ...

(former ''Sportscene'' presenter),

Ian Crocker Ian Lowell Crocker (born August 31, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. During his career, he set world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly (long course and short ...

Rob MacLean Robin "Rob" Maclean (born 1958 in Invergordon) is a Scottish television presenter, football commentator and sports writer. He currently works for BBC Scotland and BT Sport. Maclean began his career with the Highland News Group in Inverness b ...

, Ken McRobb and David McKinney.

Spin-off shows

* ''World of Sport from Scotland'' (billed as Scotsport Special) was broadcast as a occasional opt out from the network version of '' World of Sport'' on Saturday afternoons, it was presented by ''

'' and largely featured live and highlights coverage of Scottish sporting events incorporated with the network sporting events. * ''Scotsport Results'' launched on 15 August 1964 and was broadcast on Saturday teatimes at around 5pm during the football season. It was presented by ''

'', and latterly, '' Jim White'' until the end of the 1992/93 football season. Since then, A Scottish football results programme has been broadcast on

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland and is a Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One. For all of the time the channel is referred to on screen as ''BBC One Scotland'', sometimes us ...

known as ''Afternoon Sportscene'' (now ''Sportscene Results''). * From 1979 to 1984, a short preview programme called ''Sport Extra'' aired on Friday evenings at 6.25pm, following ''

Scotland Today ''Scotland Today'' is a Scottish regional news programme covering Central Scotland, produced by STV Central (formerly Scottish Television). Despite its name suggesting a national remit, the programme was actually limited to stories around STV's C ...

''. *

]Between the 1988–89 and 1999–2000 seasons, ''Scotsport Extra Time'' (later renamed simply ''Extra Time'' from 8 January 1994) aired mostly on Friday nights starting on 28 October 1988 at 10.35pm lasting until 17 December 1993 moving to Saturday lunchtimes at 12:30pm from 8 January 1994 until 11 May 1996 and then moving to Friday nights at 7:00pm at the beginning of the new season on 10 August 1996 and featured previews of the weekend's fixtures, interviews and other sports including ice hockey, rugby, snooker and golf. Jim White presented the programme - alongside Hazel Irvine for the first two seasons - until his move to Sky in 1998 with his last programme on 10 May. Jim Delahunt took over with the programme starting with the final Friday night series on 31 July 1998 starting off at 6:00pm before moving back to its original timeslot of 7:00pm from 13 November, The last Friday night show was broadcast on 21 May 1999 before moving to Saturday lunchtime for the second time from 31 July 1999 until 9 December 2000.

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William a ...

also showed the series from 2 January 1998 and Sky Scottish too from launch on 1 November 1996 until 8 May 1998 three weeks before the station's closure. Both channels simulcasted with the Scottish TV transmission. * During the seasons when Scottish Television owned the rights to Scotland's premier

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

league, live matches and highlights were shown under the ''Scotsport Rugby Roundup'' banner commencing on 14 January 2001 continuing until 16 May 2004. Kathleen Wood, Jim Delahunt, Jim Hay and Richie Gray presented the programme. * During the seasons where STV had the highlights rights for both the Scottish Premier League and the First Division, ''Scotsport'' was divided into two programmes. ''Scotsport First'' aired on Sunday mornings and retained a traditional highlights format, while ''Scotsport SPL'', was revamped as a magazine show on Monday nights, featuring three presenters, a live studio audience and more emphasis on features over match highlights. The Monday night show was heavily criticised by viewers and latterly returned to a more traditional format for the 2006–7 season. * ''Scotsport Fanzone'' aired during the latter half of the 2005–06 season on Thursday nights, taking in a forum format encouraging Scottish football fans to have their say on the week's news.

Scotsport Rugby

''Scotsport Rugby Sunday'' was a short-lived spin-off, specifically focused on

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

in Scotland. Richie Gray presented the series, featuring news and highlights, including coverage of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

, lower league club rugby and women's games. '' STV Rugby'', an hour-long

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

highlights show was launched in September 2009, and continued on and off until the end of the 2011–2012 season.

References