Former ITV commentator Gerry Harrison has died at the age of 89.
He was a familiar face to many a household across three decades between the 1970s to 1990s as he fronted coverage for Anglia TV’s Match of the Week but also ITV Sport.
It was the former where he will be most fondly remembered. During that time he chronicled Ipswich Town’s fortunes under Sir Bobby Robson when the team won the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981.
Aside from the Tractor Boys, he also covered their bitter rivals Norwich City as well as matches involving Cambridge United, Luton Town, Peterborough United, Northampton Town, Colchester United and Southend United.
On top of club football, Harrison reported on seven World Cups – with the first of those being the 1970 edition in Mexico.
It wasn’t just football though he led, with Harrison’s motorsport show called Wheels being attributed to allowing other sports considerable airtime on terrestrial TV.
Former sports commentator Gerry Harrison has died at the age of 89
Harrison fronted coverage for Anglia TV’s Match of the Week between the 1970s, 80s and 90s
Harrison’s time covering East Anglian football including seeing Ipswich win the 1981 UEFA Cup
Harrison’s legacy lives on to this day. After leaving Anglia in the early 1990s he helped production company IMG start its involvement in football, which subsequently helped structure the way the Premier League was covered.
Tributes have poured in for Harrison following the news of his death.
Tony Jones, his former colleague at ITV News Anglia, labelled him as an inspirational figure.
‘He gave me my first job in television back in 1982 with Anglia,’ remembered Jones.
‘And I don’t think I’m alone in saying he was an inspirational figure because I spoke to so many producers and directors and people within the TV business who said that they’ve learnt so much from him.
‘He always set the highest possible standards.
‘People will remember him in the Anglia region as a commentator and the presenter of About Anglia, as it was in those days, as a sports presenter – but beyond that he had a great ability to write so well for TV.
‘If you ever sat down and saw one of his scripts you would think ‘Who on earth is going to make sense of that?’ but the way in which he wrote to pictures and the way which he could deliver those scripts put him on a different level.
‘He was such a strong figure within the television industry.’
ITV Sport are planning a tribute to Harrison, who covered seven World Cups, on Wednesday
Fellow sports commentator Ian Darke wrote on X: ‘Very sad to hear of the death of Gerry Harrison, terrific ITV football commentator and later colleague working on shows like Premier League World.
‘Always very affable and professional. Pleasure to work with and a big loss. RIP Gerry.’
Former colleague Stuart Jarrold said of the late Harrison: ‘He was the voice of East Anglian football for years and he was a consummate professional.
‘A fantastic chap to work with and a thoroughly decent bloke.
‘He got on well with everybody. I never, in nearly 10 years of working with him, ever had cross word.
‘He was so diligent in his preparation that he made commentating sound easy.
‘It isn’t, but he did all his research and he was a thoroughly lovely, lovely chap.’
ITV Sport are planning a tribute to Harrison in its broadcast of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup broadcast between Grimsby Town versus Manchester United.
