SPOT THE BALL

Football competitions in the press date back as far as the 1890s. The "games" were designed to increase newspaper circulation. A variety of other "games" including one that required the reader to forecast the results of twelve matches, were all designed to attract more readers. Of course, the Pools from 1923, soon had a say in where punters were going to place their "bets". They still exist.

There were competitions for Cup Final tickets and a novel one where readers had to recognise the football ground shown from an aerial photograph. In 1928 the "Athletic News" introduced a new competition that was so popular that it is still going today; Spot the Ball. It was first published on April 30th that year.

All you had to do was to guess where the ball was on a published photograph of a match played at the weekend. The entry fee was sixpence (6d) and the winner won £500, no mean amount in those days. Entrants would carefully join lines from players' eyes on the photo and see where they were all looking but of course this meant for nothing! The ball was always "in an unlikely place", decided by a couple of ex-pros. whose guess was as good as anyones.

Being a football expert didn't help, in fact the game proved very popular with the ladies. The competition was eventually adopted by other newspapers, including the "News of the World", where it continues to be a regular feature.

Local papers arranged their own "games" such as the Nottingham Post's "Find the Ball", first published in 1966. Above a lucky winner in 2007, at a time when 3 million people took a guess and and the jackpot was as high as £250,000. Numbers have fallen recently.

With other competitions abundant, the interest in "Spot the Ball" has dwindled and indeed, apparently not many winners are found! There has been a certain amount of doubt about the competition's validity, with the two "ex-professionals" (once used were Ian Callaghan and David Sadler) brought in to decide where the ball is placed, on their judgement. They could stick the "pin" in anywhere! Unsurprisingly their decision may not always produce a winner!

Once played by over 3 million people, the game is indulged by around 14,000 now. Those missing are probably playing the Lottery....there's more chance of winning something in that apparently.

The courts have to decide whether this well known game is one of chance rather than skill; by law there is a large VAT bill to pay if not! Well your guess is as good as mine! But hey ho, not many win the top prize anyway, so maybe the papers have money in a pot to pay the "fine" if they are deemed breaking the law.

Here's one to be getting on with:
https://www.footballpools.com/games/spot-the-ball. Careful.........
18+    

LAW'S LAST SAD MOVE

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/04/busy-period.html
The 29th of April gets a mention here amongst a lot of other dates of matches played on that date from 1912. The first reference involves Barnsley FC, so it can't be bad!

In 1974, a year when I was finishing university and getting married soon after, it was Denis Law who was in the dog house after a career pinnacle at Manchester United. One time favourite of the Stretford End, Law produced "the unkindest cut of all" , as he sentenced his former team mates to life in the Second Division at Old Trafford, on Saturday April 27th.

Playing with United's greatest rivals, Manchester City, Law cheekily backheeled a pass from Francis Lee past Alex Stepney, with 8 minutes remaining. City won 1-0 and condemned United to the next division down.
https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrJ3s.TsKle34MAuBGe3olQ?p=Denis+Law+back+heel&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&type=pds_sjiqmxum1acegikmuebkmoqsuwl96p7j8qmodg_19_42_ssg13&param1=1&param2=f%3D4%26b%3Dchrome%26ip%3D94.192.56.239%26pa%3Dpdfconverterds%26type%3Dpds_sjiqmxum1acegikmuebkmoqsuwl96p7j8qmodg_19_42_ssg13%26cat%3Dweb%26a%3Dpds_sjiqmxum1acegikmuebkmoqsuwl96p7j8qmodg_19_42_ssg13%26xlp_pers_guid%3Dgclid_cj0kcqjwuzdtbrdvarisapxfx3af0kw2x-cqb3krhrprevypch1mt6kyos5w7lhngaphg5pcnzjavl0aap5zealw_wcb%26xlp_sess_guid%3Dgclid_cj0kcqjwuzdtbrdvarisapxfx3af0kw2x-cqb3krhrprevypch1mt6kyos5w7lhngaphg5pcnzjavl0aap5zealw_wcb-ac4c-701db2846e3d%26uref%3D%26abid%3D%26xt_abg%3D%26xt_ver%3D10.1.4.69%26ls_ts%3D1571073304&fr=yhs-itm-001&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Ai%2Cm%3Apivot#id=2&vid=6df9f98b54e64ab6da027d0e35c4ea5c&action=view
A pitch invasion was sparked but quickly cleared. Soon, however, David Smith, the referee, had to abandon the game, and with fewer than 8 minutes left, the game was done and dusted. Two hundred fans were ejected from the stadium. 33 were arrested during an afternoon United would want to forget.
City came 14th in Division One (top one then) and Unijted were second from bottom, relegated with Sotuhampton (20/22) and Norwich, bottom.

The Football League were not persuaded to declare the match void and allowed the result to stand. Could United have equalised in those remaining few minutes? Blame the crowd.

Once a young professional with Huddersfield Town, under Bill Shankley, Law was up for sale in March 1960 and City grabbed the opportunity, buying him for a British record of £55,000. 15 months later Torino made an offer that City couldn't refuse, as Law went to Italy for £100,000 worth of Lira! 12 months later Law was back in Manchester, this time at United.

With Bobby Charlton and George Best alongside Law, Matt Busby had a trio of exciting players to call on. Law was, however, ageing and suffering with injuries so although he did his stuff he was not a regular and indeed, he missed United's European Cup Final triumph. He went back to City in 1973. In his final league game it was Law who had decided where United would go in 1974.

Law declared that he never wanted to play in this "last game" and was depressed for a week after the result.

In 1974-5, United won the Second Division by 3 points from Aston Villa and came 3rd in the top division the following season.

THE WHITE/DARK HORSE FINAL

On April 28th 1923, The "Dark Grey Horse" Cup Final was played out at the brand new Wembley Stadium.  The stadium commissioned as part of a complex to house the 1924 British Empire Fair, promoting trade between signed on members. Building began in January 1922, obviously a boost for the nation, post the First World War and it took 300 days to complete. The FA, of course, were looking for a prestigious venue to hold internationals and the FA Cup Final. An agreement between the British Empire  Exhibition Inc. and the FA realised the funds and the 1923 FA Cup was to be the debut game.

Constable George Scorey (a suitable name for a copper on his way to a football match) had been trotting down Oxford Street on the 13 year old police horse "Billy", when he was ordered to head 8 miles up the Edgeware Road to sort out a crowd issue at the major football match of the season.

The FA made the decision not have an "all ticket" game, assuming that the new stadium would hold 127,000. Somewhere between 200,000 to a quarter of a million crowd apparently turned up, challenging the new turnstiles and their operators, who one way and another managed to let everyone in. By 3pm kick off time, the pitch was swarming with spectators and no way could the referee start the game. (the official total was 126,047).

The "Grey Horse Final", (I always thought it was called the "White Horse Final" but in truth Billy was "a grey"), was called to help and he started in the centre-circle and worked his way in ever-increasing circles, moving the crowd gently back behind the touchlines. The horse was actually dark grey, and on an overcast day, officially, the film was over exposed, enabling viewers to pick out Billy in photos. There were other horses on the job too! Kicking off 45 minutes late, the pitch was surrounded by a human wall.

Throw-ins were only given if the ball bounced over the seated fans heads and if it bounced off their bodies, it was "play on"!!

Billy's well shod hooves (and the others) did mess up the pitch a bit and West Ham supporters used this as an excuse for their demise. They lost 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers, whose David Jack and J.R.Smith scored. Jack scored after 3 minutes, clearly the Hammers couldn't adjust to the  early conditions. The players stayed on the pitch at half time and Smith's goal was protested by West Ham, who claimed that a Wanderers' fan had used his "trotter" to pop the ball back into play before Ted Vizard crossed the ball for Smith to score.
West Ham asked for the game to be abandoned but the referee, D.H.Asson, denied their request. Since 1923, all Finals have been all ticket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4NqYsFTr1Q

RAYMOND GLENDENNING; BURST BALLS

20 years after the first FA Cup Final broadcast in 1927, radio coverage of major events had become a serious challenger to the newspapers. Most fans owned or could get near a "wireless", huddling around a "set" listening to the familiar tones of the inimitable Raymond Glendenning. It was his staccato commentary that crackled over the airwaves, when ever there was a British sportsman or woman taking part in a major event. He covered every Cup Final from 1946 up to 1963.

He was also contracted to the Sunday Graphic and produced a regular weekly round up column, and it was Gledenning who was given the coverage of Charlton Athletic's victory over Burnley in the 66th, 1947 FA Cup Final, a game played at Wembley on April 26th, that was published in the press on April 27th.

Charlton won 1-0, their first cup final success and they became the 10th club to lose one final and then win one the following year. They had lost to Derby 1-4 in 1946, a match in which Turner of Charlton scored an own goal, deflected in 85 minutes and then equalised a minute later from a free kick deflected by Doherty (the goal was given to Turner). How many have scored for both sides in a Cup Final?
It was 1-1 at full time.
Doherty put Derby in the lead after 92 mins.
Jackie Stamp's attempted shot in the closing minutes burst the ball! He later scored twice with the new ball, in 97 mins and 106 mins to secure the game.

When the two teams met in the League a week before, the ball burst also!  The War was blamed with only "poor leather" available.

Ties up to the semi-finals were two legged affairs.

The 1947 Final was a dull and defensive affair, illuminated by Chris Duffy's spectacular winner with only 6 minutes of extra time left.

There had not been a Cup Final replay since 1912 and for the second consecutive year the ball burst during play. 

Watch both these clips. Priceless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pv0dYKN2-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjteZbGgPqQ

Burnley had won promotion from Division Two, their first final since 1914.
Don Welsh, the Charlton captain, went on to manage Brighton, Liverpool, Bournemouth and Wycombe Wanderers.
Alan Brown, Burnley's captain, was later manager at Burnley, Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday. He played in the Burnley defence and was known for creating "the iron curtain defence", which helped win promotion from Div 2 conceding only 29 goals in 42 games. He was 32 years old in the 1946-7 season, which guarantees an "old head" that leads the defence.

Note also the mention of  Sam Bartram. the legendry goalkeeper.
The lad in the crowd with the "bow tie".
Duffy's goal.
Between the two clubs there were only two non-English representatives, Chris Duffy of Charlton, a Scot, and Billy Morris of Burnley from Wales.

PSYCHO

This is not date related but since we have just seen "The Damned United" on TV and Stuart Pearce appears regularly on radio/TV commentary (unfortunately using "at this moment in time" too much), I reckon I can make use of the above bit of history.

When Stuart Pearce, of Nottingham Forest, was called up to play for England, his manager,Brian Clough, called Pearce into his office and told him, "Well, you aren't good enough, in my opinion-now get out!"

Stuart joined Forest in 1985-86, and at the time, asked Clough if he could continue working as a part time electrician in the early period of his contract. Clough agreed, as long as Stuart mended his kettle! Pearce, of course, got his name in the team line up because he was good enough and also got his business advert into the match day programme. Give him a ring, get your tap fixed.

Pearce played 78 times for England. despite that cock up against San Marino! (his 55th cap)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKDh04AN-Us

The game against San Marino was a World Cup qualifier played in November 1993, watched by 2,378 people in Bologna. England needed loads of goals and if you watch the highlights, that's what they almost did, despite conceding the first goal. England's goals include a suspicion of offside in two goals, a shockingly bad decision by the ref, not giving a free kick allowing play on, a hapless goalie, Ian Wright's four goals, a cameo by Stuart Ripley (his first of two caps) and one or two decent passes from Stuart Pearce's left foot trying to make amends.
An uneventful night in the home of spaghetti sauce and the second smallest member of UEFA, whose greatest victory has been 1-0! (not often). Smallest member is?

England, under Graham Taylor never qualified for the 1994 USA hosted FIFA World Cup finals, graciously allowing Norway and the Netherlands from their group to cross the pond instead. The Republic of Ireland did travel too. No other home countries made it.

FA CUP FINAL 24th APRIL 1915 and 1920

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/cup-or-war.html
I published this last year and I'm afraid the illustration didn't "come out". So I will try again.

The caption from "Punch" October 21st 1914, says;
Mr Punch says:"No doubt you can make money in this field, my friend, but there's only one field today, where you can get honour."
The FA were criticised for letting the Cup run its course, in the first winter after War was declared. As you will remember the FA took advice from the War Office who told them to continue with the fixtures, to maintain morale in the country.

So on April 24th 1915, Sheffield United took on Chelsea at Old Trafford and won 3-0 with just over 49,500 watching the game. It was known as the Khaki Cup Final, as many of those visiting were dressed in their service uniforms. Progress of the game was wired to ships describing a grey and joyless occasion; not what the nation needed. It was the last "big game" for four years, as war interfered and the next FA Cup Final took place on the same date, April 24th, in 1920 at Stamford Bridge, with Aston Villa winning their sixth cup, beating Huddersfield 1-0 with a goal in the 100th minute (extra time of course).

Huddersfield's season was remarkable as the club started it close to liquidation for financial reasons. The towns folk rallied and there were collections and player sales with the restructured team finishing the season with promotion from the Second Division and reaching the Cup Final.

Villa also beat Chelsea in the semi-final at Bramall Lane, saving some embarrassment for the FA Cup committee, who had already set the final at Stamford Bridge. The Bridge kept the final until 1923, when Wembley was ready to accept Bolton Wanderers and West Ham as the year's finalists. The 24th is one of two dates when 6 FA Cup Finals or replays have taken place. The other one is the 26th April.

The FA Cup final began as an April fixture, it slipped back into March from time to time and occasionally became a May event. From 1971 the Final has been a regular May event. This season?

NO MORE PLAY UNTIL THE WAR ENDS

August 4th 1914 Britain declared war on Germany, but few were concerned. It was expected that those who enlisted and went towards the ports would be back by Christmas. Entertainment continue as normal, cricketers brought their matches to a halt whilst football expected a new season as normal.

No parallels with the present situation then??

As war dragged on, the FA became more concerned, young men were encouraged to enlist for Kitchener's army, as their chums died on battle fields in France. In April 1915, Manchester City goalkeeper, Walter Smith was urging readers of the "Umpire" that football should continue. One FA Councillor, a Mr Tillotson, argued that "there has been a great outcry by silly sentimentalists and people who never took kindly to football." Elsewhere there was considerable support for signing up.

I have written about the "Pals Battalions" before.

In March 1915, The FA did not fix dates for the FA Cup and it was not long that the Football League would follow suit.  The final game of the 1914/15 season took place on April 26th, with a 2-2 draw between Everton and Chelsea, at Goodison, giving The Toffees their second league title.The event was relegated to the inside pages, whilst the main pages were dominated by reports from Ypres.

In early July all four British League representatives  met in the Winter Gardens, Blackpool and with most clubs reporting a decline in revenue, due to falling attendances and players were enlisting,  it was decided to cancel the going season. Instead, Ad Hoc regional competitions were set up, no players would be paid and there would be no medals, no inter-league matches, no internationals and unexpectedly with no fixtures allowed mid-week (when there should have been all shoulders to the wheel) these new "leagues" were of little consequence. Nobody was interested in soccer! There were more important matters to consider.

BTW, Oldham Athletic would have won their First Division League title had they won their last match of the 1914-15 season. They lost to Liverpool (of all people) and Everton became champions by a point. Tottenham came bottom! (but were promoted the next time they played  in 1919-20).

"The Times" wrote that "We view with indignationand alarm that the persistence of the "Association Football Clubs" in doing threir best for the enemy...every club that employs a professional football player is bribing a much needed recruit to refrain from enlistmentand every spectator who pays his gate money is contributing so much towards a German victory".

We know of course that the football stadium was a good place to recruit.

ST GEORGE'S DAY FOR THE WELSH

April 23rd 1927 and St George's Day, a very English occasion. It was the day of the "English Cup" as it had earlier been known. But it was the Welsh who captured the headlines the next day, with the amazing victory by Cardiff City over Arsenal, who were in their pomp and just beginning to benefit from Herbert Chapman's managerial regime. It was their first Cup Final and a single goal scored in the 73rd minute, won the game. Sadly it was a blunder by the Welshman, Dan Lewis, the Arsenal goalkeeper and Welsh international, that let in the one goal that took the Cup to Wales for the first and so far the only time! The goalie blamed the error on his brand new woollen keeper's jersey, which he said was greasey! Arsenal since then had a tradition of washing the keeper's jersey before every game.

Arsenal had been League runners up in 1925-6 and Cardiff lounged in 16th place in the First Division. The following season they were a little closer in the First Division, Arsenal 11th and Cardiff 14th, only 2 points between them. But Arsenal were very much favourites.

It was gloomy Saturday afternoon at Wembley. With 15 minutes to go, heading towards a goaless draw, Hugh Ferguson the Cardiff centre-forward, shot and the Arsenal keeper fumbled the ball into his own net, the ball tantilisingly slipped under his body, hit his elbow and trickled towards the goal. Cardiff's Len Davies race in to help the ball over the line. Ferguson claimed the goal and Lewis would always be haunted by his mistake. There will always be a welcome for him back in the Valleys.
The Cup Final was broadcast live from Wembley  by the BBC with George Allison commentating (he later became Arsenal's manager) and Derek McCulloch, later to be best known to thousands of children, as Uncle Mac from BBC's "Children's Hour".

It brought another "first" being the first time "Community Singing" was had before the kick off. Just over 91,000 packed the stadium and joined in the pre-match nuptials!

Cardiff had been beaten by Sheffield United in the 1924-5 Final and then later lost to Portsmouth in the 2007-8 Final.

FORFAR, FIFE AND ROUSE

The April date is famous for a number of reasons, but surely the best excuse to use the date is  because Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise came up with the football result that we all mimmick at some time or another: East Fife 4 Forfar 5, with various downward inflections and upward lilts. On 22nd April 1964 there was the exact score although Forfar (at home) beat East Fife 5-4...not quite the comic value! It's all in the timing!

In 1959, on this date, Vic Rouse of Crystal Palace from the Fourth Division, won his debut cap for Wales against Northern Ireland in Belfast. It was the first time any player from the "lowest" division of the football league had managed an international honour. The Irish won 4-1 and Vic never played for his country again.
It is also hard to imagine Palace being in the 4th Division!

In 1998, Phil Neville replaced hs brother Gary at half time at Wembley when England played a friendly against Portugal. England won 3-0 with goals from that well known duo, Shearer 2, Sheringham 1.
The team: Seaman, Beckham, Le , Nevilles G, Adams (his 50th cap), Campbell, Batty, Ince, S + S, Scholes, Owen as a sub, Merson a sub, Phil N as sub. Hard to imagine why did we lost so many games in tournaments?!

THE FOOTBALL ECHO 1906

The Liverpool Football Echo, on April 21st 1906, reported that the English Cup Final had been held at The Crystal Palace, with an immense crowd of 75,609, packing the stadium to witness Everton play Newcastle United, when, at last, the cup went to the city of Liverpool.

The report was sent by "Spire Wire" and the growing popularity of football was finally recognised, with no radio "Sports' Report" available at the time, only newspaper reports.

It might have been a wait until Sunday morning or even Monday, when the "Athletic News" appeared to report the Saturday results. Liverpool was the first city to launch the "Football Echo" as early as 1901. The city's two clubs, Liverpool and Everton, had both won the League Championship (First and top division in those days) with 40,000 or more watching the two Merseyside clubs.

The inside pages of news of the paper were printed already and when the results came out, they were included in the outside pages, at the last minute. Scores were telegraphed to the Echo's office and the race began to get the paper onto the street corners as quickly as possible.

In 1906, Liverpool became the first city to produce both the FA Cup winner and First Division League title holder in the same season. Liverpool won the League title from Preston and Everton, having beaten Liverpool at Aston Villa  in the semi-final of the Cup, went onto win the FA Cup.

Everton's victory over Newcastle in the final served as a perfect example of how reports were wired back to the "office". The type set for the match was done in preparation and the report of the game written minute by minute to hasten the publication. Messengers wired the minute report to the "Echo's Office" and compositors would begin the typeset the one setence text on to the page so that once the final whistle was blown, printing could begin.

Details of the match would often get lost deep in the text, for example, the winning goal scored by Sandy Young, did not occur until near the end of the report at 4.55pm:
IT READ...."At last a goal, Sandy Young the hero. Fireworks and minature (sic) earthquakes in galore-shades of San Francisco (actually this disaster happened the week before).  Not the greatest way of a minute by minute sporting event but at the time it served the purpose of getting the news and all the results on to the streets as quickly as possible.

Two of Lancashire's most celebrated  sportsmen helped Everton win the FA Cup for the first time. They were Jack Sharp and Harry Makepeace (below). They had both played full international games for England at football and cricket. (apparently there have only been 12 players to achieve this accolade).

Sharp was a right winger and Makepeace a half back. Between them, for Lancashire CCC, they had scored nearly 80 hundreds!
Makepeace had won an FA Cup winner's medal, a League Championhsip medal (1915), a cricket Championship medal (actually four!) and played for England at both football and cricket.
Sharp provided the cross that Young scored the winning goal, fifteen minutes from the end.

The Magpies lost the final at Crystal Palace for the second year running, having been beaten by Aston Villa 2-0 in 1905; 101,117 watched this earlier disappointment..

ENGLISH INVENTED THE GAME; GERMANS CAME UP WITH PHRASES-FLUGKOPBALL

This is a great bit! Well I think so!
I heard on "Talksport" recently, the laddish presenters chatting about German phrases in Fussball......yes, I know, all you have to do it look this up on the reliable "Google"...but did you think about doing it? See below.....
 What is this in German? Was it a "tor"?
Locked into my home, even more than usual, left me with no choice but to press the correct button, that takes me into a world of everything.

These links to footy phrases mainly make sense and are mostly amusing, despite being of German origin! There may be some overlap but you'll find something to amuse you as you remain "eingesperrt sein".

https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/news-gossip/133372/german-football-phrases-need-start-using-english/

https://www.thoughtco.com/german-english-fussball-lexikon-4071149

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/german-vocabulary-soccer-football-world-cup/

To help with pronounciation...jemanden zum Lacheln bringen...apparently. The lino will!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_p1Z4FRlM

THE OLD FIRM 1909

From yesterday's riot with Leeds leading the charge, today's punch up occurred between Glasgow rivals on April 18th 1909 and was reported on the 19th in the Glasgow News. The pictures are drawn from that report, following the drawn FA Cup Final replay between Celtic and Rangers.
The first tie attracted 70,000 to Hampden Park and they all saw an exciting 2-2 draw.

The replay at Hampden attracted 61,000 and at the end of 90 minutes it was 1-1. Neither team were sure of what should happen next. Celtic wanted an extra 30 minutes, but the Scottish FA had not counted on that. Rangers didn't fancy extra time, although the Daily Record  and Mail newspapers had published that there would be.

Apparently a number of drawn ties in the competition were viewed suspiciously as a "way of raising money". An official walked towards a corner flag and took it out of its slot; this agitated the crowd, who invaded the pitch. Thousands flooded the playing area, as the crowd set fire to the wooden goal posts, nets, pay boxes and so on. 8 fire engines were called and nearly 100 police were supported by another 100 coppers as soon as the skirmish accelerated.
For three hours, the groups confronted each other, hosepipes were slashed (with knives? who carries a knife to football?), 81 policemen were hospitalised, six with serious injuries and only 3 arrests were made. No account of wounded fans!

No third match was arranged and no trophy won! The press blamed everyone except the FA!
Poor refereeing (apparently), sectarianism and overcrowding were given as reasons for the flare up.

Riots existed in other parts of the country; windows were smashed at Goodison after a referee had abandoned a match and in 1905 angry Villa supporters, at their home ground, stoned the Manchester City coach as it left after a feisty game.

LEEDS AND WBA 1971

With Leeds Utd in the news, mainly through the sad death of Norman Hunter and also the soon to be televised (again) "The Damned United", I thought "The People" newspaper report of 18th April was a good date to remind you of the "riotous" football associated with Don Revie's team and English football in general in the 70s.

Hooliganism seemed to be order of the decade in the 1970s, although, of course, reports of mob violence can be traced back to the origins of the game (and of course to other battle fields).
Football enthusiasts hoped that all that had been forgotten but not so. If we were to locate a point in history where the "wheels dropped off", some commentators would suggest April 1971 and Elland Road.

Top of the table Leeds were two points ahead of Arsenal and had played two more games than their rivals, with two games left.

Leeds met West Bromwich Albion on Saturday 14th April and few would have bet on The Throstles going home with maximum points. The two had met in October 1970 and drew 2-2 at West Brom.

They took the lead in the 20th minute. Leeds were masters of the offside trap and when Tony Brown sprinted away with the ball in the 72nd minute, the Leeds' defence pointed to Suggett who was in an offside position. The referee, Ray Tinkler, waved play on, saying Suggett was not interfering with play. Brown had "paused" but then carried on, passing a long ball to Jeff Astle, who also seemed to be in an offside position. Leeds stopped, the linesman didn't flag, the ref didn't whistle and Astle made it 2-1.

The whole Leeds' team pitched in and so did some of their supporters. RIOT! in the centre-circle, police, fights, 23 arrests, linesman hit by missile......

Leeds pulled a goal back. Revie said the pitch invasion had been justified...he would wouldn't he!
To rub it in, the Albion manager, Alan Ashman, agreed the goal was offside. Not helpful.

Leeds were nudged off the table and it stayed like that till the end of the season. Arsenal were champs, by one point and a very slightly greater "goal diffference".

Leeds maintained their demonstration, so the Football League got bored and made Leeds pay a fine...not financial; their first next four league games must be played away from home.
This event was the start of a series of shameful stories associated with football and over the next 15 years there was going to be more trouble.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBhpJZJ8O6U
BTW Spurs were 3rd , in the division that year, only 12 pts adrift!

Ironically, the state of play in the Championship at the moment (2020) is:
1. Leeds played 37 GD 26 Total 71 pts
2. WBA  played 37 GD 27 Total 70 points
3. Fulham with 64 points!

Happy Days.

DENNIS DOUBLES

In 1937, 149,547 (at least) turned up to watch Scotland beat England at Hampden Park 3-1. Fred Steele put the visitors ahead but after half time the fortunes turned round, as Frank O'Donnell and Bob Mc Phail (2) secured the victory in front of the huge crowd.
Some say that more than 150,000 actually saw the game in the stadium, but the official attendaance was a record for the Scots' home ground and the largest for a European International match and the highest ever for a "Home International match". (i.e. Eng, Scot. Wales and Ireland)

In 1943, when there were "Wartime" internationals, England played Scotland on the 17th April at Hampden and beat them soundly 4-0. The famous Raich Carter scored twice, along with Dennis Westcott (Wolves) and Dennis Compton (The Arsenal also the cricketer) one each.

England played the Scots again at Maine Road (Manchester City FC) on October 16th and thumped them 8-0. The FA Chairman, England international, Old Carthusian, Charles Wreford Brown (below), was gushing with enthusiasm about the English victory. Of course the English team had been playing with and against each other in various forces' football matches, club matches and so on, maintaining morale for the troops and fitness for the players.
And the link is.........Man City......
More excitement on this day a few years later, at The Etihad......
http://www.footymad.net/news/tmnw/on_this_day_in_football_history_april_17_spurs_stun_man_city_man_utd_win_derby_m_946035/index.shtml
I hope this works for you...if not get a You Tube version of the game...worth watching who ever you support!

LOADS OF REDS

If you haven't read the account of the Leeds United and Chelsea tie, the FA Cup replay in 1970, then you should. Some of us will remember the games, you youngsters need to be educated. In the Telegraph today, Michael Oliver "re-referees" the match and concludes that there would have been even more red cards and so on, based on present laws and attitudes. It was the first replayed final since 1912. the seventh goal in the 224th minute of the extended final saw Chelsea win the cup for the first time. Ian Hutchinson's well known long throw and David Webb's header in the 104th minute of the replay....inevitable that goals come in those dying minutes when concentration is low.

In World Cup matches, there have been a number of "RED card" events. 
The first recorded "sending off " was in 1930 when Placido Galindo (above) was dismissed from the Peru side v Romania on July 14th. No red cards in those days just a lot of whistling and pointing to the tunnel. It was the only dismissal in the tournament.

In 1934: only one sending off-Imre Markos of Hungary Q-Final v Austria-lost 1-2
1938: there were 4 dismissals and of course, no tournaments in the War years and so in.....
1950: there were NO sending offs.
1954: there were 3,
1958= 3,
1962= 6,
1966= 5 including Rattin of Argentina v England after 35 mins at Wembley.
1970: NONE The red card was introduced this time but nobody deserved it.
1974: 5, Carlos Caszely of Chile received the first red card v West Germany bringing down West Germany's Berti Vogts. Chile lost 0-1.
1978: 3
1982: 5
1986: 8, including Ray Wilkins in the 1st Rd v Morocco after 42 mins and Uruguay's Jose Batista  bringing down Gordon Strachan of Scotland
1990: 16
1994: 15
1998: 22  Beckham v Argentina (Rattin's revenge? in a 2nd Rd game 42')  See photo below.
2002: 17  Ronaldinho v  England in the Q-F
2006: 28  Rooney v Portugal in the Q-F.....a tournament where Graham Poll booked Josip Simunic of Croatia against Australia after 61', 90' and 93' (yes three times) which Graham Poll had to account for!
2010: 17
2014: 10
2018: 4

Some recent famous players to fall foul in World Cup finals:
1990 Pedro Monzo of Argentina and Gustav Dezott v West Germany in the final and Desailly of France.
1994 Rigobert Song of the Cameroon, sent off and again in 1998. The first to do this.
1998 Marcel Desailly, from his winning W.Cup French team, the first player to have this.
2006 Zinedine Zidane, France, was the first captain to walk. Also he was sent off in two finals, his first in 1998. And below v Materazzi
https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-itm-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=itm&p=Zidame+head+butt#id=3&vid=1a6f4a80dbcbf05089959e64c4b44f12&action=click
and in the 2006 tournament "The Battle of Nuremberg" 4 reds, with 2 sent off from both teams, Portugal v Netherlands, and 16 yellows handed out by referee Valentin Ivanov.

RIGGS' RUG

https://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/giggs-settles-epic-semi-final/179127

It was April 14th (not today) granted!!! but in 1999, the FA Cup Semi-Final Replay; Manchester United v Arsenal followed a 0-0 after extra time first tie, at Villa Park. Villa Park hosted it again and the game was a whole lot more exciting as United and The Gunners produced "a game of the century".

The link tells the story; it had everything,,,,,, Wegner, Ferguson's over time, Elleray (Public school Geographer teacher), Keane's Red Card, Giggs' chest rug, Overmars, The Romford Pele, Phil Neville, Bergkamp, Schmeichel....

The next round, THE FINAL, was a formality for United who put Newcastle United to bed 2-0.
I saw it.

IN:
Round 3 Newcastle beat Crystal Palace 2-1 and Man U 3-1 Middlesbrough b oth at home.
Round 4 Newcastle beat Bradford City 3-0 and MU beat Liverpool 2-1 both at home.
Round 5 Newcastle drew 0-0 at home v Blackburn Rovers and won away 0-1, United 1 v 0 Fulham
Round 6 Q-Final Man U 0-0 v Chelsea and then won 2-0 away; Newcastle 4 v 1 Everton
Semi: Newcastle Utd 2-0 Tottenham, Man U as above.

Some eccentricities from the previous rounds:
Barnsley reached the Quarter-final Rd v6 and lost at home to Spurs 0-1.
Barnsley beat Bristol Rovers in Round 5 4-1
In Round 5 Arsenal and Sheffield Utd played a "Void game"...see below
https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/ars-ne-wenger-offers-fa-cup-rematch

In Rd 3 Rushden and Diamonds held Leeds Utd to a 0-0 at home and then lost 3-1 in replay.
In Rd 2 Darlington held Man City to a 1-1 draw and then lost 1-0 in extra time.
In Rd 1 Bedlington Terriers hosting the North-east beat Colchester Utd from the South-east 4-1!

THE 1980's AND THE FA CUP

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/04/all-fours.html

Two years ago I wrote the above on the 14th April 2018. I thought it appropriate especially when such a "lowly" club as Plymouth Argyle was in the cup "giant killers frame" playing in the FA Cup Semi-final. I guess the fighting powers of Sir Francis Drake may have stirred the Argyle into enough action to get to the semis. Or maybe it was just bone lucky!
If you follow their path to the FA Cup Semi-finals in 1983-4, then you will see that "The Pilgrims" had an easy ride, relatively. We have to wonder what happened to the big guns that season?

Everton were hardly challenged en route to the final either! sweeping aside Stoke City, Gillingham, Shrewsbury Town. Notts County and Southampton in the semis. Where were the others?

The 1980s were swinging, with Elton John strutting his stuff, and his club Watford, of course, losing to Everton in the Final. But the decade saw other lesser mortals in the Football League having the opportunity to get to Wembley.

In 1982, QPR took Spurs to a replay at Wembley after the first final  1-1, losing 0-1 five days .

In 1983 Brighton and Hove Albion brought a bit of South coast pride to Wembley when Gordon Smith missed a sitter in the last minute of extra-time with his team at 2-2 v Manchester United.
The Brighton Fanzine named itself after Peter Jones' commentary of the moment "And Smith must score!" Smith had scored earlier in the game to give the Seagulls a 1-0 lead but that was pegged back and Brighton lost the replay at Wembley 4-0! DOH!!! See Smith in Blue below.

The moment when Gary Bailey saved Smith's underpowered shot.
It was Matt Busby's 74th Birthday! and Brighton were relegated from the First Division (top one in those days) also.
To get to the final, Brighton had beaten Newcastle Utd in a replay at St James' Park, Manchester City 4-0, Liverpool (the League Champions and League Cup winners away), Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday.
United's Norman Whiteside was the youngest player to score in an FA Cup Final when he headed United's second goal. He was 18 years and 19 days old.

In 1980 Arsenal became the first club to appear in three successive finals in that century.
Pat Rice of Arsenal became the first player to appear in 5 finals for one club.
Paul Allen of West Ham was the youngest player to tread the sacred turf in a Cup Final  at 17 years and 256 days.
Arsenal equalled Newcastle United's tally of 11 finals.
It was Wembley's third all London final.
Arsenal and Liverpool had met in the longest FA Cup semi-final. (0-0. 1-1, 1-1, 1-0) 420 minutes in all.
West Ham's victory was a Second Division's club's third win in 8 seasons.
Trevor Brooking's winning nod in the 13th minute was only the third time in his distinguished career that he had scored with a header.

1987 was of course, Coventry's win over Spurs; they had never been further than the Cup 6th Round and their highest league position was 6th in Division One (the top one) once. Twice behind in the final, they rallied to win 3-2. See a previous recent blog with Houchen's header.

1988 was Wimbledon's defeat of the "Culture Club", Liverpool, 1-0 (I was there!!) When John  Aldridge missed a crucial penalty (or at least Beasant saved it), it was the first time a penalty had been saved in an FA Cup Final.

Wimbledon, 11 years earlier had been a "Southern League" Club: Non-League. Indeed I played against them! Liverpool at the time were First Division League Champions (by 9 points) and were expecting The Double. Beasant was the first goalie to receive the FA Cup as captain of his team.

In 1989 sanity sort of prevailed at last with a Merseyside Derby and Liverpool winning 3-2 over Everton; all this after the Hillsborough Disaster.

THE FIRST LEAGUES

1888, Queen Victoria was still Queen of Great Britain and Empress of an India on which the sun was still rising. WG GRace captained England's cricket team for the first time at the age of 40, John L. ullivan was the last bare-knuckled heavyweight champion of the World and Winston Churchill was an unhappy schoolboy at Harrow School.

William McGregor of Perthshire, Scotland, was the founder of the Football League. He moved to Birmingham and opened a shop near Villa Park. McGregor joined AVFC and the face of football changed for ever.

Although the Public Schools, Universities and Officers' Messes had helped formulated the laws (1863), had formed a successful FA Cup (1872), created international matches and professionalism had been organised, other friendly matches could be called off at short notice, clubs with hefty wage bills might be left "adrift" with no income, there was  no regular fixture card. There was chaos.

McGregor wrote a now famous letter to Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Preston NE, WBA and Aston Villa (his club!) encouragng them and some other clubs to gather together and establish a league of twelve clubs playing home and away fixtures. Professional was allowed on July 20th 1885.

On March 22nd 1888 at Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, London and then again on April 17th at the Royal Hotel, Manchester, battle lines were agreed. A Blue Plaque is sited on the building.

Preston NE, Blackburn R, Bolton W. Everton, Burnley, Accrington from the north and Midlanders, Aston V, WBA, Wolves, Notts County, Derby C and Stoke (later Stoke City) provided another six clubs with no invitations going further south because there was no professionalism south of Birmingham. McGregor was appointed President. Using established rules, the clubs were obliged to fulfil all fixtures. It was on September 8th 1888 that the new Football League kicked off. The name was the idea of Major Willaim Sudell of Preston NE and first league goal was scored by Jack Gordon of Preston NE (below), whose club won the first League competition, without losing a match. Aston Villa were runners up and Stoke City came bottom.

In April 1888, a rival league came into existence, named the Football Combination. Those involved were disgruntled by the earlier formation of the Football League, which was not regarded as representative of English football. Founding members were:
Blackburn Olympic, Bootle, Burslem Port Vale, Crewe Alexandra, Darwen, Derby Midland, Grinsby Town, Haliwell, Leek, Lincoln City, Long Eaton Rangers, Notts Rangers, Newton Heath (later Man Utd) Northwich Victoria, Small Heath Alliance (Birmingham City), Wallsall Town Swifts and Witton. They agreed to arrange fixtures between clubs and not centrally...unsurprisingly it didn't work. The Combination folded before the end of the first season. It later became the Football Alliance (1889) which lasted 3 years and was absorbed by the Football League as a Second Division in 1892.

In 1889,  the Northern League (the second oldest League) based in the north-east, absorbed the clubs not invited previously. Clubs were:
Darlington St Augustines won the first season; Middlesbrough Ironopolis then dominated the competition and even moved up to the Football League for one season before resigning. Other clubs winning the Northern League were: Middlesbrough, Darlington, Stockton, Bishop Auckland and Newcastle United.

Southern clubs eventually accepted the "modern state of the game" by forming the Southern League in 1895.

COVENTRY CITY CUP WINNERS

April 12th 1987 saw Coventry City and Leeds United meet in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsbororough.

In the Semi-final Coventry scored three through Micky Gynn. Houchen and David Bennett. Leeds managed two through David Rennie and Keith Edwards and the game went to extra time. Final score 3-2. Over 51,000 watched this.

Getting to the final, Coventry also beat: 
Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 in the quarter-final at Hillsborough (good practice for the semi)
Stoke City away in Rd 5 0-1
Manchester United away in Rd 4 0-1
Bolton W at home in Rd 3 3-0

You will remember the Final because the Sky Blues beat Spurs 3-2 in a memorable game and Keith Houchen made his name with a superb diving headed goal. Can you read the cartoon names? bennett was the key man.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bcdyl


Tottenham, on the other hand beat Watford in the semi-final: 4-1
Wimbledon away 0-2 in Q-F
Newcastle Utd home 1-0 in Rd 5
Crystal Palace home 4-0 in Rd 4
Scunthorpe Utd 3-2 home in Rd 3. so looked favourites.

On the same day of the year in 2003 Yeovil Town stormed the Conference and won their way to the Football League by 17 points in their 107th year. They played 42 games, won 28 and drew 11, scoring 100 v 37.

On the same day in 1924 England met Scotland at Wembley for the first time with 37,250 watching. It was a drab 1-1 draw. England had also lost to Wales in March 1-2 and later beat Ireland 3-1 at Goodison Pk. Aston Villa's Frank Moss was captain of England, only earning 5 caps. He played 255 times for Aston Villa between 1914-29, playing in the FA Cup winning in 1920 and was a runner up in 1924. Frank retired from football in 1939, he fought in the war and was injured and you guessed it, he became a Licenced Victualler.