Accessibility options

TV great Motson to make international swansong

28/06/2008 12:16

LONDON (Reuters) - The Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany in Vienna on Sunday will not only decide who is the best team in Europe -- it will also mark BBC television football commentator John Motson’s international swansong.

Famed for his sheepskin coat, obsessive statistical knowledge and the occasional commentating faux pas -- "The World Cup is a truly international event" -- Motson has decided not to go to South Africa to cover the 2010 World Cup.

"I’m coming to the end of my career, I know that," Motson told the BBC on Saturday.

"I’d been thinking about it at the start of the season, but now I’ve decided I don’t want to be tearing around South Africa for the 2010 World Cup at the age of 65.

Advertisement starts


Advertisement

Advertisement ends

"Eighteen tournaments is about right for me," added Motson, who will continue to commentate for the BBC on English domestic matches. "I don’t want to go on too long, maybe end up going to South Africa and people say I’m past my best."

(Reporting by John Joseph; Editing by Matt Falloon)

Page Footer


Access keys


You will need to use different key combinations in order to use access keys depending on your internet browser, find out which on our accessibility page.
  • (0) Navigate to Accessibility page.
  • (1) Navigate to Home page.
  • (2) Navigate to My email.
  • (3) Navigate to My Account.
  • (4) Navigate to Site Map page.
  • (5) Navigate to Contact us page.
  • (6) Navigate to Members channel.
  • (7) Navigate to Services channel.
  • (8) Navigate to News & Info channel.
  • (9) Navigate to Entertainment channel.
  • ([) Skip down to the Primary navigation block.
  • (]) Skip down to the more links within this section block.
  • (=) Bypass all navigation and jump to the content.
  • (x) Text only version of this page.