BBC presenter Dan Walker speaks out against “organised brutality” against England fans at Euro 2016
As supporters come to terms with Russia’s last-minute equaliser questions are asked of UEFA – and ITV
Football Focus and BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker has called on the footballing authorities to act against what he called the “organised brutality” at the end of last night’s England v Russia game.
At the close of the match a horde of Russian fans appeared to attack England supporters in the stands and Walker believes the sport’s governing body must act.
He tweeted:
After the final whistle, the scenes in the stands were not shown by ITV which aired punditry from the studio and on the field between Glenn Hoddle and Jacqui Oatley. It was an editorial decision which was criticised in some quarters.
Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy said:
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Many agreed with him:
An ITV spokesman defended the channel's coverage.
"Our team were focused on covering the game but once we became aware of the incidents which occurred after the match in part of the stadium and were able to source footage, it was incumbent upon us as responsible broadcasters to establish as clearly as possible a picture of what had occurred to enable us to reference it and show the footage in as accurate and fair a way as possible, which we did in the appropriate way at the earliest opportunity during last night's match coverage broadcast."
An ITV source pointed out that UEFA control the live feed of the match that goes to all broadcasters, so the production team was reliant on getting footage from them. According to the source, ITV's only option was to source some film from one of its isolated cameras, which had recorded the overhead shot of some of the incident. This was eventually broadcast.
As for the on-field action, England were left scratching their heads after dominating large parts of the game and opening the scoring with a wonder strike from Spurs' Eric Dier before conceding an equaliser in injury time.
But all is not lost according to Match of the Day host Gary Lineker:
