THE BBC digital version of ceefax IS rubbish for nonleague football step2 and 3 [conference north and northern premier] .

itv teletext gave us results, tables and fixtures for step2 and 3 and was a useful resource.
I always have problems getting info for these leagues as they lie BETWEEN the "big" leagues (conference national and above have info on 302) AND the "little" leagues (unibond north and below appear on 3930 or 399)

The best thing about Teletext's football news was an immediacy the BBC's Ceefax could never really match. Any developments on club, manager or player were followed up so quickly that the Beeb was still left standing at the first hurdle. A speculation on a player transfer, for example, could be resolved in a day by Teletext while Ceefax still couldn't follow up the story and left it to become stale.

The drawback of ITV Teletext? Its 'Footy-Chat' pages where texts about the game quickly became annoying pissing contests between moron fans of the big clubs, who could challenge the goodwill of anyone by indulging in boring historical oneupmanship arguments, dragging out their 'honours and trophies' enmities until they bored the teeth off everyone else. This daily 'my dad's car's bigger than your dad's car' approach to football discourse was a pain in the arse and its end can be seen as a side-benefit of Teletext's demise, terminating a platform for some people's bumpkin views on football.

Even a cloud has its silver lining.

"refusing to embracing the modern innovations which some feel could improve the game."

Key word there is "some". I'm not convinced that video refs etc will improve the game.

Loved the references to TeamTalk phonelines though. I'd almost forgotten about them.

The thing about teletext (or ceefax) was that often results pages scrolled through incredibly slowly. So there was always that added bit of tension as you waited for your club to come up. Half the thrill was the agonising mixture of hope and fear.

I saw that Teletext was going but assumed this was just for analogue TV and didn't realise it would cover digital as well. As mentioned, it is a right old hassle to get the lap top powered up and then look at the scores while still watching the TV.
The BBC digital service is a very poor relative of CEEFAX. I remember summer holidays spent looking at page 312 (news in brief) seeing if there was any mention of Norwich or Lincoln and the joy when a line or two popped up relating to them.

It was my saviour earlier this season - wrote bout it here:

http://keepfighting.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/communication-breakdown/

Page the Oracle - and listen to commentary on Club Call hoping yr ma wouldn't twig why the phone bill was so high in the days before itemised bills. Interactive text is a pain in the arse - takes so long to load up

When I moved to Canada in 1996, the biggest cultural shock for me wasn't food, people or anything... It was that they had NOTHING like Ceefax and Teletext! I felt absolutely lost without it.

I remember following Nigel Mansell's Indycar career via Ceefax as it was the only way to get the race results.

Sad to see it go.

THE BBC digital version of ceefax IS rubbish, full stop.

Any system that splits a cricket scoreboard over 2 pages for the sake of style has lost the plot.

(Maybe I should state an interest - I used to be gainfully employed developing software for analogue teletext systems - but even so...)

Ah Teletext and Ceefax. So many happy memories of following Blackburn over the years via both services.

My best memory is when they let us down. My girlfriend and I sat up till 2am, refreshing like mad one transfer deadline night, praying to see that Dwight Yorke had indeed been transferred out of Rovers so we'd never have to see his big grin after failing to run for the ball again. Despite our best efforts neither Teletext or Ceefax came up with the goods that night and we had to wait till morning for the great news to ring through the land via the paper.

Ceefax often came up with a gem or two of injury news, such as the time it reported Dominic Matteo was having the juice from turkeys necks injected into his knees. Blackburn then of course rushed out to sign him.

In more recent years I've happily reached for the laptop to keep up to date via BBC's brilliant football hub with its many live commentaries, gossip page, easily selectable tables etc.

But well done Ceefax and Teletext for showing the way for so many years...you did a grand job and were very much loved.

One (very) quiet Sunday I followed a complete Warwickshire game on Ceefax. Dominic Ostler got some runs I think.

"Yes, we have no Bamboozle, We have-a no Bamboozle today."

From the show "How'r Oldham doin"