I was whizzing past many Worcestershire
football pitches yesterday midday, on a 290 mile return journey, when
I realised that I was not going to be able to entertain my 12 and a
half readers yesterday Sorry! here are two for the price of one.
But did you know that the first
Football League's goal was thought to be scored on September 8th
1888 by Aston Villa's Gershom Cox, unfortunately the ball went in the
wrong end and therefore also qualifies as the League's first ever
o.g.
Luckily Villa equalised against the
Wolves and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Interesting!
This record still is not entirely
secure since kick offs in those days were staggered (not for TV rites
or alcohol control), don't know why? Probably ineffective time
keeping?). Preston's Freddie Dewhurst scored a legitimate goal after
only three minutes in a 5-2 victory over Burnley but they kicked off
50 minutes later than Villa.
More interestingly, the FA Cup was
stolen on September 11th 1895, again this involved Aston
Villa. They held the trophy having beaten West Brom 1-0 in the final
and the club put it on public display in William Shillcock's sports'
shop in Birmingham. That night it was nicked and despite an amazing
£10 reward offered by the club, it was never returned. This cup had
the engraving of all the early winners from 1872, including my
beloved Old Carthusians.
It was replaced by an exact copy of the
original and Villa forked out £25 to cover costs.
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