20th January 1974 Two weeks after the first Sunday matches in the FA Cup, twelve grounds hosted Football League matches for the first time on a Sunday. The first of those was at the Den when Millwall hosted Fulham in a morning Second Division fixture. The 15,143 crowd was Millwall's best of the season to date and with the other 11 clubs all recording better than average attendances it looked like Sunday football might just catch on! Millwall went on to finish 12th in the Second Division, one spot above Fulham.
It seems hard to believe now, but until comparatively recent times Football League sides did not play on a Sunday and in fact the law of the land prevented them from charging admission if they were to play on the Sabbath. It was outside influences that forced a change.
The Yom Kippur War between Israel and Arab nations, in 1973 led to the Arab members of OPEC suspending deliveries of oil to western nations who had supported Israel in the conflict. This caused an energy crisis in late 1973 which was made worse in Britain by the miners coming out on strike in February 1974. A state of emergency was declared in Britain which was followed by a three day working week to save electricity.
Football was not high on the priorities for the available power suppliers and the use of floodlights was banned; extending to power generated by private generators. All matches had to be played in daylight, so kick-off times were brought forward on Saturdays and during the week matches were played in the afternoon, reverting to the tradition of Wednesday afternoon early closing, when football played when shops were shut to make up for Saturday morning opening on High Streets.
Clubs wanted to postpone matches to the end of the season but the Football League refused as bad weather might cause fixture chaos in the last months of the season. Proposals to suspend the League and to extend it to June were also rejected.
In December 1973 the Football Association asked the Home Office for permission to play matches on Sundays. Even though floodlights would not be used, electricity was needed for the general running of the ground and it was considered that Sundays might allow a more guaranteed supply, since factories were shut. Permission was granted, but the change was not universally popular. Bob Wall a leader in the Arsenal club said: ' Playing football and making profits on a Sunday is wrong. We will not disturb the peace and quiet of the neighbourhood of Highbury on that day.' How times have changed!
Understandably, attendances plummeted for not only were the revised kick-off times unpopular but the price of petrol, which was increasing daily, and the uncertainty of employment, meant that many couldn't afford to support matches.
Sunday January 6th 1974 was an historic day, which saw four FA Cup Third Round ties played on a Sunday, the first being the Cambridge United v Oldham match, which kicked off in the morning at 11 am, resulting in a 2-2 draw. 8,479 turned up. Two weeks later, on Sunday January 20th, a dozen grounds staged League football for the first time on the Sunday, the first of those kicking off in the morning being Millwall v Fulham in the Second Division, a 1-0 win to The Lions.
A week later on Sunday 27th January the first match in the top flight was played, a Geoff Hurst penalty giving Stoke City a 1-0 home victory over Chelsea, watched by 32,000.
The same weekend saw Darlington play two home League matches - they played Stockport in Division 4, a 1-1 draw on the Saturday and Torquay on Sunday, also a draw 0-0. (att:3054) Sunday football had arrived!!!
It proved to be a popular innovation and generally attendances were considerably better than average. While not everyone was in favour of Sunday football most agreed with FA secretary Ted Croker when he said: 'Football is the national game and we should be concerned to give the public what they want and when they want it. A lot of people do want to watch football on Sundays.'
Two weeks after the first League matches on a Sunday, Swindon Town's Jimmy Allan (once of Brora Rangers in Scotland) became the first player to refuse to play on a Sunday because of his religious beliefs. The devout Christian had been an ever-present in goal for Swindon in the League up to that point but on Sunday February 3rd 1974, he was missing from the Swindon team for their Second Division match against Bolton at their County Ground. And more history was made! Result 2-2.
A devout Catholic Allan became the first British professional footballer to refuse to play on a Sunday in January 1974, with manager Les Allen (ex-Spurs) saying "Jimmy told me it would be against his religious beliefs to play on a Sunday and I respect his views." In spite of this statement, he was dropped from the first team until the beginning of the 1976-77 season!!!
If you are wondering how the clubs got around the law of the land, The Sunday Observance Act (of 1780!), which prevented an admission charge being made for football matches, as well as many other events. Well, it was a fiddle. Admission was free but you needed to buy a programme to get in. Programmes cost differing amounts depending on what part of the ground you wanted to enter. That was enough to get round the law! It was summed up nicely on the front cover of the programme for the first ever match played on a Sunday.
Yes it does seem amazing that Sunday football has not always been with us and there was genuinely a time when there was no certainty that the two would go together.
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