There’s no doubt that Ashton Gate has an impressive pedigree. Open for almost 150 years, the stadium has been home to Bristol City since 1904, and hosting rugby matches since the 1920s. It has also hosted an England football international. And in 1976, it was the site of a sporting innovation that entertained a whole hot and bothered nation.
It was quite a summer in the west of England. Bob Marley and The Wailers played at the Colston Hall. A powerboat grand prix was held in Bristol Docks. And the formidable West Indies cricket tourists took on Ian Botham, Brian Close, and the rest of the Somerset county side at Taunton.
The sporting innovation came in the form of a new football skills competition called All in the Game, which had been devised in part by Alan Dicks. He was then the manager of Bristol City, who had just won promotion to the First Division for the first time in more than six decades, and he had ambitious plans. “We foresee the game covering the whole of Europe,” Dicks told reporters. “And the ultimate would be a series of international contests featuring the best footballers from the continent. That is our dream.”
Eight clubs were invited to take part in the contest in Bristol over the weekend of 17 and 18 July, with preliminary games taking place on the Saturday and the conclusion on Sunday. This was in the middle of one of the hottest, driest summers on record, which had been made even less bearable lately by an invasion of ladybirds.
£5mn of talent
The weekend would be a busy one for sport, with the British Grand Prix taking place at Brands Hatch and the Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord’s. But though the weather didn’t let up, there was still a crowd of 20,000 in Ashton Gate over the two days. Entry was free, which no doubt helped, and souvenir programmes were available at a cost of 50p, which back then would comfortably buy you a pint of beer or two loaves of bread.
Bristol City had been promised £35,000 for their involvement in the series, a sum equivalent to almost a quarter of a million pounds today. And there was said to be £5mn-worth of football talent on show. The Robins’ side included promotion heroes Geoff Merrick, Gerry Sweeney, and Gerry Gow. Manchester United had a young team, while Leeds fielded established stars Billy Bremner and Peter Lorimer. But Derby were rocked on the eve of the competition when their senior players pulled out and had to be replaced by what was virtually the youth team.
The master of ceremonies would be popular World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies, while commentary would be provided by his colleague, Brian Moore. West Country model Judy Plowright was put in charge of the scoreboard, and the gong that sounded the beginning of each game would be sounded by Weston-super-Mare beauty queen, Theresa Scott. Alan Dicks himself would take charge of the judges, all local ex-referees resplendent in their maroon blazers.
Robins and Rams
What they oversaw was a festival of shooting, dribbling, passing, and heading contests that Dicks insisted was modelled on established training routines. And each match culminated in the frenzy of ‘Beat the Wall’, which saw five players from one team link arms in the goalmouth and lurch drunkenly back and forth in an attempt to stop shots fired in by their opponents.
Derby’s young side won its first-round game; Leeds, West Ham, and Wolves all found themselves heading home; and Bristol City took on Manchester United, the bookies’ favourites. The Robins ran out winners, only to be beaten themselves in the semi-final by the Rams, who Brian Moore was now calling “the surprise side of this tournament”. They would meet the Canaries in the final, after Norwich beat Hearts in the other semi-final.
All of this was broadcast on ITV from 21 July, in seven 30-minute programmes. HTV showed the first episode that very evening, up against an Elvis Presley documentary on BBC1 and a dressmaking programme on BBC2, and the TV Times was enthusiastic. “Football fever’s rising,” it said.
Everything culminated in a final shown across the country on Friday 3 September 1976. The ladybirds had disappeared by then, rain had finally begun falling, and children were getting ready to go back to school. Viewers were once again treated to the sight of Dickie Davies, wearing a fawn-coloured leisure suit. “There’s a very definite buzz around Ashton Gate, Bristol this evening,” he said at the top of the programme, “because the final of this brand-new soccer game is just minutes away.”
High hopes
Of the two finalists, Norwich were much the more experienced, but they succumbed to the youthful Derby side, whose prize was a cheque for the equivalent of almost £14,000. As one of the beaten semi-finalists, meanwhile, Bristol City received a prize worth around £3,500.
The programme turned out to be a hit with viewers, serving as it did as a bridge between two football seasons. A follow-up was recorded at Ashton Gate the next summer and broadcast in the autumn. But the second series would prove to be the last.
Bristol City would play in the First Division for four seasons, before being relegated to the Second Division, and then the Third. The stadium would continue to host their matches, alongside internationals and rugby matches, and concerts by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Elton John, The Who, and Neil Diamond.
Back in 1976, hopes had, of course, been high. “We know the Americans are interested in All in the Game,” Brian Moore told the press. “We could finish up with worldwide coverage.” There was talk of a book based on the series, and even a board game. But none of that would ever come to pass.
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