Mud, Poor Pitches and the FA Cup
The state of the playing surface – and specifically, mud – has been a concern of English football since its earliest days. Many clubs spent their formative years using makeshift pitches on public or private land, in conditions which did not encourage ‘the beautiful game’. Even by 1888 and the founding of the Football League,…
Festive Football in Great Britain
Festive football was a tradition of the British game, introduced even before the very first seasons of the league. While Boxing Day (St Stephen’s Day) fixtures continue to the current era, Christmas Day matches fizzled out in England during the late 1950s and lingered a few years longer in Scotland. Britain’s last Christmas Day football…
Old Trafford: The Football League on Film
Manchester United’s world-famous Old Trafford stadium was opened in February 1910, laid out by Archibald Leitch as “a palatial ground”. The stadium suffered bomb damage in the Second World War and only re-opened in 1949. As location filming expanded in the post-War years, various grounds were used as a setting for football-related feature films. Old…
English Winners of the European Cup
The first English winners of the European Cup were Manchester United in May 1968, when they defeated Portuguese Champions Benfica at Wembley. Their victory was followed by a run of six successes by English clubs in the late 1970s and early 80s. The Wembley win was an emotional triumph for manager Matt Busby and players…
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