The Historic Debut: Valencia’s First Appearance on Television in 1963

It happened on the afternoon of Sunday, January 20, 1963. For the first time, Valencia was going to be seen on television. In La Romareda they faced Zaragoza in a match corresponding to matchday 17. The broadcast of the match was scheduled for 7 p.m. An event that raised tremendous expectations but ended with a bad result. The locals won 1-0 and Ricardo Zamora, the Valencian goalkeeper, was the great figure of a vibrant match. The visitors, led by Scopelli, were left without scoring.

There were not many television sets at that time in Valencia, but those who had one were accompanied by friends, acquaintances and family that day. Nobody wanted to miss it. That season, 62-63, marked a milestone since Spanish Television – the only one in existence – included the broadcast of live league matches in its programming as a great novelty. Valencia had the privilege of participating in the premiere. The meeting in the Aragonese capital was the one that opened the new stage. Previously, some transmissions had been carried out in isolation. Since the late 1950s, some international club and national team matches were offered, as well as important clashes, both in the League and the Cup final. The Chile 62 World Cup matches were scheduled on a delayed basis. However, audience success was assured.

The emergence of television on football fields generated reservations among those in charge of the clubs as they considered that it could constitute a serious threat to spectator attendance at the fields. The teams depended financially on revenue from games and season tickets. An agreement was signed in early 1963 with the purpose of regularizing the relationship. In addition to Valencia’s match in Zaragoza, eight more were scheduled until the end of the league campaign, among which was another one for the Mestalla team, this time at home, the first in history. It was the confrontation between Valencia and Barcelona, ​​held on March 10, and which ended with a 0-3 visitor victory.

The Sunday game was the one that closed the day and the start time was set between seven and eight. There were not televised matches every day, but with the passage of time the custom was established. Starting with the 1966 World Cup in England, the first that could be followed live, it was common for League matches to be televised almost every day. In the Valencian club they began to think that with the TV they suffered a jinx because defeat was certain. This was declared by a superstitious Zamora on the eve of the match with Barça at the Camp Nou in 64-65 that was going to be seen on the small screen. The goalkeeper remembered the antecedents: two 4-2 defeats in that same year, in Mestalla with Barça and in La Romareda. The duel with the Catalan team ended with another defeat, this time 2-0.

In the following season, Valencianism was finally able to enjoy a convincing performance by its team that beat UD Las Palmas 4-0 in a televised duel. In the 66-67 campaign, the first title was won: the Cup final played against Athletic Bilbao with goals from Jara and Paquito and the first regional rivalry duel, as the confrontations between Valencian teams were called at that time. . Elche-Valencia was televised from Altabix, which ended without goals. The choice of matches depended on TVE, although the clubs tried to avoid including the highest-grossing matches of the season.

The following decade began with the achievement of the League in the 70-71 campaign. Valencia became the fashionable team and appeared on the small screen for the first time in the Balaídos duel with a narrow defeat that broke Abelardo’s unbeaten streak of seven games in a row. From Mestalla there were two matches that ended with victory, by the minimum against Granada, and by a landslide against Athletic. A week before beating the Bilbao team 4-0, the most disappointing defeat could be seen on the small screen: 3-0 against Atlético. A few months later, in the summer of 1971, Valencia could be seen for the first time in continental competitions in the European Cup qualifiers against US Luxembourg and Hajduk Split.

2023-10-13 22:57:56
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