Mervyn Hall earns SVG Europe Appreciation Award
During the FutureSport 2016 summit held at Chelsea FC on November 30, outgoing All-England Lawn
Incoming AELTC broadcast head Paul Davies (left) and outgoing chief Mervyn Hall at FutureSport, November 30
Tennis Club Head of Broadcast & Production Mervyn Hall was presented with a special SVG Europe Appreciation Award, announced by SVG Editorial Director Ken Kerschbaumer and presented on stage by incoming AELTC broadcast chief Paul Davies.
As AELTC Head of Broadcast, Mervyn Hall has been integral to the fabric of the Wimbledon championships since 2002 – a period that has witnessed very significant changes to, and expansion of, the tournament’s broadcast coverage. In December last year it was announced that the 2016 championships would be his last. Whilst the Wimbledon association inevitably looms large over any resume of his achievements, Hall’s career stretches back over nearly 50 years and includes extensive experience in print media as well as TV and radio – most notably at ITN, where he was both News Editor and Sports Editor, and later at Reuters Television.
Reflecting on his departure when interviewed by SVG Europe Managing Editor David Davies at Wimbledon 2016 in the summer, Hall summed things up by saying, “It’s been a fantastic job, of course, and as with every job I have done I am sure I will miss it to some degree. No doubt there will be a pang when the tournament starts each year, but I am not the kind of person who pines for a former job or wishes they had stayed longer.
“There are other things I want to do – some in sport and some outside of it. For example, I have an interest in a Washington, DC-based news agency, FSN – which is run by a colleague of mine from the ITN days, Simon Marks – and I will probably do more work for them in the future.”
Asked to comment on how he had been working with Paul Davies in preparing for the transfer at Wimbledon 2016 Hall said, “In essence, he has been looking at the wider picture in the longer-term, whilst I have been doing my regular job at this championship. Where the two things have interceded we have worked it out.
“He has also been paying close attention to how Wimbledon operates – it is an unusual place to work in some regards and is different from anywhere else you might go because of the culture and history of the place. Of course, he had been part of the broadcasting fabric here as executive producer for the BBC, but it’s quite different to then become responsible for it!
“But already he is coming in with lots of bright ideas and although I am sure he will make decisions in a different way to myself – we are different people after all – I know we share the same basic philosophy with regard to television.”
Everyone associated with SVG Europe wishes Mervyn Hall very best wishes for his retirement (or semi-retirement!) from leading the broadcast team for all those years at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club.