Much of Kelly Somers’ career may be spent in front of a TV camera at football matches but she doesn’t usually pull out her mobile phone and start shooting her own videos. She made something of an exception last month though, and now has her own footage to supplement her memories of a game that has gone down in history.
The Watford-born sports presenter and reporter was part of the BBC TV team at the World Cup final. Having broadcast pre-match with Alex Scott pitchside in the Lusail Stadium, they took their seats to watch an extraordinary game unfold as Argentina beat holders France on penalties following a dramatic 3-3 draw.
Asked about the experience of covering a World Cup final, Kelly responded: “That wasn’t any World Cup final though, was it!
“When England went out I felt really flat, some of my crew went home and the games were getting fewer. The semi-finals were still brilliant but it was all geared up to Lionel Messi, is he going to win this World Cup? And not only did Lionel Messi win the World Cup but he won the World Cup in the most extraordinary circumstances, one of the best games you’ve ever seen.”
Read more: Kelly's journey from Watford to the World Cup
The Watford fan smiled: “I’m still not sure if it rivals Deeney, Almunia and co – maybe I had a little bit more emotional investment that day – but it was incredible, it’s going to be talked about for years and I was there to see a little part of history.
“I’d already reported at that stadium - it’s huge. The sheer size of it is quite something when you walk in. When you came out of the mouth in the corner of the stadium to go pitch side there were so many broadcasters from around the world, hundreds of them and hundreds of photographers and you did get that ‘wow, the magnitude of this is quite big’ moment. It was not dissimilar to the Euros last summer, but this stadium just felt so big.
“I don’t video much but I did video bits of that game because I wanted to remember my view, what it felt like and how I saw that game. It wasn’t a very me thing to do but it just felt, in that moment, this is a moment in history.”
Although she had the privilege and experience of working at the final, the former Parmiter’s School pupil had travelled to Qatar to be the England reporter for BBC TV, a role she first performed at the European Championships in 2021 and built on with Channel 4 during the Nations League.
England’s journey at a major tournament again ended in disappointment, but Kelly admitted she found the quarter-final exit to France harder to deal with than the penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy in the final of the Euros at Wembley.
She said: “It was an incredible experience in terms of following the England team again. It is always the biggest privilege. There were a few different faces but the ethos and everything around them was the same. It just felt all very sad when they went out.
“I found it even sadder and harder to take almost than when they lost the final to Italy. At least they got to the final, but this time it felt like there was still more to come.”
Reflecting on the nature of England’s exit – a 2-1 defeat after Harry Kane had missed a penalty to send the tie to extra-time – and another missed opportunity at a major tournament, Kelly responded: “Yes, but we keep talking about missed opportunities with England, don’t we.
“I think what it shows is to win a World Cup you need to be a very good team, you need to have a bit of nous and you also need a bit of luck. It’s not always the best team that wins the tournament. Argentina deserved to win it for me, I thought they were the best team there but were they head and shoulders above the rest? I don’t think so. I think they were probably a Lionel Messi, maybe an in-form Julian Alvarez…there wasn’t a great deal between them.
“So yes, in that way it feels like a missed opportunity in the same way that not beating an ageing Italy side and we’ve seen the struggles they had after, but this World Cup did feel bonkers. There were so many crazy things that happened that it doesn’t surprise me when I look back that’s the way England went out.
“A big thing for me was everyone was saying 'oh, Harry Kane missed the penalty'. Yes, Harry Kane missed the penalty but there were no guarantees we’d have won that in extra time. Yes, momentum would have swung in our favour but Harry Kane did not completely cost us. It wasn’t a winning penalty; it was a penalty to send us to extra time and as we saw in other extra times, such as the final, anything can happen.
“It just felt cruel to be him. He doesn’t let England down. He had the courage to take a penalty twice against someone he knows well [Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris]. In that most pressure of all pressure situations he didn’t let England down for me, it’s just part of football. He doesn’t miss often. It’s just really unfortunate it was that one he did miss.”
Following England’s exit, Kelly had to interview Gareth Southgate. And with the speculation about his future – speculation he has since ended by agreeing to remain as England boss – she feared it may be the last time she would speak to him in that capacity.
“It’s a tough interview anyway,” she said. “They’re always horrible after a loss, they’re always doubly horrible when they’ve just gone out of a tournament.
"As I got to that last question with him, I knew had to ask it but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want him to go and I know there’s some divided opinion on this, but it did feel like during the tournament the nature of the performances, the way England attacked the games, the way some of the young players flourished, the way they worked as a unit and everything just felt like it was in harmony. And Gareth Southgate is such a big part of that. If he went it would have felt like he was leaving them, like he was leaving something he’s built.
“You didn’t get any sense that the players wanted him to go, genuinely. Sometimes you can get undertones, but players were looking you in the eye telling you they wanted Gareth Southgate to stay.
“I could feel as he walked off I wanted to say to him ‘please don’t go’. Obviously I never would but I thought in my head ‘I really hope this isn’t the last time I speak to you’. But as he walked off I shook his hand again and said: ‘Gareth, thank you for everything. It’s been brilliant. Hopefully see you soon’.
“I was really pleased that he took the decision very quickly to end the speculation, I hope he’s made peace with it and I hope he’s revved up and ready to go again in March because it feels like England, as a nation, feel there was unfinished business in December.”
When the presenter of the BBC Women’s Football Show spoke to the Watford Observer prior to the World Cup, she was acutely aware the tournament would be played in a context unlike any other because of the controversy that had enveloped it ever since the tiny state was awarded the event.
Qatar’s human rights record and outlawing homosexuality was thrust back into the spotlight in the opening days of the tournament when plans for Kane and other team captains to wear the One Love armband in support of LGBTQ+ communities were shelved after FIFA said it would impose sporting sanctions on players who wore them.
The armband was seen on TV at England’s opening game against Iran though, as former Arsenal star Scott proudly wore one while presenting pitchside with Kelly.
“Firstly, huge credit to Alex for doing it,” Kelly said. “She’s an inspirational, brave person - she stands up for what she believes in and uses her platform well.
“Her action said more than any words I could say - I asked Gareth Southgate in my pre-match interview why Harry Kane decided not to wear the armband, and then to see Alex wearing it shortly after was a powerful image.”
Much had been said and written about Qatar in the build-up to the World Cup but what is this small desert state really like?
“Hot!” Kelly replied. “A lot was said about the heat, it was quite surreal to be in a place as hot as that when it was snowing at home. But equally the air con was quite something too - the stadiums were so cold! England’s opening game was at 1pm local time, so the hottest time of the day and I was in a jumpsuit with a short sleeve and freezing.
“It was a unique World Cup in terms of being in one city - it did mean arriving at stadiums earlier to avoid traffic, but it also had its benefits. You’ll have heard the stories about people taking in more than on game in a day, and it certainly made everything more accessible and easy to get around. Usually a lot of my time would be spent travelling, but no journey was longer than an hour.
“I was there to work, and was at the England training ground, or games, pretty much every day - I wasn’t there as a tourist so didn’t see as much as others. But it was well set up for what we needed - restaurants, shops - and the concerns about it being hard to get alcohol were also found to be extreme. The stadiums were also impressive.
“Whenever there are World Cups, host countries work hard to make it comfortable for those visiting and Qatar was no different. I do wonder what seeing Qatar in a non-World Cup environment would be like, though.”
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