SUNDAY FUNDAY

I was at university in 1973 and we had a few problems finding our way back to college because the street lamps were out early doors. The Yom Kippur war led to the famous oil crisis which led to a convenient miners strike and a state of emergency. Electricity had to be saved, there was a three day week and floodlit football was not on! Weekend matches kicked off earlier and in midweek they were played in the afternoons, Crowds dwindled but the Football League, FA and all were not allowed to extend the season into the summer. In December 1973 the Home Office allowed matches to be played on Sundays when there was not so much demand for electricity. CANDLES!

Some people in football objected, notably Bob Wall of Arsenal. There were issues around petrol costs to get to matches, the loss of employment and so wages and of course uncertain employment.

On January 6th 1974 the first FA Cup tie was played between Cambridge United and Oldham. On January 20th 12 league games were played the first being a Second Division tie between Millwall and Fulham at the Den (below), the Lions won 1-0.

On January 27th, the first "top flight" match saw Stoke City beat Chelsea with a goal from Geoff Hurst and Darlington played two league games on one day against Stockport and Torquay, both 1-1 draws. Sunday proved popular.

Two weeks later Jimmy Allan, Swindon Town's goalie. from Inverness, refused to play on the Sunday against Bolton in a Second Division match. Hos manager Les Allen respected his belief and said so to the press...Allan didn't play again for a long time!

To get round the Sunday Observance Act of 1780 there was no entrance fee, but a programme got you into the ground and depending on how much you paid for it, allowed you to enjoy the cheap or the expensive parts of the ground.

DISHWASHER CLEANS UP

Watching the USA Women put hosts France out of the Women's World Cup last night, reminded how far American soccer had come and now one of England's iconic stadia is being invaded by baseball. Whoops. Mind you the game was invented here so there; what comes around etc. England Women will meet the Yankettes soon in an attempt to reach the WWC Final.

Matches between the two countries have stirred up some controversy, the most embarrassed must have been on June 29th 1950 when a post war England full of promise met the Yanks in a World Cup qualifier and were subjected to a 1-0 defeat. Joe "Larry" Gaetjens, an accountancy student and dishwasher scored the goal which tempted Wilf Mannion, one of England's great to utter "Can we play them against tomorrow". Stanley Matthews biography reveals the disappointment of losing to rank outsiders, especially in a World Cup. Having previously beaten Chile 2-0, and lost to the USA, they then lost to Spain 1-0 and came second on goal average. One goal for would have made the difference. 

In 1930 the FA took the decision to not play in the World Cup, especially against any country that they had fought against in the war.  By 1950 the English FA had decided to join in with the rest of the World and qualified to play in Brazil.

On the same date in 1998 England with David Beckham, another right winger, on board lost to Argentina in a World Cup last 16 when hopes were high. Batistuta put Argentina ahead 1-0 after 6 minutes, Shearer equalised after 10 with a penalty; following a Michael Owen wonder goal in 16 minutes, the game went to 2-2 on half time. Beckham's rash retaliation on Simeone, who had fouled him led to the sending off and remember??? Sol Campbell had a goal disallowed in "overtime".

The game went to penalties and with Beckham out of the picture, Ince and Battye missed theirs, resulting in a penalty shoot out defeat 4-3. Burning effigies of DB adorned many footballing cities.

BADGE HAS A HEAD AND AN UDDER

 This pot smoking cow, dispensing Guinness from its udder (see below) is the badge of an Irish heritage football club FC Roast, playing in England, in  the Middlesex County League for 2019-20. The badge is fascinating enough and look at the kit!
Here's the Guinness!
Remember this August 2017? Another farm animal used to celebrate the great game.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/wurst-kit-could-make-opposition-pig-sick.html

FC Ryukyu of the Japanese J2 League produced a special shirt to celebrate their 30 match unbeaten run, a limited edition with "Invincibility" above the badge. It went on sale before their next home game and were 2-0 up, only to lose inevitably 2-5.

Late news is that Scotland football always manages to come up with some odd sponsorship; if you think The Irn-Bru Cup was a strange one, then how about its replacement Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge up? The draw was done without teams being drawn out from beneath a tin foil wrapper.

JAPE

Sorry, been distracted for a day or so.
Pranks come to mind especially with Glastonbury warming up. Simon Brodkin, aka Lee Nelson, invaded the famous stage, in 2015, with Kanye West at the mike and joined in with a bit of a dance with her.
He managed to cover the name of Philip Green's multi yacht with the name "BHS Destroyer" and got a P45 for Theresa May in October 2017 on stage at the party conference and then gave Boris a Thumbs Up, as if he knew what was going to ensue,.
At school at the independent University College School in London, he then went to the Uni of Manchester and developed his character Lee Nelson who has run TV shows such as the "Well Good Show" and "Well Funny People".
Football is one of his great loves and on March 16th 2013 dressed in Man City kit, he managed to get on to the field of play at Goodison Park and join in a warm up. He was charged under the Football Offences Act 1991 and cautioned. In 2014 he joined in with the England World Cup squad at Luton Airport, stood for team photos and was gently removed.
Most famously, he managed to get on stage at the FIFA conference and throw six hundred $ bills at Sepp Blatter, who was holding forth at the time, in protest at the 2026 South Korea World Cup host "scandle" and was charged again with trepass.
And for golf at Turnberry, in June 2016, he managed to interrupt Donald Trump at the opening ceremony of his golf course with loads of  golf balls emblazened with Nazi symbols.
Don't mention his Britain;s Got Talent appearance in Jan 2016 as a Rabbi rapper known as Stephen Goldblatt. Sorry for long link.....
https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrIS.aIyRRdXTEAmxB3Bwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTB0ZTgxN3Q0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=Jason+Brodkin&type=c7pr_5056_CHW_UK&hspart=iba&hsimp=yhs-1&param2=eyJ1YSI6Ik1vemlsbGFcLzUuMCAoV2luZG93cyBOVCAxMC4wOyBXaW42NDsgeDY0KSBBcHBsZVdlYktpdFwvNTM3LjM2IChLSFRNTCwgbGlrZSBHZWNrbykgQ2hyb21lXC83NS4wLjM3NzAuMTAwIFNhZmFyaVwvNTM3LjM2IiwiaXAiOiIxNzYuMjUzLjc1Ljg0IiwiZ2VvIjoidWsifQ%3D%3D&param3=eyJ2ZXJ0aWNhbCI6InNlYXJjaCIsInlpZCI6ImM3cHIiLCJjdGFnIjoiNTA1NiJ9&param4=eyJjIjoxLCJxIjpmYWxzZX0%3D&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-iba-1#id=2&vid=cbb37d3c1623e65fc9c3c303d7940c6d&action=view

DUNDEE UNITED-IDIOT

Disappointed with the  unpredictable nature of Camerounian Ladies football, I look no further for another strange moment, than the anniversary of Uruguay's Louis Suarez having a vampire moment, when he decided to chomp Italian Georgio Chiellini in an international match.
Following a four month ban, Suarez seemed to appeal to Barcelona who bought him from Liverpool who received £75 million for their ex-forward.

Yesterday evening our Women's national team during their 3-0 victory collectively received an elbow, some spitting, saw the opposition push the ref and were on the end of several late tackles which did not endear the public to Les Lions Indomptables. It was a poor show, but the English Lionesses stood firm.

I don't know how the Cameroon team would refer to these various offences which would be in French of course; I bet they have an unflattering phrase for VAR.
All over the world of football there are phrases that describe football; Tom Williams has written a book called "Do you speak Football?" The RABONA suddenly came into our vocab a while ago. We may have do it before but did it have a name? Johan Cruyff of course had his own move!

Postman Football is some midfield who pops around the field collecting and giving simple passes.

The "cheese watcher" was used to describe an AZ Alkmaar's fan, who came along to watch the game but didn't do anything else, like applaud. Roy Keane would call this lot the "prawn sandwich brigade".

An air shot, shown above, is known as "kukanyaga nyoka"-step on a snake....from the Swahili language, where in Kenya there are 121 species of snake to avoid...like missing the ball. A puff adder shot is one that shoots along the ground.

A faecal plug-in Finalnd- "pihkatappi", means what happens to bear's backside when it hibernates! It is a description of a midfielder who just blocks the hole in the centre of the team shape! Yuk!

In Brazil the top bin or top corner was we might refer, is known as "where the owl sleeps". Other phrases; "where the spiders nest", or the gallows.
The Brazilian "popcorn man" is a player who lets the game go past him.......

AND Finally..."Dundee United" means "Idiot" in the language of Yoruba in Nigeria. In 1972 the Scots toured Nigeria with very little preparation and they fell ill, got injured and suffered! TRUE!

There's more here...................
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/may/30/is-dundee-united-really-slang-for-idiot-in-nigeria

UMPIRES AND REFS TURN A BLIND EAR!

There is little more dispiriting than having your own supporters criticising decisions that you make on a field of play. Football is notoriously verbal and the crowd apparently can shout as much abuse at the player, coach or officials without any rebuke. Cricket is getting the same especially when there is a huge crowd baying around the boundary. But surely, not so at an U13 cricket match, on a peaceful ground, on a Sunday morning where youngsters are easily affected by anything said within the bounds of the game.

I got abuse today from a small gathering whilst umpiring in a good, fair game where I had to make two decisions, both negatively "affecting" my side.  It's not worth going into detail; but their umpire a pleasant young man agreed with my decisions (he would, wouldn't he??) but not so on the "terrace" behind me, made from a few parents and another coach from my club.  I'm not sure the kids noticed what was being muttered; my oppo umpire and some of the parents certainly did!

Football matches have sometimes been abandoned by referees who could take no more abuse from players or crowds. The "sending off" of players for foul and/or abusive language in football was introduced in 1927. What happened before? 
In 1997 the wording was changed to "offensive, insulting or abusive language". How do you measure that? I guess it is much down to the sensitivity of the person the tirade is being aimed at. Also I guess it depends where you  are geographically (or socially?) that "thickness of skin" may vary. In local football, there are around 16% of sendings off caused by verbal abuse. Research tells me that in the higher echelon of football, the % is less. Professionals are more thick skinned?

In the top flight, officials have heard it all before as the referee of the 1878 FA Cup can testify; his name was Mr Segar Bastard. In 2005 the Witney and District Youth League proposed to send off any child whose parents crossed the verbal line. This was proven to be impractical.

In a Staffordshire Cup Final the referee spoke to an abusive spectator and said "I've been watching you for some time". The spectator replied that "He could see that because the ref clearly hadn't been watching the game!".

In 1966 when the Argentine, Rattin, was sent off in the World Cup quarter-final against England at Wembley, the referee stated that "it was the look on the player's face" that convinced the official. By the way this game stimulated the use of the Red and Yellow cards!

Lee Todd playing for Cross Farm Park Celtic in a Taunton Sunday League fixture, was dismissed after a few seconds when the referee blew his whistle so hard, that poor old Lee covered his ears and shouted  " F*** me that was loud!". Off he went!

Crawley Town FC manager Francis Vines was cautioned by the local police for using threatening language at Woking in February 2005. You see it could get worse.

So there we are.....Finally, when Portugal played England in 2004 Urs Meier received more that 16,000 emails including death threats. David Elleray installed a panic button in his home after his decision making during a Manchester United-Liverpool match at Anfield in 1999. His decisions allowed the game to end 2-2 after United had been two up. This nearly affected United's title bid. He also asked not to officiate at Old Trafford for a couple of years after that.

WHERE THERE'S MUCK THERE'S BRASS

The Hepworth Juniors that I was privileged to look after today were playing at the annual Honley FC 6 a side tournament. Honley is nestled in the Holme valley on the way to Huddersfield. We had an emotional afternoon playing through our qualifying group, three games and getting four points which carried the U9s through to the knock out stage. This ground to a halt against Raistrick Junior FC, but only on penalties and the young men (note no girls) were worn out and disappointed not to go further.

Raistrick has a population of  around 11,000...hardly village size. The "village" supports a cricket team which I have been past on many an occasion sited at Round Hill, the highest point in the area.
There is of course a Raistrick Junior FC but not a serious senior club.

Brighouse, the name coming from Bridge House (on the Calder River), with a population of over 32,000, hosts the senior football team . The town sits on the Calder navigation, a canal that hooks up many points in West Yorkshire, vital for the transportation of goods, especially wool and coal around the region.

More famous is the Brighouse and Raistrick Brass Band that people of my age will remember getting to number 2 in the "Record Charts" with "The Floral Dance"-I think Terry Wogan had a bit of a do with them also. The record stayed there for 6 weeks.
The band was founded in 1881 (when the Old Carthusians won the FA Cup) and was known originally as the Temperance Band-no booze?
Who knows any brass player who doesn't like a beer or two?
The band won the first ever World Brass Band Championship in 1968 and has been National Brass Band Champions and Euro Champs on many occasions.

The Brighouse football team is well established having its origins in 1963 and its Juniors from 1989 and there is a Ladies section too. The Town seniors have worked their way through the pyramid staring off as a works club for the Blakeborough Valve Company. The company eventually closed in 1988 but the club carried on and has found itself in the Northern Premier  League Division One. Their best FA Vase performance was in 2012-13 making it to Rd 4. In the squad at the moment are Elliot Kebbie from Sierra Leone. Danny Facey from Grenada and a Welsh John Price.

HAGI AND SON

England's U21s have to beat Romania's youngsters to qualify for the next stage of the UEFA Euro competition.
The Romanians qualified through their group by bettering Portugal, Bosnia, Wales, Switzerland and Lichenstein. The have just beaten a useful Croatia 4-1 at San Marino on June 18th, so they are no mugs.

One player in the squad is Ianis Hagi, the 20 year old son of Romania's most well known international Gheorghe Hagi, who strutted his stuff in the 1980-90s. Father played 125 games for his country and over 500 games for a variety of clubs, most successfully at Real Madrid, Barcelona and lastly at Galatasaray. His first class goalscoring tally was 237. Many belters-see below.

In 2009, Gheorghe founded Viitorul Constanta and managed a club based at Ovidui, a town near Constanta, playing and being very successful, in the nation's Liga 1.
Nickname? Pustii Lui Hagi-Hagi's Kids! If any can play like him!!! He was voted the 25th best footballer out of 100 by the World Soccer magazine.

Ianis started at Steaua Bucharest in 2007, went to his father's academy, one of the largest in Europe
until 2014, joined father's Viitorul Constanta until 2016, played briefly for Fiorentina (2 matches) and now is back at Viitorul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfjYTYWE1FQ  MUST WATCH

On the national rosta is Alex Pascanu who plays for Leicester City (or is at least on their books).

LA ALBICELESTE

British sailors were most likely to carry any new commodity from Europe to the rest of the World, and of course materials on the way back, along with ideas and kit from overseas.
British sailors would take footballs with them to relieve the boredom on board ship and to play football near their docked vessel. They would of course bring back goodies from far and wide (beef?).
In South America, ships on the great trade triangle would entertain themselves in a variety of ways, one of those by playing a game of football on a flattish beach or quayside.

In the 1860-70s foreign capital and immigrants poured into Argentina particularly around the River Plate estuary, playing an important part in developing agriculture and railways. Two young Yorkshiremen from Skelton, formed a football team to relieve the commitment to the city's commerce and banking in Buenos Aires.

On June 20th 1867, James and Thomas Hogg, with close friend Walter Heald, organised the first official match played on the continent. The wool trade brought the Yorkshire lads to the country, once it had won its independence from Spain. Father Thomas, owned a textile mill in Yorkshire and having set up a business in Argentina, he became an important expatriate in Buenos Aires, helping set up a commercial centre and British Library, along with a cricket club which left the locals bewildered.
 
Son, Thomas, above, formed the Dreadnought swimming club in 1863 and brother James organised the Buenos Aires Athletic Society in 1867. They both set up the first rugby match that took place at the cricket club in 1974. Needless to say a golf course followed-the first in Latin America and then tennis got an airing.

Thomas was giving a copy of the newly formed FA Laws (1963) in 1867 and soon the game was evolved along side rugby. The founding committee included the "Skelton" brothers, Thomas Jackson from Cumberland, Thomas Barlow Smith from Stoney Middleton (Derbyshire) and Walter Heald from Pendle, a good northern spread.

The first pitch used happened to be a field planted in alfalfa but they had to carry their goalposts from place to place using a vacant field and made sure that the local English newspapers got wind of their initiative. One such field happened to be in the residential area, La Boca; you know the rest.

On June 20th 1867 the first authentic football match took place on Argentina's National Flag Day and bank holiday at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club in Palermo suburb. As history reveals, only English football and the formation of the Sheffield FC pre-dates this event and the date is closely  matched by the founding of Queen's Park in Glasgow.
 International football did not get going until the start of the 20th Century although the Scottish tea magnet, Sir Thomas Lipton, presented a trophy to be played for between Argentina and Uruguay

The participants had to review the wearing of shorts in front of "ladies" but soon played an 8 a side game involving all Brits except for William Boschetti who had been born in St Lucia.
The Rojos (reds) wore red caps of course and the Blancos white. Score 4-0 to Rojos made up from two Hogg brothers and friends. The game developed slowly for a while but circumstances, such as an economic crash, the "social" popularity of rugby caused by the variation in "rules" introduced from England, the spread of yellow fever (killed over 26,000) , civil war and more unrest prevented a rapid development of the game. The rich of course preferred less "working class" activities.
v Uruguay 1908 La Albiceleste (the sky blue and whites)

THE CRUYFF TURN AND NO FLAGS

The 1974 World Cup West Germany.
The Dutch's first group match was orchestrated by Cruyff, who got things going with his skillful play against Uruguay on June 15th. The game ended in a 2-0 win. The South Americans took no prisoners and were well organised in defence, brutal to be honest. Rep scored two, Uruguay were reduced to 10 men after Castillo punched Rensenbrink in the stomach.
40 years after first playing in the World Cup, the Dutch won their first tournament game.

June 19th 1974 Westfalenstadion Dortmund: Holland v Sweden Score 0-0.
43 years ago
Four days later there was this disappointing 0-0 draw, despite the Dutch being inspired by Cruyff but his team mates could not score. It was not a game devoid of skill however.

Johann Cruyff sent Jan Olsson for a "hot dog" with a skill now known as the "Cruyff Turn". Johan, under the care of manager Rinus Michels, was a crucial part of the revolutionary "Dutch Total Football" system. It was 43 years ago and their brand of football was very much a pleasant shock to the system. The Dutch side was made from a squad of players who apparently could play anywhere on the pitch (probably not the goalkeeper).
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrCwCR.Twpd0GEAiAQPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTB0N2Noc21lBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=the+cruyff+turn+1974&type=ckyolo-tg061719%3A%3AdGhlIGNyeXV5ZmY%3D%3A%3AdGhlIGNyeXV5ZmY%3D%3A%3At&hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&param1=20190206&param2=59a55b3e-4583-462f-a572-add7d7bd1d00&param3=template_%7EGB%7Eappfocus1&param4=d-ccc2-lp0-dsf_template--bb8%7EChrome%7Ethe+cruyff+turn+1974%7E6618CE2CC373E957E627A33B5BFCB3D0&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension#id=1&vid=32c0d7d59c09c1f6878c20c216b121f3&action=view
 On June 23rd, Johan's team beat the Bulgarians 4-1 with Neeskens 2, Rep and de Jong scoring, coming top of the group.
They then went on to play in another group set up with their gears well oiled. Here they beat Argentina 4-0, with Cruyff scoring two and making one and then beat East Germany 2-0 and lastly Brazil by the same score.

Inevitably they became favourites to win it overall. They met West Germany in the Final on July 7th in Munich. This was the final with no corner flags, noticed by English referee Jack Taylor.

A minute later Taylor awarded the Dutch a penalty when Cruyff was brought down by Hoeness, with no German touching the ball; Neeskens scored. Remember this was in Germany! Brave Jack. Breitner equalised with another penalty after 25 minutes.

The "fox in the box" Muller scored before half time, making a tally of 14 in the tournament, beating France's Juste Fontaine's record. It was Muller's last international match.

There was no further goal and the Final became known as the first Final to have no goal scored in the second half.

Wolfgang Overpath collected his third WCup medal, gaining one of each; A winners, runners up and third placed. The (West) Germans had last won the World Cup in 1954.

INTERNATIONAL ISLAND GAMES

The XVIII Nat West International Island Games 2019 will be held on Gibraltar, the only bidders. Though the Island cannot support all the sports, it is hosting a number of competitions and other events are "spread around"! Football for example is being held unofficially on Anglesey-Ynys Mon because The Rock doesn't have enough pitches! The island hopes to host the 2025 games.
There is a range of sports, most rare is 10 PIN bowling, but favourites include athletics, triathalon judo and squash and MORE.

This IIGA biannual event will take place between July 6-12th. So excited are we, that Her Majesty's Government Philatelic Bureau is publishing a set of commemorate stamps to recognise the occasion. The mascot shown above is known as HOPE; no doubt plastics come into the occasion!

Yes these stamps are belters! There was a LIVE DRAW for the Table Tennis....over 2200 competitors will take part in over 200 events from 14 sports. The Hassans International Law firm will be a Platinum sponsor for the games and the University of Central Lancashire will provide medical and sports' therapy during the games. Golf has been held in every games since 1997 but this year there is none-NO COURSE!
First held on the Isle of Man in 1985, 700 competitors from 15 countries turned up. Two years later on Guernsey, numbers increased and more recently the games have been held in Bermuda (2013), Jersey (2015) and on in 2017 in Gotland.
You may turn to your Globe or Atlas and have a lesson: find Aland, Froya, Saaremaa, the Falklands and of course the Isle of Wight.
Football champs are the Isle of Man who beat Greenland 6-0 in Gotland in 2017.
Accommodation ranges from school rooms to a cruise ship which bunks 3,000.

PUNJAB UNITED CURRY FAVOUR

From Indian/Pakistani football yesterday to PUNJAB UNITED today, it could not be better! You think I plan all this don't you? By chance, tonight on BBC1 at 7.30 is a documentary about Punjab United FC and the club's rise through the pyramid.

Chipie is the central force behind the success, a local business man, Jugjit Singh Sian, has invested his money and time into forming an open club, at Elite Venue, Gravesend, Kent.  Supported by his brother Jindi, friends Navin, Harry and Jaswinder, the club has risen through the pyramid. It is a club that is open to all, making moves of course towards the Asian fraternity, but anyone can join.
In the past football was not in the Asian culture, parents were not "available" to run kids to practice or matches and there were distractions such as cricket!! Girls/women would hesitate to join in and football was just not in their culture. But things are changing with trials, teams, transport and clubs much more available.

Can you name ten Asian footballers playing in the Leagues?

So this drama is "warts and all" with Chipie leading the way to explaining how the club functions.


Forming in 2003 the club played in the Kent Combination League and reached the Premier League in 2016. They won the League in 2016-17 with a record number of points, were victorious in the Kent Intermediate Cup and were runners up in the Kent Challenge League Cup.
They moved up to Step 6 into the Southern Combination East League coming 17th/20. Next they play in Step 5 Southern Counties East League and then into the Isthmian.
The club hosts a Reserve side and a Youth team too.

INDIAN FOOTBALL

India v Pakistan has been an electric cricket fixture for decades and today they meet at Old Trafford to renew their rivalry.
This is in cricket of course and in football the two have met and it has been full on but hardly "world class".

Unofficial football was played by India, pre-Independence, with unofficial internationals against Ceylon (0-1 win) in 1933 and China (1-1). The national development was spurred on against foreign opposition with some English encouragement, forming the All India Football Federation in 1937.

There was an Australian tour post independence, playing State sides from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Northern Districts. The tour began in August 1938 and on September 3rd 1938 India played Australia in Sydney losing 5-3. The Indians stayed in Australia until October playing a variety of opposition from State teams to town teams such as Ipswich. A later tour visited Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand.

The national side (above) played in the London Olympics in July 1948, losing to France only 1-2. In preparation the team played barefooted against teams from:
"The Department Store XI" won 0-15, Met Police 1-3, Pinner 1-9, Hayes 1-4, Alexander Park 2-8, Isthmian League XI 1-3 and Welsh amateur sides.

In 1950 the national team withdrew from the World Cup tournament, the reason not being allowed to play without boots!

Since the end of the war various English managers have taken over the coaching; Harry Wright in 1964 a goalkeeper from Charlton,  in 1982 the aptly named Bob Bootland took over and more recently, Steve Constantine who did two spells in 2005-7 and 2015-19 and Bob Houghton (once of Malmo 1979 European Cup Finalists) from 2006-11.
Joe Kinnear of Ireland had a spell in the post in 1983!
The team ranks 101st in FIFA and this summer has had a full fixture list from commitments to the Asian Cup v UAE and Bahrain, the King's Cup in June beating Thailand 1-0 and losing to Curacao  1-3. In July they meet Thailand, North Korea and Syria in the Intercontinental Cup.

Matches against Pakistan have been sporadic, much depending on the tournaments provided. They have met India 24 times only, Pakistan winning 3 and drawing 10 games. India very much on top.

Pakistan football in FIFA is less powerful, ranked 205th. The first official international was in 1950 against Iran losing 1-5.
Today's squad includes Samir Nabi from Torquay Utd, Rahi Nabi at Alvechurch and Tabish Hussain playing at Guiseley.
George Ainlsey was the national coach in 1959-62, having previously coached Cambridge University AFC.
You will find Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper, on the coaches list (1980-3), David Burns a half-Dutch FA coach in 2000-1 and John Layton from Hereford United 2001-2 and ex-Spurs Graham Roberts 2010-11.

DENTIST CHAIR

June 15th conjours up the Dentist Chair. If you read this past blog first, then you will get the drift.

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-want-england-to-win.html 

Today's blog recognises the anniversary of an historic England v Scotland match played at Wembley, on June 15th 1996, a Group match as part of the Euro'96 Tournament. 

The two teams met for the first time for seven years, a fixture partly "avoided" due to over excessive rivalry between the two "warring " nations-the crowd that is.

You may remember the Scots invading Wembley, in 1967, after their boys beat England 2-3, England of course were World Cup holders. The Scots claimed they were the best in the World!

76,864 watched Alan Shearer put England ahead, David Seaman saved a Gary McAllister penalty and then Gascoigne conjured up the wonderful humiliation of Colin Hendry and his defence resulting in the dreaded "Dentist's Chair" incident, a goal celebration clearly practised in the past, sometimes on a football pitch! See below.

In their Group, England and Switzerland drew 1-1 on June 8th, Shearer scoring the first of his 7 tournament goals, earning him the Golden Boot.. 

On the 15th June, Scotland were beaten by Shearer and Gascoigne's goals and then in the next game, with some swagger, Shearer scored a brace, including a penalty, beating the Netherlands 4-1, with Teddy Sheringham adding 2 also.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Scotland+v+England+Wembley+1996#id=3&vid=25b97b68ca359ebc94764fc4cd9e17cc&action=view

In the next tie, the Quarter-finals, England beat Spain on penalties 4-2 following a drab 0-0 draw and in the semi-final it was the Germans who beat us (or maybe we beat ourselves) 5-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Shearer scored after 3 minutes. 

Germany then beat the Czechs in the Wembley Final 2-1 with a Golden Goal in the 95th minute.

ENOUGH TO DRIVE YOU POTTY

It's been a miserable May and June, with rain falling incessantly, but go back to the Winter of 1946-7 which meant that the final seven league games of the First Division season were being played on June 14th 1947.
Stoke City needed a win over Sheffield United to take the First Division title, needing to pip Liverpool, but the Potters lost 1-2 and that was that.

The first First Division title, post war, went to Anfield for the fifth time and classically, neighbours Everton had won the 1939 season, book ending the war years.
Needless to say there was a gap in official football for those few years in between, while other battles in Europe were held.

Champions Liverpool had played 42 matches won 27, drawn 7, and scored 84 conceding 52 goals were on top with 57 pts.

Stoke having lost their last game, finished on 55 points, winning 24 drawing 7 scoring 90 and letting in 53. In those days a win was worth 2 points and goal "average" or "ratio" (a method used since 1894-5) would have been calculated if the points had been equal. Stoke (1.698 v 1.615) would have won the division by that calculation had they beaten the Blades.
Stoke had beaten Liverpool 2-1 at home in the league but lost away.

The Football League changed Goal Average/Ratio in 1976-7 to Goal Difference (goals For minus Against).

The first division top looked like this: Liverpool  57, Manchester Utd 56, Wolves 56, Stoke 55, Blackpool 50, Sheffield Utd 49.
Leeds were root with 18 points, with Brentford at 25 next , Huddersfield 33, and Charlton 34 above them.

In the First Division the following teams were playing south of the Midlands-Portsmouth, Brentford, Chelsea, Charlton and Arsenal. Stoke, Wolves, Derby and Villa were Midland clubs the rest came from north of Sheffield, including Grimsby!!

Charlton Athletic won the Cup beating Burnley 1-0 in 1947 having lost the Cup the previous year to Derby 4-1. They became the 10th club to lose the cup one year and return to win it the next! Name the rest up to 1947.

The post-war Government had banned mid week football for a while to help boost production.
This should have been published yesterday!

TERESA GONE; BORIS BORES IN.

Looking at the state of the Government, I thought I might resurrect this Blog from last year that sums up our retiring leader. Bless her.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/theresa-may-but-shouldnt.html

and here's a short note about Theresa's likely successor, Boris, the Old Etonian, whom I am pretty sure did not play "soccer" at his school. I am not sure he played rugby properly either!
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Boris+playing+football#id=1&vid=593c4083dfa5b3e254f603a52bab7d8a&action=click

and another
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Boris+playing+football#id=2&vid=40b8c6e204e81205c8659715ed6067ac&action=view
Boris played rugby at Balliol College, Oxford and no doubt had a dabble in Aussie Rules during his GAP year at Geelong GS, Victoria, Australia.

THE COPA-BARA

A capybara, the mascot  for the 46th Copa America 2019, is known as Zizito, which is hunted in Brazil for its meat, fur and fatty skin oil used in the pharmaceutical industry! Its a big guinea pig! It pays homage to Zizinho, a Brazilian striker who shares the Copa goal scoring record of 17 goals in the tournament. Brazil hosts the tournament this year. and the final is to be held at the Maracana.

CONMEBOL (the continent's version of UEFA) organises the  tournament which takes place every other year and sometimes over longer gaps, depending on World Cup dates etc. This year it is Brazil's turn to host, having had the honour in the first competition in 1916 with just 4 countries. This year they will host in Rio, Sao, Belo, Porto, Salvador(o).
The South American nations taking part are:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (hosts), Chile (holders, having beaten Argentina on penalties), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The Copa Americo Centennial Trophy designed in Epico Studios USA, made by Thomas Lyte Co in London and presently held by Chile, who have won it in the last two competitions and never before.

The Copa (then known as the South American Championship) was first played for in 1916 with four teams, and has been won by the following nations: Argentina 14 (won the first), Uruguay 15, Brazil 8, Peru 2, Paraguay 2, Chile 2, Bolivia 1, Colombia 1. (45)
Argentina and Uruguay have dominated the competition especially from the early days with Brazil gradually having an influence.

ANOTHER WORLD CUP FOR ENGLAND

This lot won the Under 20 World Cup on June 11th 2017 and thus there is hope for the "grown up" World Cup in 2022.
Played in Suwon, South Korea, the young English scored through Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)  after 35 minutes and were "saved" by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman of Newcastle who "saved" a penalty in the second half and was he awarded the Golden Glove for the tournament.

Alongside Calvert-Lewin were Everton colleagues Jonjoe Kenny, Ademola Lookman and Kieran Dowell (on loan to Sheffield Utd)
Chelsea were represented by Fiyako Tomori (on loan at Derby), Jake Clarke-Salter Vitesse), Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth) was voted Golden Ball winner,
Spurs by Josh Onomah and Kyle Walker-Peters
Arsenal by Ainsley Maitland-Niles (loan to Ipswich) and Liverpool by Sheyi Ojo (Stade Reims) and Lewis Cook from Bournemouth.
The lads were managed by Paul Simpson (previously Newcastle) the modern day Alf Ramsey!

On their way to the Final the Young Lions played Argentina (3-0), Guinea (1-1) and South Korea (1-0) topping their Group and then beat Costa Rica in the last 16, Mexico in the quarter-final (last 8) and Italy 3-1 in the semi.
Venezuela beat Uruguay on pens in their semi-final having scored an equaliser in the 90th +1 minute.

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES

 Somewhere between Liverpool and Everton is the Homebaked Community Land Trust (CLT) and Cooperative Bakery, formerly Mitchells' Bakery. It is a "High Street" business, co-owned and produced by local people, employing 15 local people, the business is set on the boundary of the two Liverpool districts. Have a look at 197, Oakfield Road, L4 0UF, where you will find the pie shop, midst abandoned factories and derelict buildings. The business is sourcing local suppliers, boosting the area's economy.

The building has been saved from demolition, helping a regeneration of the local High Street, the project started in 2017, complete with an apartment above the shop, the first "housing" development in the project.

The Pie business has won awards in 2017, amongst competitors from 150 producers and 963 pies, winning 5 prizes produced by Chef Stephan Sundermeier. Stephan says that the Scouse Pie is the favourite and like all football clubs they have great sales on match days especially.

Along side the Gold medal winner, the Chicken Gumbo Pie won silver and so the Shankly, Mushroom and Brandy and Steak and Cheese have been awarded bronze. Don't forget the Cheese and Onion and Pea and Mint.

Liverpool card holders know that they can bag a free cuppa along with their Scouse pie, flaky pastry, tender chunks of beef and brown sauce set it off perfectly. There is also a bakery workshop available.

Nearby is the Homegrown Collective, a group of local women, who support local gardening and growing projects on unused land nearby creating a non-profit group that also offers a social gathering for local people. This is funded by the Homes England Community Housing Fund and Power to Change. Any profits are ploughed back into the system.

ENGLAND v SCOTLAND LADIES

England play Scotland today; the longest international fixture in history?? NOT!! Its the Ladies/Womens' international, a World Cup fixture being held at Nice in France, the first time Scotland has appeared in the Womens' World Cup finals.

The England team also have Argentina and Japan to get past in their group, if they wish to qualify for further fixtures in France.

Sir Philip Sidney in the 16th Century write a "Dialogue Between Two Shepherds" which happened to mention women and football. Mary Queen of Scots seemed to favour the game when she saw a mob playing football in Carlisle in 1568 and in Scotland there was considerable interest in the game, which of course was in its infancy at that time.

Helen Graham Matthews, using a pseudonym of Mrs Graham was a suffragette and lady footballer from Montrose. She formed a Scottish team called The Lady Footballer that played against England at Easter Road in Edinburgh on May 9th 1881. The inspiration for her was watching the England v Scotland match at the Oval in 1881. Matthews played in goal.

The next international match was played at Shawfield Athletic FC which the Scots won 3-0, however they played in trousers which brought much derision and a ban by the Scottish FA.  Large crowds came to watch the games which often ended up in a riot!

Later Matthews (see below) formed the British Ladies Football team which included the first black female footballer, Carrie Boustead (not pictured).

Needless to say, at this time the Ladies game was banned so Matthews and Nettie Honeyball formed a team called the Lady Footballer in England. Matthews left the team in 1896 and formed her own team, Mrs Graham's XI that played a Scottish men's team at Irvine.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/dickladies-and-co.html

By 1971 Scottish Ladies were allowed use the Scottish FA facilities and were allowed to play in Football League grounds. In 1972 England Women were 0-2 down to Scotland but recovered to win 3-2. For Scotland Rose Reilly scored two and became a World Cup winner, but for Italy in 1983.

IN THE CORNER

 Not an FA Cup winners' corner flag!

Taken for granted, the corner flag on a pole is a necessity to any game of football. It marks out the extremities of the pitch and has done that since 1863 when the laws were set by the FA.

Included also, were flags on poles planted four yards either side of the goal posts, on the goal line (as you would see in Aussie Rules) but only 5 feet high, as now. The central poles marked the goal and the side poles were there to help award a "rouge" which was a like a try.

If the ball didn't go through the goal but was touched down through the side gaps then this counted as a "rouge", worth a "point" and the number of points came into play when there was a tie on goals. The rouge was established by the Etonians in their own game.

In 1868 the Sheffield Rules got rid of the "rouge" opting instead for a goal kick or a corner kick when the ball went out of play behind the goal line. The FA bowed to the Sheffield Rules in 1872 and adopted the corner and flag, also marking a quadrant one yard in radius set in 1875.

Some times there are flags place one yard off the touchline at the half way line to help the referee with "where is the half way line" decisions!

Clubs that have won the FA Cup are entitled to have a triangular flag on their poles. Otherwise it is a square flag allowed to blow in the wind. I'm not sure anyone takes any notice of this!

I am sure that when there was a corner the majority of the ball had to be inside the quadrant? Now the ball overlaps the line of the quadrant by centimetres!

The small markings on the goal line and touchline to make sure defending players don't encroach closer than 10 yards at a corner are measured from the quadrant line of course.

Corners were regarded as "indirect" until June 1924, so direct goals could not be scored direct from a corner until then. Along came Billy Alston of St Bernards FC, who scored the first legal "direct from a corner goal" in August 1924. 

What about W.H. (Billy) Smith of Huddersfield Town, who scored direct from a corner kick against Arsenal? In August 1924, in the Football League; the flood gates were open! 

Town won 4-0 and later won the League Championship. Smith made 574 apps for Town and scored 126 goals, one directly...well you know that....

Smith got himself sent off for fighting against a Stoke player in a league match and this caused him to be banned from played in the 1920 FA Cup Final; Town lost 1-0 to Aston Villa.

In the 1922 FA Cup Final at Stamford Bridge, Billy scored twice against Preston NE, one a disputed penalty, won by Smith, whom newsreel confirmed, was fouled outside the penalty area. Smith also scored twice in his last game ever v Sheffield Utd in February 1934. 

He then player-managed at Rochdale for a while, 1934-5. 

Born in Tantobie, County Durham in 1895, he died in 1951, from cancer following an "injury" in the game, which resulted in a leg amputation. His son, Conway, played at Town between 1945-51 and his grandson, Robert, played in the last ever game at Leeds Road in 1994. 

Billy also played for England three times between 1922-8. Both Billy and Conway are recorded as scoring 100 goals each in their career.

Willie Davies scored for Cardiff City in the final minute of the FA Cup Rd 4 tie against Leicester City in March 1925, making it 2-1. Cardiff went on the lose in the final to Sheffield Utd.

Thank heavens, the corner post is a flexible thing and not the solid wooden specimen of past seasons, some were square and with dangerous edges! Tosh Chamberlain, a bandy legged Fulham left winger, was renowned for sometimes kicking the flag pole when taking a corner and there have been others who push the post on an angle to allow a full bodied approach, or even pull the pole out of the ground. Referees would stop play and put the flag back into the perpendicular.

Tosh was a real character who postponed his wedding so that he could play for Fulham against Newcastle Utd in a 4th Round FA Cup tie, in which he scored a hat trick but Fulham lost 4-5! he played almost his entire career at Fulham and went to Dover and then Gravesend before he retired.

When Barry Fry was manager of Birmingham City in 1993 he had not won more than two games in fifteen during his first 3 months. Finding that a local "Romany" family had cursed the ground way back, he had the curse removed, by getting a local Romany to pee on each corner post and without taking the "piss", his team began to gain success, winning the next 7 out of 10.