BBC scrapping classified football results 'disappointing,' says blind listener

A County Down man, who is registered blind, has said a BBC decision to scrap Radio 5 Live's classified football results is "extremely disappointing".

Ken Carson, 57, from Bangor in County Down, is an avid radio listener.

The classified football results list all football results across the English and Scottish leagues and has been on every Saturday at 17:00 BST during each football season since the 1950s.

The BBC has said it would still offer goal updates throughout the day on air.

"With the addition of the 5.30pm live Premier League match to our coverage, Sports Report has been condensed into a shorter programme," the BBC said.

A huge football fan, Mr Carson relies on listening to the classified results for the scores of his beloved Rangers Football Club, historic rivals Celtic FC and his daughter's favourite team West Bromwich Albion.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme, Mr Carson said the decision would affect many people who tuned in.

"Being registered blind, and a few weeks ago I had a significant drop in my sight loss where I am now almost totally blind and I now rely on audio for a lot of things," he told BBC's Evening Extra programme.

"It's extremely disappointing. It's more than disappointing, it's quite upsetting for an awful lot of people who would be listening," he added.

He said that when he heard the news he "couldn't get his head around it".

A charity representing sight loss has also urged the corporation to reconsider the move.

David Clarke, chief operating officer from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) said the organisation was disappointed.

"Our research highlights that people with sight loss are twice as likely to be digitally excluded when compared to the general population," he said.

Mr Clarke, who is a former blind footballer for England, also questioned whether the BBC considered how blind people may have been affected.

"We hope it may yet be possible to find a solution," he said.

The BBC said it would still offer goal updates throughout the day on air.

The BBC said that the results were taking up too much time within the programme, meaning other sports got less coverage.

It added that premier league games kicking off at 17:30 BST was also a contributing factor.

Mr Carson said there was a lot of nostalgia and tradition around the results.

"There's a traditional thing attached, I'm from the James Alexander Gordon days in the past, I know football has changed in terms of different TV kick-offs but when you look at 15:00 on a Saturday there is a vast amount of matches.

"There's been a 17:30 kick-off in the premier league for years now so why now decide to make a decision?"

The BBC said fans can still keep across the results on the BBC Sport website and Final Score on BBC One.

However, while there are accessible services provided by the BBC, Mr Carson said some people simply do not have access to technology.

"There's a huge amount of the community who aren't really into the technology and many don't have the equipment to get online, and being visually impaired, it's actually very difficult to operate."

"The BBC have to realise there's a huge amount of the community who don't have online access, so please reverse this decision."