The first Christmas Day League match took place in 1889 when "The Invincibles", Preston North End, beat Aston Villa, in the First Division (then the top division). Nick Ross scored 3 at Deepdale for the home team, and a crowd of10,000 or more watched.
| 25 Dec 1889 | Preston North End v Aston Villa | L | 3-2 | League Division One |
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Main signed for Hibs in 1904 from Motherwell and played regularly for the club over the course of the next few seasons. He won international recognition when he was selected to play for Scotland in the 1909 Home Championship match against Ireland. Scotland won 5–0 and Main was expected to win further honours. He also played for the Scottish League team once, in February 1908.
John Sharp, a teammate of Main, later said that the incident was an accident because the Thistle player had slipped on the icy surface before making contact. Main had returned home on the night of the game, but he was rushed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, when the extent of his internal injuries were realised. An emergency operation was initially successful, but further treatment was ineffective and Main died from his injuries.
On Christmas Day in 1917, Dick, Kerr's Ladies, and The Munitionettes, played a charity game on Christmas Day at Deepdale (Preston NE) against the Arundel Coulthard's Factory. £488 was raised for charity and the Dick's Ladies won 4-0. On Boxing Day 1920 the Kerr Ladies beat St Helen's Ladies in front of 53,000, 4-0. Ladies football was here to stay.
In 1936 Hull hosted Wrexham in a Third Division South match. Ambrose Brown was sent off after 20 seconds. Some coach journey home!
In 1954 Blackpool were drawn to play Portsmouth away in a league game on Christmas Day which involved a 500 mile round trip. There was of course a return match in which Jimmy Armfield made his debut.
1957 was the last time that a full English Football League programme was held on Christmas Day. 38 matches were played and by 1959, public transport had been given the day off, so there was not a lot of movement in and out of stadia and league fixtures declined. People just couldn't travel.
Jimmy Greaves scored a hat trick+ ONE (ie FOUR) in 1957 for Chelsea against Portsmouth in a league game which Chelsea won 7-4 (27,000 saw this). and look at this.....the next day things changed....32,000 turned up to see the "return".
Some clubs kept their "Christmas" holiday fixture going and recorded bumper crowds but by December 26th 1959. Blackburn Rovers played Blackpool, winning 1-0 in Division 1 in a local derby and Coventry beat Wrexham in Division 3, 3-0. One day later on Boxing Day Blackpool beat the Rovers 1-0, to even things up.
Some clubs were scheduled to play on Boxing Day as well, but matches were postponed due to frozen pitches.
December 25th 1965 saw a Lancastrian derby with Blackpool hosting Blackburn Rovers again and winning 4-2. This was the last Christmas Day match ever and over 20,000 watched this spectacle.
The Scottish League kept a full programme going until 1976, but there was a reduced programme after that. Some Scottish clubs kept going that season, with Clydebank drawing with St Mirren and Alloa beat Cowdenbeath.
In 1983 Brentford attempted to play Wimbledon in a Third Division game on Christmas Day but there was protest and the game was brought forward to the Eve. There was protest about this also but over 6,600 turned out, the second highest attendance at Griffin Park that season. Wimbledon won 4-3.
| 25 Dec 1936 | Hull City v Wrexham | W | 1-0 | Division Three (North) |
1957 was the last time that a full English Football League programme was held on Christmas Day. 38 matches were played and by 1959, public transport had been given the day off, so there was not a lot of movement in and out of stadia and league fixtures declined. People just couldn't travel.
Jimmy Greaves scored a hat trick+ ONE (ie FOUR) in 1957 for Chelsea against Portsmouth in a league game which Chelsea won 7-4 (27,000 saw this). and look at this.....the next day things changed....32,000 turned up to see the "return".
| 25 Dec 1957 | Chelsea v Portsmouth | W | 7-4 | League Division One |
| 26 Dec 1957 | Portsmouth v Chelsea | L | 3-0 | League Division One |
Some clubs kept their "Christmas" holiday fixture going and recorded bumper crowds but by December 26th 1959. Blackburn Rovers played Blackpool, winning 1-0 in Division 1 in a local derby and Coventry beat Wrexham in Division 3, 3-0. One day later on Boxing Day Blackpool beat the Rovers 1-0, to even things up.
Some clubs were scheduled to play on Boxing Day as well, but matches were postponed due to frozen pitches.
December 25th 1965 saw a Lancastrian derby with Blackpool hosting Blackburn Rovers again and winning 4-2. This was the last Christmas Day match ever and over 20,000 watched this spectacle.
The Scottish League kept a full programme going until 1976, but there was a reduced programme after that. Some Scottish clubs kept going that season, with Clydebank drawing with St Mirren and Alloa beat Cowdenbeath.
In 1983 Brentford attempted to play Wimbledon in a Third Division game on Christmas Day but there was protest and the game was brought forward to the Eve. There was protest about this also but over 6,600 turned out, the second highest attendance at Griffin Park that season. Wimbledon won 4-3.
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