Rams fans unable to attend games this season will have more opportunities to watch Paul Warne’s team on TV than ever before. From 2024/2025, over 1000 of the 1891 games across the EFL, Carabao Cup and Bristol Street Motors Trophy will be broadcast on Sky Sports with every EFL club guaranteed to be featured live at least 20 times this season. This got me thinking: when did a Derby County game first feature on TV?

Although there is footage of the Rams in action before the 1940s (for example, in 1926 at Highbury against Arsenal and in 1934 against Grimsby Town at the Baseball Ground), Derby County first appeared on national television on the BBC’s Sport Special on 17 November 1956 showing highlights of the 2-1 FA Cup first round victory at home to Bradford City. In the Derby Evening Telegraph’s match report the following Monday, Wilf Shaw’s headline read ‘Rams were mixed up: Did it easily then tried the hard way’. Derby started well with Jack Parry hitting the woodwork after 10 minute, then two minutes later took the lead when Dennis Woodhead moved inside from the right and latched on to a pass from Mays before rounding a defender and surprising Smith in the Bradford goal with a hard left foot drive. Just one minute later, Tommy Powell added a second for the Rams direct from an inswinging right-footed corner.

However after the excellent start Derby allowed the Bantams back into the game with Shaw describing Derby as putting on a display of ‘exasperating elaboration and inter-passing’ where the ‘Rams’ forwards seemed to decide that they could arrange things so that the final effort should be teed up and impossible to miss’. Eventually, Simm pulled a goal back for Bradford two minutes before the final whistle when the ‘diminutive left winger didn’t even have to jump to score with a header from a Webb corner’. 22,579 were at the Baseball Ground which was the highest attendance of the 40 cup ties.

The official programme from the fixture is the standard 16-pager with a grey cover issued at games during the Division Three North seasons of 1955/56 and 1956/57 and contain little reading material.

The BBC’s Match of the Day, now in its 60^th season, first aired on 22 August 1964 but Derby did not feature on the show until 10 April 1965 in a 2-2 draw at Northampton Town. None of the top four Division One teams were playing so Match of the Day sent their cameras to the County Ground as Town, unbeaten at home all season, needed only one win to guarantee promotion from Division Two.

Northampton took the lead in the 58^th minute when right winger Walden crossed for Don Martin to head down into the net past Colin Boulton who was playing only his second first-team game for the Rams. It wasn’t long before Derby forced themselves back into the game though. From a corner, the ball fell to Gordon Hughes inside the box and his shot was turned in by Alan Durban almost on the goal line. The Rams were not level for long as just a minute later Bob Brown ran onto a pass to score with a first-time left footed shot from outside the area to give the Cobblers the advantage again. But Derby kept going and in the 80^th minute Durban controlled a bouncing ball in the area to score from an acute angle. Although Derby could not do enough to win the game, at least Derby’s travelling supporters left with praise from Northampton police – not a single toilet roll was thrown on the pitch all afternoon.

The programme from the game is a small pocket-sized 20 page issue. It is interesting to note the warning inside that reads: ‘Spectators are warned to be aware of pickpockets at all times’.

Derby County’s first live televised game was on 11 April 1973 in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final when they were controversially defeated 3-1 by Juventus at the Stadio Comunale in Turin. The Italians took the lead in the 28^th minute, Jose Altafini running into the area on the left, controlling the ball with his right foot then immediately shooting with his left past Boulton.

But two minutes later Derby were level. Hector’s first time touch from a throw in on the left was played back into his path by O’Hare. Hector cut inside to beat a defender then fired past Zoff in the Juventus goal to score the first goal by an English side in Italy in the European Cup. Derby went into half-time level but fell behind in the 66^th minute. Juventus moved the ball around the Derby box before it was played to Causio in space who drilled a low shot into the corner. The Italians scored their third of the night in the 83^rd minute from a counter attack, Altafini netting his second after the ball was quickly played forward from a free kick in the Juventus half.

Archie Gemmill and Roy McFarland were both booked, as well as Furino for Juventus, meaning all three missed the second leg 0-0 draw at the Baseball Ground later that month.

There are three different programmes from the Turin semi-final – a London issue, Hurra Juventus magazine and a Pubbli Sport newspaper.

This article was inspired by one of the many interesting facts about the Rams in Peter Seddon’s The Little Book of Derby County.