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DID
YOU KNOW.....
CHRISTMAS DAY FOOTBALL
Football has a million
and one stories and just as many facts and figures. Here are a few of them
- the record-breaking, unusual and bizarre. More
Did You Knows...
Index
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The last time the majority
of League clubs played matches on Christmas Day was in 1957 when 38 League matches were
played. After that the number of matches played declined dramatically
largely due to a lack of public transport and the wish of fans to stay at
home on Christmas Day. By 1959 just two League matches were played on
December 25th - Blackburn 1 Blackpool 0 in Division 1 and Coventry 5
Wrexham 3 in Division 3. The next - and last - match played on Christmas
Day took place
at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, on December 25th 1965. The home side
defeated Blackburn Rovers 4-2 in a First Division match in front of 20,851
spectators.
*********
North of the border Christmas Day
fixtures lasted a bit longer. Two matches on Christmas Day 1976 proved to
be the last fixtures up there - Clydebank drawing with St Mirren and Alloa
defeating Cowdenbeath.
*********
The first Christmas Day League match
had taken place on December 25th 1889, the second season of the Football
League. Preston North End beat Aston Villa 3-2 on their way to retaining
the League title, Nick Ross scoring a hat-trick for the 'Invincibles' of
Preston at Deepdale. The crowd was an excellent one for the time, nearing
10,000, who witnessed an entertaining match and set the scene for
Christmas Day football for many years to come.
*********
Only once since 1965 has an
attempt been made to play a League match on December 25th. In 1983 Brentford had
scheduled their Third Division match against Wimbledon at 11 o'clock on
Christmas Day morning hoping, as a Brentford spokesman said 'to revive
the old tradition of husbands going to football on Christmas Day while the
wives cook the turkey'. But the wives thought differently and
supporters protests saw the match brought forward to Christmas Eve when a
6,689 crowd - which was to be the second highest League crowd at Griffin
Park that season - witnessed a 4-3 Wimbledon victory.
*********
So what was the atmosphere
like for a Christmas Day match? Below is reproduced the recollections of a
Sheffield United supporter who attended his first Christmas Day match in
1948 as a nine-year-old when Bolton Wanderers visited Bramall Lane
in a First Division fixture.
"The match kicked off in the morning and, as there
were no trams running, my dad and 1 made an early start and walked to
Bramall Lane from Millhouses. Once inside the ground it was clear this was
no ordinary occasion, for the atmosphere was something special -
particularly to a nine-year-old. The band played Christmas carols and many
of the crowd sported their presents. New scarves and gloves were much in
evidence, whilst the aroma of cigar smoke hung everywhere. Spirit flasks
were passed among groups of friends and swigged with a slightly furtive
air."
The attendance was 39,676 and the
match ended 1-1.
*********
Because of travelling problems over
Christmas, Christmas Day fixtures were generally local derbies, but that
was not always the case. Back in 1954 Portsmouth had to travel to
Blackpool for a Christmas Day fixture, a 500 mile round trip! Two days
later Blackpool had to travel to Portsmouth for the return fixture, a
match in which Jimmy Armfield made his debut for Blackpool. In later years
Armfield remembered the difficulties in travelling to that match, a
journey which started on Boxing Day -
"We had to take the bus from Blackpool to Preston,
then get a train from Preston to London, stay overnight in London, get up
the next morning, get on a bus to Waterloo station where we took the train
to Portsmouth, had lunch and went to Fratton Park. And by the time we got
there, the gates were closed, it was a full house!"
*********
Another longish journey was
made by Wrexham for a Division 3 (North) match at Hull City on Christmas
Day 1936. But Wrexham forward Ambrose Brown need hardly have made the
journey - he was sent off after only 20 seconds!
*********
An unusual Christmas
present was given by Rochdale's Danny Murphy, Kenny Boyle and George
Underwood who each scored in their own net in a 7-2 defeat at Carlisle
United in a Division 3 North match on Saturday December 25th 1954. To cap
a disastrous Christmas Underwood broke his leg in the return fixture
played at Spotland two days later.
*********
An amazing statistic - Coventry City
recorded their first ever League victory on a Christmas Day! In their
first League season, 1919/20, they hadn't managed a victory in their first
19 matches (14 defeats, 5 draws) and then on Christmas Day 1919 they broke
their duck with a 3-2 home victory over Stoke. Not only were the points
welcome the goals were as well - they hadn't scored in their previous 11
matches stretching back almost three months! Sadly for Coventry normal
service was resumed the very next day. On Boxing Day they lost the return
League fixture against Stoke 1-6.
Results.
*********
 Christmas
Day 1917 is seen as the date when women's football started in earnest in
England. With League football suspended due to the Great War and most
menfolk being in uniform the women of a munitions factory in Preston, Dick
Kerr & Co Ltd, decided to provide some much needed entertainment and raise
money for charity by staging a football match. So on Christmas Day 1917
the 'Munitionettes' turned out as Dick,
Kerr's Ladies FC and defeated Arundel Coulthard Factory 4-0 in front of a
crowd of around 10,000 at Preston's Deepdale ground. Just three years
later - on Boxing Day 1920 - a 53,000 crowd watched Dick Kerr's beat St
Helens Ladies 4-0 at Goodison, with another 10,000 or so being locked out.
Women's football was here to stay.
*********
Plenty of goals have been scored in
Christmas Day matches. Jimmy Greaves scored his first League hat-trick (he
eventually scored 4) in Chelsea's 7-4 victory over Portsmouth at Stamford
Bridge on Christmas Day 1957. Leicester's John Duncan scored a club record
six goals in the 7-0 Second Division defeat of Port Vale at Filbert Street
on December 25th 1924. On Christmas Day 1925 Bury beat Manchester City 6-5
in a Division 1 fixture.
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Not unsurprising the footballing
rules were more relaxed in war-time. On Christmas Day 1940 two famous
footballers each played two matches - for different clubs! Len Shackleton
played for Bradford Park Avenue against Leeds in the morning and Bradford City
against Huddersfield in the afternoon while Tommy Lawton turned out for Everton (against Liverpool) in
the morning and for Tranmere against Crewe in the afternoon. Mind you, it was the first
Christmas with rationing and most players were in the forces so why not
play football! On the same day in Norwich the visiting Brighton & Hove
Albion side arrived with just 5 players. They made up the numbers with
Norwich reserve players and fans who turned up expecting to be spectators.
Norwich won 18-0!
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A favourite after-dinner speech of
former Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient) striker Ted Crawford related to
Clapton Orient's home Division 3 (South) match against Bournemouth on
Christmas Day 1931. Orient's players turned up for the match slightly the
worse for drink, not helped by a gift of a barrel of beer from their
manager. Crawford claimed that every time he went up for a header he saw
two footballs and eventually he collapsed on the pitch. His team lost that
match 2-1 but presumably a tad more sober a day later in the return
fixture at Bournemouth they won 1-0!
*********
Of course it should never be
forgotten that Christmas Day has a religious significance and players had
the right not
 to
play on Christmas Day (or Good Friday). Many took up that right. Amongst
them were Sunderland's Arthur Bridgett (pictured) who was capped 11 times
for England and scored 2 goals for Sunderland in that amazing 9-1 victory
at Newcastle in 1908. Swindon's Harold Fleming also won 11 caps for
England although Swindon at the time were a Southern League side. Like
Bridgett he also was a goalscorer in an amazing 9-1 victory - this time 4
goals in Swindon's 9-1 victory over Luton Town in their first match in the
Football League in August 1920. England Under 23 international Phil
Gunter, who made 321 League appearances for Portsmouth, was another who
abstained from playing on religious holidays although later in his career
he relented.
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An important part of Arsenal's
history took place on a Christmas Day in a committee meeting held at a
pub. A committee meeting at a pub on Christmas Day, I bet!! Two weeks
after they had played their first match they decided to change their name
from Dial Square. The meeting was held on Christmas Day 1886 at the Royal
Oak pub from which they took part of the name to become Royal Arsenal FC -
Arsenal Miscellany.
*********
The First Division match
between Chelsea and Charlton Athletic on Christmas Day 1937 suffered an
abandonment when heavy fog descended on Stamford Bridge. The fog was so
bad that Charlton 'keeper Sam Bartram was unaware that the match had
ended, assuming that his inactivity was due to the play being in the
Chelsea half. It was 15 minutes or so before a policeman told him that the
game had been abandoned! In later years Sam Bartram recounted the events
of that afternoon - read what he had to say in
abandoned matches.
*********
 When
Arsenal moved to their new rented Highbury ground in 1913 their landlords
were the St John's College of Divinity and because of the religious
connection they were banned from playing matches at Highbury on Christmas
Day and Good Friday. That prohibition stayed with them until they bought
the ground for £64,000 (the ownership transfer document was signed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury no less) and so in 1925 Arsenal presented the
Highbury faithful with their first Christmas Day match - 33,398 witnessing a 3-0 First Division defeat of Notts County.
*********
Welsh clubs have played alongside
English clubs throughout the history of the FA Cup but in the early days
Northern Irish and Scottish teams also played in the competition. The only
FA Cup match to be played on Christmas Day was played in Northern Ireland
when Linfield Athletic beat Cliftonville 7-0 in a Fourth Qualifying Round
2nd replay on Christmas Day 1888.
*********
This is a true story - I promise! It
is said that Charles Sutcliffe was the man who we all have to thank for
organizing football in this country. In the 60 years or so before his
death in 1939 he had done practically everything in the Football League -
from playing in it to becoming President of it, as well as organizing the
fixture list in those far-off pre-computer days and forming the Referees
Association. He had been an international-standard referee who in one
match had disallowed six 'goals' and later took charge of referee
appointments. In that job one Christmas Eve a referee informed him that he
couldn't officiate at a Christmas Day match because of illness. Sutcliffe
decided to forego his own Christmas to referee the match himself and at 9
o'clock on a freezing Christmas Day morning he caught a train (yes they
had Christmas Day trains in those days, its a true story) for a three-hour
journey across Lancashire. After arriving with plenty of time to spare he
spent the next couple of hours in the empty streets - he was tea-total, so
no pubs for him. After the match he donated his referees' fee and expenses
to the players' Christmas Box at which point he was invited to share a Hot
Pot with the players in the dressing room. After that bit of warmth he
started his long and cold journey back home. While waiting at the railway
station he was surprised to see the home club secretary chasing after him.
The secretary said he was pleased to have caught him and I'm sure many
thoughts must have passed through Sutcliffe's mind as why the secretary
was after him. But I bet not one of those thoughts was the actual one - he
had forgotten to pay for the Hot Pot! Christmas can be great!
*********
Stoke City entertained Bury in a
Division 2 fixture on Christmas Day 1954. A month later they had played a
total of 8 matches - amazingly 7 of them had been against Bury!
The
results.
*********
Fancy going to a European away match
on Christmas day? It did happen. European club competition started in 1955
and on Christmas Day 1955 Barcelona hosted an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now
Europa League) match. The visitors were Stævnet - the Copenhagen
representative side - with Barcelona winning 6-2. The idea didn't catch
on!
*********
 The
most famous football match played on Christmas Day took place in 1914
during the first Christmas of World War 1. By mutual consent an estimated
100,000 British and German troops along the Western Front declared a
truce, and those near to Armentieres in France sang Christmas carols
before leaving their respective trenches to play a football match in
sub-zero temperatures in no-man's land. Before
the match - between the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers and the
Saxons of 133 Infantry Regiment and the Prussians of 6 Jäger Battalion
- gifts were exchanged. The Germans give two barrels of beer and the
British a plum pudding. The Germans won - differing reports give the score
as 2-1 or 3-2 - and the following day hostilities resumed, again by mutual
consent.
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Over the years there have
certainly been some 'hang-over results' on Boxing Day. A look back at
Christmas 1934 saw Everton dominant enough to beat Sunderland 6-2 at
Goodison on Christmas Day. A day later on Boxing Day the two clubs played
the reverse fixture at Roker Park with Sunderland victors this time - by
7-0. Mind you a month later the same two clubs met again at Goodison in
the FA Cup with Everton winning that one 6-4. A few more of the
'hang-over' results recorded over the years on on Boxing Day, the day
after the main Christmas celebrations......
December 26th 1896 – Darwen 12 Walsall 0 (Division 2)
December 26th 1930 – Hull City 10 Halifax Town 0 (Division 3
North)
December 26th 1935 – Tranmere Rovers 13 Oldham Athletic 4
(Division 3 North)
December 26th 1962 – Oldham Athletic 11 Southport 0 (Division
4)
December 26th 1963 – Fulham 10 Ipswich Town 1 (Division 1)
Link -
clubs scoring double figures in League matches
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