Kieran Shannon: Fifa diktat means times they are a changing

In almost every sport over the last decade we’ve become accustomed to seeing a considerably greater amount of added time and greater measures to tackle any wasting of time

CONTROVERSY: Paulo Bento, head coach of Korea Republic, is shown a red card by referee Anthony Taylor after the World Cup Group H match against Ghana. There was controversy after Taylor blew for full time after ten minutes of added time. Pic: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

When BBC last August contentiously discontinued its custom of reading out the classified results on Saturdays at five o’clock, one of the reasons cited was that it was eating into their coverage and build-up of another Premier League match starting at 5.30pm.

And so it was farewell to those distinctive intonations famously established by James Alexander Gordon. With everyone now able to follow every goal and almost every kick on their iPhones, Sports Report invariably had to go the same way as the pink pages. By virtue of the Beeb’s powers-that-be opting to be as pragmatic as George Graham in his pomp there could be only one result: Modernity and the 5.30pm game 1, Tradition and five o’clock Nil.