Thursday 6 August 2015

195 The Sporting Superstars


First  watched  :  Uncertain

The  Sporting  Superstars  ( later  just  Superstars )  was  first  broadcast  on  New  Year's  Eve  1973.  The  format  was  simple, a  group  of  sportsmen  from  different  fields  competed  against  each  other  in  a  series  of  sporting  events  and  awarded  points  according  to  their  position  in  each  one  to  find  an  overall  champion. The  stars  were  not  allowed  to  compete  in  their  own  discipline  and  some  handicapping  was  applied. David  Vine  claims  he  first  came  up  with  the  idea  at  a  dinner  with  Ron  Pickering, Don  Revie  and  Billy  Bremner  but  the  BBC  rejected  it  and  then  bought  the  rights to  the  same  idea  from  an  American  , Dick  Button.

The  first  champion  was  athlete  David  Hemery  in  1973.  The  show  became  very  popular  with  European  and   World  versions   following  in  due  course  and  some  of  the  winners  like  athlete  Lyn  Davies  and  judo  man  Brian  Jacks  became  much  more  famous  for  being   Superstars  champions   than  for  achievements  in  their  own  sport.

The   show's  most  famous  moment  of  course  was  football's  golden  boy   Kevin  Keegan  coming  off  his  bike  in  the  European  event   in  1976  , ripping  half  his  back  off ,  then  getting  back  on  and  winning  the  re-ride.  Bjorn  Borg  was  also  competing  in  that  event. It  just  goes  to  show  how  professional  sport  has  evolved   in  the  intervening  years. The  very  idea  of  insurance  companies  allowing  Gareth  Bale  , Novak  Djokovic  or  anyone  else  from  the  big  money  sports  to  take  part  in  a  risky  television  competition  is  now  preposterous.  And  that's  what  eventually  did  for  the  show. As  the  big  names  dropped  out,  the  ratings  understandably  fell   and  it  was  cancelled  in  1985.

There  have  been  brief  revivals  this  century  usually  featuring  the  recently-retired. The  most  substantial  was  an  eight  part  series  on  Five  in  2008  with  Jim  Rosenthal  and  Sharron  Davies.

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