When the golden goal went in, 60 per cent of the entire television audience was watching. The menfolk of the other 40 per cent were probably seeing it down the pub.The game's popularity was hardly a surprise, following on so quickly from the excellent climax to the FA Cup final and promising an historic cup Treble. Far from causing any envy among rival television channels, the figures would have sounded like music to ITV and Sky in particular because they plan to let loose the biggest bombardment of televised football the world has ever seen.The schedules for next season were revealed in our sister paper, the Independent, yesterday and show that live matches featuring British teams will be available every day of every week. Up to 10 broadcasters will be involved in shovelling the football on to our screens. Not all of it, but enough, will be on terrestrial TV and the rest will either be available on subscription channels or on a pay-per-view basis.
It could cost the avid fan a fortune.In between the matches will be magazine programmes, including ITV's version of Match of the Day which they are thinking of showing at 6pm on Saturday The rest may be over-kill but that could be suicide.. Audley Harrison finally took off his amateur vest last night but it revealed nothing but his torso. Predictably, the Olympic super-heavyweight champion, making his professional debut almost eight months after his stunning success in Sydney, won in a first-round farce when his hope- lessly inadequate American opponent Michael Middleton was stopped after just 2min 45sec. So, a night when the BBC bade farewell to Match of the Day greeted their return to live prime time boxing with the mismatch of the day. Audley Harrison finally took off his amateur vest last night but it revealed nothing but his torso.
Predictably, the Olympic super-heavyweight champion, making his professional debut almost eight months after his stunning success in Sydney, won in a first-round farce when his hope- lessly inadequate American opponent Michael Middleton was stopped after just 2min 45sec. So, a night when the BBC bade farewell to Match of the Day greeted their return to live prime time boxing with the mismatch of the day. It was no more than we could have expected and perhaps no more than the thoroughly oversold occasion deserved. "It's a joke,'' yelled one aggrieved fan behind me as the 33-year-old Middleton, the ex-kick boxer and Gulf War veteran from Florida turned private eye, floundered then folded in his own corner under a barrage of punches from the London southpaw.The last of these was a glancing right hand which sent him slumping down, though not quite out. He had one arm hooked around a rope and managed to lever himself up at nine only for the referee, Dave Parris, to peer into his eyes and call a halt. Middleton pounded his chest in protest, the only blows he had landed.In fairness to Harrison he did all that could be expected of him against an opponent who seemed to be the one who had just stepped from the amateur ranks. Middleton's bull-like rushes were easily jabbed aside and the American was so unprepared he even neglected to start with his gum shield.
