| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maurice Edelston[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 27 April 1918 | ||
| Place of birth | Hull, England | ||
| Date of death | 30 January 1976(1976-01-30) (aged 57)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Tilehurst, England[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1935–1937 | Fulham | 3 | (0) |
| Wimbledon | |||
| 1937–1938 | Brentford | 21 | (6) |
| Corinthian | |||
| 1939–1952 | Reading | 205 | (72) |
| 1952–1953 | Northampton Town | 40 | (17) |
| International career | |||
| 1936 | Great Britain | 2 | (0) |
| 1937–1947 | England Amateurs | 8 | (7) |
| 1941–1942 | England (wartime) | 5 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Maurice Edelston (27 April 1918 – 30 January 1976)[2] was an Englishfootballer, who later became asports commentator.[3] Born inHull, England,[1] he was son of theHull City footballerJoe Edelston.[3] At the age of 18, he played in the football tournament in the1936 Berlin Olympics forGreat Britain.[4]
Edelston playedleague football withFulham andBrentford (following his father,Joe Edelston, then a coach, to both clubs),non-league football withWimbledon andCorinthian and in April 1939 he joinedReading (where his father was manager) and played for them successfully as aninside forward until 1952.[3] At international level, he representedGreat Britain at the1936 Summer Olympics, scored seven goals in eight games forEngland Amateurs and won fivewartime caps forEngland.[5] He finished his playing career atNorthampton Town in 1953.[6]
Around the late 1950s he went into broadcasting and was a regularBBC radio commentator by 1960. During the 1960s he also commentated forBBC television andSouthern Television. Although most of his commentaries were on football, he also coveredtennis, especiallyWimbledon.
He was a summariser on England's1966 FIFA World Cup victory[1] as well as theFA Cup Final in 1967 and 1968. He commentated on the event from 1969 to 1975. He reached his peak around the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he was broadcasting almost every week, coveringEuropean finals and England matches, as well as a number of league title deciders (Arsenal's victory atTottenham Hotspur in 1971, andWolves' defeat ofLeeds which handed the title toDerby County in 1972). He also co-wrote the booksMasters of Soccer andWickets, Tries and Goals.
By the mid-1970s, his career was somewhat in decline as the emergence ofAlan Parry was denying him the chance to commentate on matches such as England vsScotland in 1975, and the controversialEuropean Cup final in whichBayern Munich beat Leeds United four days later. However, he continued to cover tennis during the summer of 1975 and was still broadcasting regularly when he died suddenly from aheart attack inTilehurst on 30 January 1976,[7] aged 57.[1]
A library at theReading Blue Coat School is named after him,[8] as is an award that Reading present to the outstanding schoolboy in theirAcademy.[9]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
