JULY 20th A VERY IMPORTANT DATE

On Thursday, July 20th 1871 at a Football Association meeting held at the Sportsman newspaper offices, the FA secretary, Charles Alcock, proposed the setting up of a new football competition. He stated ‘That it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete’. The proposal was accepted and the FA Cup, the oldest national football competition in the world, was born. Fifteen clubs were accepted into the first competition with the first FA Cup matches being played on Saturday, November 11th, 1871. The Wanderers won the first competition beating the Royal Engineers 1-0 in the Final.

and coincidentally in 1966 on the same date, July 20th,
in their FIFA World Cup Finals, group match, Roger Hunt scored twice to give England a 2-0 victory over France at Wembley which saw them qualify for the quarter finals of the World Cup. AND the rest is history....98,270 watched. I did but on a neighbours black and white tv!

Prior to this the first group was against Uruguay, which was almost "called off" as the England players had left their identity cards in their hotel. A police rider was sent to retrieve them. The successful team earned £1,000 and £60 appearance money, less tax. Sir Alf was gifted a bonus of £6,000.

AND tonight our Women play Spain at 8pm in the Quarter-Final of the Euro Championship at The Falmer Stadium, Brighton. Expect a full house, in this magnificent stadium nestled in the South Downs. The first competitive game played at the stadium was the 2010–11 season final of the Sussex Senior Cup between Brighton and Eastbourne Borough on 16 July 2011 (sorry I can only make "coincidences" stretch so far).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4n800MHzlQ

Other ties are:Germany v Austria at Brentford: Sweden v Belgium at Leigh SC and France v Netherlands at The New York Stadium, Rotherham. Know why it carries this name??

The stadium was opened in 2012 and ii is named after the local area to the east of Sheffield city, on the site of the old "Guest and Crimes" Iron Foundry. Since you are observant urban geographers, the industrial part of the Sheffield conurbation is sited EAST of the city, ensuring that any fumes from the associated industries (mainly iron and steel) are driven away from the settlements by the prevailing winds blowing from the WEST! A common feature in many British cities.

Hence, a football ground sited amongst the populous to the east of the city. So why New York? The foundry manufactured the fire hydrants that you see on American movies when a car chase in the Big Apple, ends up with one of the vehicles smashing into the "fire hydrant" on the sidewalk and creating a fountain.  They named the area in Rotherham after the place!

The first game played at the stadium was a pre-season match (never a friendly!) between Rotherham and Barnsley, held on 21st (fair enough not the 20th) July 2012.