Jeff Stelling slams ITV for what they did after West Brom v Wolves trouble at The Hawthorns
Jeff Stelling has slammed ITV for their coverage of the crowd trouble during the FA Cup clash between West Brom and Wolves at The Hawthorns on 28 January.
While we were informed of issues in the crowd, the TV cameras quickly changed to a wide shot of the centre circle so viewers were unable to see what was happening in the corner.
They may not have been able to show the details, but images emerged of bloodied fans and images of that end were not pretty. In the middle of the day on prime-time TV, it’s clear why they couldn’t be shown.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [29 January, 06:15], Stelling explained: “We’re talking about what went on, but if you were watching the ITV coverage, and I understand why, you didn’t have a clue really what was going on.
“You just knew there was some trouble. Mark Pougatch did manfully in explaining what was happening, but I’m not sure about having the cameras just sitting on a wide shot of the other end of the ground.
“You had no clue how serious or otherwise the events were. I’m not saying we want to see everything in gruesome detail, but maybe just a wide shot to show the police presence and the fact there was something going on.”
Shocking scenes
To an extent, you can see where Stelling is coming from. Not showing any images of that end of the ground during the issue would only lead to speculation about what was going on at a time when clarity was most important.
Sam Matterface, who was commentating on the game, as well as Pougatch, did their best to describe the scenes to give viewers an understanding on the events unfolding at The Hawthorns without the images being necessary.
However, it has to be assumed that there would have been young children watching given the time of day and the fact it was free to air on ITV, and some of the images emerging after the game were not the sort you would want your children to see.
It’s a difficult one to assess, but ITV probably did the best they could given the circumstances and taking all avenues into consideration. Anybody who wanted to see what was going on was able to via social media anyway.
In other West Brom news, Sam Matterface shared his thoughts live during the game.
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