WHEN FOOTBALL BEGAN

  125 th Hillsborough anniversary celebration kicks off campaign for new headstone for Ambrose Langley, the first captain of Hillsborough. One hundred Sheffield Wednesday fans enjoyed a special evening on Saturday to mark the 125 th anniversary of the opening of Hillsborough on September 2 nd 1889 when Wednesday beat Chesterfield Town 5-1 in the first game at the famous old ground. © Mark Harvey                                                                                                                                             © Mark Harvey   ...

 For Wednesday programme v QPR this Saturday  The Hillsborough 125 th anniversary celebratory event this Saturday at 8pm in the 1867 suite will feature a series of short films highlighting great matches and players of the past. Fans who witnessed games in the 30s and 40s recall the thrill of their first match, the passion of Wednesday supporters and how the game was played. The event, organised by the authors of the highly popular Fred Spiksley biography book from 2016, is part of a fundraising drive towards the costs of a new headstone at Burngreave Cemetery for the first captain of Hillsborough. Ambrose Langley took the club to promotion in 1899-1900 before winning the top flight title for the first time in 1902-03. A second followed twelve months later. A 10-minute film recalls Langley’s career and his unique personality. Club historian Jason Dickinson is amongst a range of speakers that include Michael Knighton, whose great grandfather Willie Layton was a team mate of...

  FUNDS NEEDED FOR MEMORIAL PLAQUE TO HONOUR FIRST BLACK INTERNATIONAL ANDREW WATSON EXCLUSIVE by SIMON MULLOCK SUNDAY MIRROR – 08/09/2024 https://www.pressreader.com/uk/sunday-mirror-northern-ireland/20240908/283283168048379 ANDREW WATSON was the illegitimate son of a slave woman and a Scottish plantation owner who has been recognised as football’s first black international. Now, almost 150 years ago after he made history by captaining Scotland to a 6-1 victory over England on his debut, an appeal has been launched to raise funds for a memorial plaque to be unveiled at the school he attended in Yorkshire. Watson, a full-back who could play in either flank, is set to be honoured by the Crossley Heath Grammar School in Halifax next March. European Cup-winning former Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Manchester United defender Viv Anderson, who in 1978 became the first black player to represent England, will unveil the plaque. Dean Jones, headteacher at Crossley Heath...

  OPENING OF OLD TRAFFORD 19 February 1910 First Division United 3 (Homer, S. Turnbull, Wall), Liverpool 4 (Goddard 2, Stewart 2). By a remarkable coincidence the first game at Old Trafford turned out to be the match with Liverpool. It had been planned to open the stadium a month earlier against Tottenham Hotspur, who were making their debut season in Division One, but building delays forced it back. Only 7,000 were present at Bank Street to see United beat Spurs 5-0, around one sixth of the number that turned out for the Liverpool game. This saw 45,000 crowd onto the new terraces of a ground that the United directors had declared would eventually be big enough to hold 100,000 spectators. Perhaps, but it would certainly not be in their lifetime. Today if either United or Liverpool opened a new ground it would attract worldwide attention, but not so in 1910. Attention that weekend was fixed on the third round of the FA Cup and The Manchester Guardian even managed to list...

  In the third season of league football, Everton, playing at Anfield, took the title for the first time when they knocked reigning Champions Preston North End into second place at the end of the 1890-91 season.  Jack Angus  played his eleventh and final league game of the season in the away game at Deepdale in November 1890. He performed with distinction to ensure Everton suffered only a two goal defeat to a Preston side demonstrating the sort of talents that had seen them win the Football League in its first two seasons. Angus, who began his career with King’s Park of Stirling, injured his knee during the game. His place in goal was taken by new signing from Bootle, David Jardine, in the following match at home to Blackburn Rovers and the new man retained his place between the sticks for the remaining League fixtures. Angus then made his final first team appearance for the Toffees at Newcastle Road where Sunderland, playing their first season of League football, kn...

  GOODALL, JOHN (PRESTON NORTH END) Season: 1888/1889 Goals scored: 20 (out of 74); 12 home, 8 away Percentage: 27 per cent Runner-up: Jimmy Ross (Preston North End), 19 goals Preston were League Champions and FA Cup winners The top scorer in the inaugural Football League season was Preston North End ’ s John Goodall, who in a race to the very end, finished with a goal more than his colleague Jimmy Ross. Not surprisingly, in a League in which each team played only twenty-two games, Preston ran away with the title, remaining unbeaten and drawing just four times. Formed in 1881, Preston was the possibly first club to become wholly professional. Secretary Major William Sudell had drawn on the example of sides north of the border. England and Scotland had first faced each other internationally in 1872, and the former even became the first winners with a 4-2 victory in 1873. After that, the Scots reigned supreme by deploying their players in a more balanced f...

  Sunderland’s record defeat was on 25 February 1884 in Bolton when they faced a Great Lever side packed with many players who were, in defiance of the rules at time, being paid for their efforts. On 25 February 1884 the Bolton side Great Lever’s advertised opponents on a Woodside pitch almost devoid of grass were a combined Durham side. This was clearly an attempt to attract a decent crowd as in reality the visiting side were Sunderland AFC, formed in September 1880 and yet to make a name in football. Both sides played a 2-3-5 formation and Sunderland were assisted by Robinson of PNE. John Goodall, who had moved only weeks before from Kilmarnock Athletic to Lancashire and who was to go on to become of the all-time greats, was unfortunate when his shot got stuck in the mud but long before the close the travelling team were well beaten and the final score was 11-0 with the Great Lever centre scoring at least two and playing a role in another four. The result remains Sunderland’s...