Estadio Centenario

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo.
A super stadium purpose built for the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
The stands commemorated the triumphs of Uruguay's Golden Decade (Amsterdam, Colombes, Olympic).
Originally the plan was to hold all 18 matches at Estadio Centenario, but in the event games were also played at Estadio Gran Parque Central and Estadio Pocitos. Centenario hosted 10 games, which yielded 44 goals.
The stadium was capable of accommodating 90,000 spectators. The official attendance for the final was 68,346, 11,500 less than attended the semi final of Uruguay vs Yugoslavia.
The diagram has the pitch divided into squares as a means of helping radio listeners keep track of where the action was (a system pioneered by BBC commentators). 

Radio, 1922

What is this man up to?

His name is Claudio Sapelli and he is transmitting a radio broadcast of the 1922 South American Championship of Nations. 

Sapelli was stationed on the roof of the La Plata newspaper offices in Montevideo. As a teletype account of the matches was received from Rio de Janeiro megaphone announcements would be made to the crowd below and  Sapelli would relay the updates via radio.

He would have reached a limited audience as there were just 75 radio receivers in the whole of Uruguay.  

A 0-0 draw with eventual winners Brazil and a 1-0 defeat to Paraguay saw Uruguay finish in 3rd place. 

The Father of English Football

Hardeep Singh Kohli looks at the work of Ebenezer Morley and the founding of the Football Association. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03dvn10/

Football on the wireless...

This cutting previews the 1928 FA Cup Final, a 'Roses' affair between Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town, which Blackburn won 3–1. The host has thoughtfully provided a squared diagram of the pitch a la Radio Times to enable the listeners to identify where play was taking place.

Football on the Radio

The first match to be broadcast on the radio was Arsenal v Sheffield United on January 22nd 1927.
Mr. H.B.T. Wakelam and Mr. C.A. Lewis provided the commentary.
The above shows front page of that week's Radio Times. The diagram was devised to allow the listeners to follow where the ball was on the pitch (a commentator, on this occasion Mr Lewis, would say in which square the action was taking place).  It has been suggested that this was the origin of the phrase ‘back to square one’. The match finished 1-1 .