NI v Denmark(20/11/2023)

After a bruising encounter with Uruguay in 1964, Rosser had to ask a fired-up Johnny Crossan to stop pounding the table with his fist. Crossan had just netted two superb goals in the 3-0 rout of the South Americans. Before our game against the newly crowned world champions in 1966, Rosser interviewed their manager, the rather stilted Alf Ramsey. Ronald signed off the interview with the quip: “Well, good luck, Mr Ramsey, and may the best team in green win.” Ramsay was baffled by Rosser’s wit and solemnly agreed with his tormentor; England won 2-0. In 1968 Rosser did the radio commentary on a 4-1 defeat of Turkey and could not resist the mischievous comment: “It was the magical skills of George Best that knocked the stuffing out of the turkey.” All of us fans loved Ronald Rosser. Of course we often disagreed with his interpretation of events on the field and we frequently mocked his cliché-ridden comments, but we knew his heart was in the right place. He loved the game and hated to see our heroes lose. The broadcasting of football has changed greatly over the years. Television is king now and every game is neatly packaged with slow motion replays and pitchside interviews and gangs of ‘experts’ back in the studio analysing every detail of tactics and skills. But please forgive this old timer for being nostalgic about those more innocent and naïve times when the game was somehow more magical and the warm, welcoming voice of Ronald Rosser encouraged us to feast our imaginations on the word-pictures he was painting. Yes, the best pictures are on the radio – and in your head!

It was always switched on and entered the very depths of our consciousness. After all, the best pictures are the ones on the radio! On Saturday evenings, as the sausages sizzled in my mother’s frying pan, the sports results and match reports grabbed my youthful attention and I became aware that football was truly the greatest drama on earth. The signature tune to this programme was always a brass band playing a march, reminding us of the bands who played on the pitch before big matches to keep the crowds entertained. As the music faded, a warm voice with a mixture of authority and humour welcomed us to a feast of information about games played on muddy pitches with a heavy leather ball and the daring football exploits of such living legends in baggy shorts as Jackie Milburn of Linfield, Trevor Thompson of Glentoran and Jimmy Jones of Glenavon. That warm, welcoming voice belonged to Ronald Rosser, a Lurgan solicitor who was obviously granted time off from his day job to ‘moonlight’ as the voice of football for so many of us fitba crazy fans. He also provided us with radio commentaries on the big games. As yet another wild shot ballooned over the crossbar, he would proudly pronounce the cliché “that one was high, wide and handsome”! Ronald Rosser’s post-match studio interviews were memorable for his ability to get to the heart of the matter. I recall a riled Danny Blanchflower in 1959, still smarting after a defeat, blurting out: “The reason why we lost out there today, Ronald, is that Scotland scored four goals and we didn’t score any.”

IRISHFA.COM

45