Laura Woods has been appointed chief presenter at TNT Sports, which has taken over the BT Sport property. Photo: Paul Grover
It was the year of the unique video assistant referee, when a dismal system and its constant failures completely took over television coverage of football. It has become almost impossible to watch any top-level match without passionate debate about whether so-and-so's fingernail was offside, countless identical angles and, very often, still no final conclusion.
From a television perspective, Ware has proven to be a reliable source of sound and fury for the pundits and causes managers to make silly temper tantrums that fuel the hype machine but make it seem like the situation is heading towards a crisis.
Sky Sports have had several high-profile rejections. The world is a safer place for midfield wizards after avid analyst Graeme Souness hung up his microphone. The mighty Geoff Stelling put an end to it (for real this time) and was replaced on Soccer Saturday by Simon Thomas, who took the place well and seemed to have missed out on the prospect of ending the format with Geoff. Caroline Barker fits in well too.
Martin Tyler has been replaced by Peter Drury as Sky's chief commentator, and the online peanut gallery has a new (brilliant) player to throw guns at.
A couple of experts went to the great heavenly television studio: Dickie Davis and John Motson; perhaps they were joined by El Tel, an expert expert who was ahead of his time. It's hard to imagine any broadcaster outside their specialist sport getting Motson status again, and Joey Barton sparked debate on the matter at the end of the year.
The world has lost the “voice” of BBC television; football in February 2023: John Motson died at the age of 77. Photo: Adam Davey/PA
To Barton's chagrin, 2023 has certainly been a good year for many female sports broadcasters. It is now standard practice to provide female voices in the men's Premier League, Test cricket etc. A cynic might wonder if some of the former female players might not be worth a little less, barring other, more lofty factors.< /p>< p>Channel 4 broadcast several England men's football matches; Jules Breach did a brilliant job as host, even as England fans chanted that the channel's coverage was…well, they said bad things. Laura Woods has been appointed chief presenter at TNT Sports, which has taken over ownership of BT Sport.
The mourning for BT Sport has not been widely reported. Much of the on-screen talent has been carried over, but not all: Jake Humphrey now has more time to host his High Performance podcast. Speaking of audio formats, Gary Lineker's Goalhanger podcast empire grew and grew, with The Rest Is Football topping the charts.
Perhaps Lineker believes that this way he can make money and position himself as his own boss without having to fight the BBC: in March he was at the center of a proper old ding-dong when his comments on political discourse saw him refuse to host Match day. The other presenters left sympathetically and the highlights program was cut to 20 minutes of silence. GB News have developed their own MotD and reached radioactive levels of cringe.
The BBC's other football institution, Football Focus, appears to be in hot water as current presenter Alex Scott and her predecessor Dan Walker feud in public while Question of Sport travels to the vast celestial warehouse of Pringle jerseys.
Amazon Prime's excellent tennis coverage is no more; Sky has acquired the rights to overseas tournaments. The BBC's Wimbledon programme, now without Sue Barker, was seen by many as a double mistake. Countless Telegraph Sport readers have told us they think coverage is like watching children's television; but many thought Sky Sports had a good Ryder Cup.
Eoin Morgan continued to establish himself as a high-quality cricket analyst, and Stuart Broad's dramatic retirement ensured another smart player of the recent generation had plenty of work at Sky Sports .
The retirement of Stuart Broad (second from right) this summer gives Sky Sports a new regular addition to their offering. Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
TNT's cricket coverage, although on a different budget, is off to a good start, with Sir Alastair Cook, Steve Finn and others pairing well with David Gower.
The ITV Rugby World Cup went well, but the Wilkinson-Woodward-Dallaglio-Pugach configuration seems in need of an update. ITV Racing has had a difficult year, with animal rights protesters at the Grand National becoming increasingly emboldened, and it now seems clear that telling the antis to shut up and accept that the horses are having a great time is not the winning ticket.< /p>
The oil states' continued involvement in the big sport continued, with Saudi Arabia hosting televised boxing and various useful new friends such as Rio Ferdinand and Newcastle fans fighting for the kingdom's corner.
Away from live performances, Keanu Reeves did it. Formula One documentary, Ronnie O'Sullivan became the subject of a harrowing portrait, and David Beckham became a national obsession again with his Netflix series, polarizing opinions.
And finally, perhaps most importantly. Sports television arrived when the year was only a couple of days old: Michael Smith's nine-darter in the World Cup final, when Michael van Gerwen himself missed a nine-darter double. Sensational. And you didn't need 50 reps of Var to make a decision …
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