Video Of The Week: Brighton vs Spurs – 1983

This week’s featured video is a full length episode of TVS’s “The Saturday Match” from April 1983. The main match is a critical match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur from The Goldstone Ground. Brighton were bottom of the First Division and without a home a league win since the previous December, but they were still in the FA Cup, and could have been forgiven for having one eye on their upcoming semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday. Spurs, meanwhile, were still playing for a place in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup.

The second match is between Ipswich Town and Aston Villa, two teams that had endured difficult seasons after having both won European trophies the year before. The final match sees the surprise package of the season, newly-promoted Watford, travel to West Ham United. With Liverpool almost unassailable at the top of the table, Watford were in second place in the table and finished the season there while West Ham narrowly missed out on a place in the UEFA Cup. This show also features a brief report about the disappearance of George Best, who was at the time playing for AFC Bournemouth.