Inter-League Matches: A Century of Football League Fixtures 1891- 1991
Inter-league matches were introduced in the very first set of rules published by the Football League in January 1889: “A match shall be played each season between teams selected by the Management Committee of the League, the proceeds of which shall be devoted to the funds of the League.” After many years in which they…
The Football League Jubilee 1938
The Football League celebrated its Jubilee in 1938. A number of events and matches were staged to commemorate William McGregor’s historic founding of the world’s first professional league fifty years earlier. The original twelve clubs had grown to eighty-eight across four divisions, reflecting the league’s steady rise in popularity since 1888. The 1937-38 season saw…
‘Test Matches’: The First Football League Play-Offs
With the rapid evolution and expansion of the Football League from its twelve founder members in 1888, came the question of promotion and relegation. ‘Test matches’ were the League’s solution, introduced in April 1893. The clubs which had formed the rival Football Alliance were absorbed into the League at the start of the 1892-93 season,…
The Football Alliance: Teams Who Didn’t Make the League
The Football Alliance was the most successful of the short-lived rivals to the Football League. The League’s founder, William McGregor, had ensured it would be an exclusive institution from its formation in 1888. McGregor issued his famous letter to invite only a select group of clubs to join the proposed new competition. The number of…
The Opening of Old Trafford
The opening of Old Trafford in February 1910 was a pivotal moment in the history of Manchester United. Today, they are one of the world’s most famous football clubs, and their home among the game’s iconic stadiums. Yet their origins were much more humble, and their early years often troubled. Their history began in 1878…
London Between the Wars: The Football League on Film
London was an obvious location for the UK’s fledgling film industry, with many early-twentieth century pictures shot in and around the capital. As cinema’s popularity grew in tandem with professional football between the Wars, a number of films naturally made use of London’s football grounds. One of the first of these was The Winning Goal…
Thames AFC and the Football League’s lowest-ever attendance
The brief history of Thames AFC saw an ambitious attempt to launch a new team in London, based at the West Ham Stadium in the Custom House area of East London. Built in 1928 with a capacity of 100,000 and designed by the celebrated Scottish engineer Archibald Leitch, the stadium was primarily known as a…
The Football League 1888-89 – Review
The very first season of the Football League concluded 130 years ago, on the 20th April, 1889. Managed by Major William Sudell, one of the leading advocates of professional football, Preston North End were the first League title winners, going through the 1888-89 season unbeaten. The ‘Invincibles’ also won the 1889 FA Cup to complete…
The Football League 1888 – Overview, Part Two
Playing kit, pitch markings and the rules of the game were all evolving, even as the world’s first professional football league came into being. Prior to the advent of the Football League, players had to buy their own kit, consisting of heavy jerseys without any ornament, ‘knickerbockers’ covering the knees, and socks. Each club was…
The Football League 1888 – Overview, Part One
When the fixtures for the first season of the Football League were drawn up at a meeting on 1 May 1888, the registration of players was “fixed for all clubs, so that every club will have equal chances in the kidnapping business”’, as the Accrington Times put it. All players had to register as professionals…
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