Saturday, 31 May 2025

KEN AND THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO

Ken Aston, the referee, had been in charge of some controversial matches in his time, and one called the "Battle of Santiago" (below) played during the 1962 World Cup between Chile and Italy, left him with some concern about the practical management of the Laws of the Game.

He retired from practical refereeing in 1963 following that season's FA Cup Final and was then put in charge of FIFA refereeing. In 1966 at England's World Cup tournament, the infamous quarter-final match between England and Argentina, saw Antonio Ratin, an Argentinian, sent off following "violence of the tongue", even though the German referee, could speak no Spanish and Antonio Rattin, no English. Aston had to come down from the stands, to the pitch and persuade Rattin to leave the field following an 8 minute stubborn and confused protest. The morning after the match, both Bobby and Jack Charlton read in the newspaper that they had also pilcked a caution by the referee, but only Yellows! Their match manager, Alf Ramsey, read it too and had to clarify the situation with FIFA, just in case something happened in the following World Cup ties!

Aston was driving home, one day, from work along Kensington High Street, when he was repeatedly stopped by traffic lights and he was giving the signals some thought, which led to him thinking, Yellow-take it easy; Red-finished; He thought that this might be the way to overcoming the problem caused by language differences in football, especially when international matches were being played and language differences were common. Ken got home and discussed it with his colleagues, when eventually the idea was accepted and introduced in the 1970 Mexico tournament with Red and Yellow cards introduced. It did not take long for the first card to be introduced and it was in the opening match of the tournament on May 31st 1970, when Evegny Lovchev of the USSR, was the first player to be cautioned with a Yellow Card and the action was clearly successful as no Reds were used during the whole tournament! Hard to believe isn't it?

Aston, below, was asked once if any other events stood out in his life? "As a World War 2 soldier", he replied, "I suppose hanging some senior Japanese officers stands out most in my mind!"

Friday, 30 May 2025

WOBBLY GROBBELY

On this day,30th May 1984, the year before the Heysel disaster, Liverpool FC had won the European Cup (as it was called then) thanks in no small part to their eccentric goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar. Roma was their opponent and the match played at the Olimpico, Roma's home ground. The score was level at 1-1 after extra time and so penalties were needed which pulled back the curtains for the "clown" goalie!! Don't drop it Brucie!

Bruce used his spaghetti legs routine to distract the opponents penalty takers. Not sportsmanlike? Not against the laws assuning that the goalie did not moving his position until the ball left the penalty spot! It seemed to work as Bruno Conti and Franceso Gaziani both missed their spot kicks and Bruce said, "People sair I was being disrespectful to their players, but I was just testing tyheir concentration under pressure, I guess they failed the test."

Tough eh!!! See this https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=588814096076359

Thursday, 29 May 2025

DON ROGERS, SWINDON AND THE BRACELET

On March 15th 1969, Swindon Town became the second, Third Division, team to win the Football League Cup in three seasons and it was Don Rogers, who proved to be their midfield star, leading them from "the front" and making a name for himself. At the usually pristine Wembley, Rogers stunned Arsenal, dancing over the "quagmire" left behind by the Horse of the Year show, churned up after a silly decision by "Wembley" to host the competition shortly before the League Cup Final. Rogers turned on the style with one of his mazey dribbling solo runs, securing a seismic shock 3-1 victory. Winning the trophy should have qualified Swindon Town for a place in the next season's Inter City Fairs' Cup but the Football Association did not allow the club to represent their "Association" just as they have prevented Rodney Marsh's QPR from playing in the same cup in 1967, owing to the club's "lowly status".

Swindon did get their "day in the sun" by compensation, as the club was given a place in the newly provided Anglo-Italian League Cup. Swindon were drawn to play Coppa Italian winners, AS Roma, a team featuring midfielder, Fabio Copello. Swindon lost the first leg in Rome 1-2 and soundly made up for that by scoring 4 to NONE at their County Ground, winning 5-2 on aggregate. The competition was regarded as a success and it was decided to run more competitions in the future.

In 1970, Swindon entered the first official Anglo-Italian cup with five other teams from England and six from Italy. The Football League provided Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland and Wolves in the English group and Italian put in Napoli, Juventus, Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Vincenza (at the time known as Lanerossi). Swindon topped the English table and Napoli won theirs, so they were to meet Napoli in their stadium, the Sao Paulo.

Swindon went 3-0 up in 63 minutes with Arthur Horsfield leading the way; the home crowd erupted and chucked bottles and stones at the visitors. Benches were torn up, missiles thrown and the game abandoned! Swindon were awarded the trophy!! Over 100 fans were injured and around £20,000 worth of damage done. Don Rogers was not over come with emotion, he had won his medal and his wife got a nice bracelet.

https://www.townenders.com/reference.php?reference=1970_AIC

1969 Anglo-Italian League Cup

Match programme cover from second-leg

Event

1969 Anglo-Italian League Cup

Swindon Town	A.S. Roma
The FA	FIGC
5	2

First leg

Swindon Town	A.S. Roma
1	2

Date

27 August 1969

Venue

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Second leg

A.S. Roma	Swindon Town
0	4

Date

10 September 1969

Venue

County Ground, Swindon

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

THE PREMIER LEAGUE AND THE REST

On May 27th in 1992 all the clubs in the season's First Division resigned from the Football League, en masse, and made themselves available for the newly formed FA Premier League. The change made mo difference to the "competition"nor the rules but it did mean that the "Top Flight" could now negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship rights independently from the Football League.

The competition was founded as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992, following the decision of First Division (the top-tier league from 1888 until 1992) clubs to break away from the English Football League. However, teams are still relegated to and promoted from the EFL Championship at the conclusion of each season. The Premier League is a corporation managed by a Cheif Executive, with member clubs acting as shareholders. The Premier League takes advantage of a £5 billion television rights deal, with Sky and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 128 and 32 games, respectively. This deal will rise to £6.7 billion for the four seasons from 2025 to 2029.The league is projected to earn US$7.2 billion in overseas TV rights from 2022 to 2025. Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016-17, with a further £343 million in solidarity payments to EFL clubs.

The Premier League is the most-watched sports' league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes, with a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. As of 2024/25, the Premier League has the highest average match attendance of any association football league in the world, at 40,430 per game, and the highest aggregate attendance. Most stadiums operate close to full capacity. The Premier League is currently ranked first in the UEFA Coefficient Ranking, based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, ahead of Spain's La Liga. The English top-flight has produced the second highest number of members of European Cup/ UEFA Champions League titles, with a record six English clubs having won fifteen European cups in total.

Over that period, 51 teams have played in the Premier League, two of which, Cardiff City and Swansea are located in Wales; they play in the English Football League system for practical and historical reasons.

Preston North End are the only former top-flight First Division champions who have never played in the Premier League; they are among a group of fourteen, twelve of which are active, that have played in the old First Division but not in the Premier League. By contrast, Barnsley, Bournemouth, Hull City, Reading, Swindon Town and Wigan Athletic never played in the old First Division before being promoted to the Premier League in 1997, 2015, 2008, 2006, 1993 and 2005, respectively.

Eleven of the 22 founder members of the Premier League will compete in the 2025–26 season. Six (Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham) have contested every season of the Premier League. The remaining five, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Leeds United, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, were also founder members, though each team has been relegated at least once in the past. Two clubs, Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford, are not founding members of the Premier League, but have not been relegated since making their debuts in the Premier League after promotion in 2017 and 2021, respectively.

These clubs have played in the English and Welsh TOP Flight but not in the Premier League: Carlisle, Preston North End, Grimsby, Notts County, Northampton, Oxford Utd, Bristol City, Leyton Orient and Millwall.

Overall number of seasons in First Division and Premier League.

The number of seasons that each team has played in the top division between 1888-9 and 2024-5. A total of 65 teams have competed in at least one season of the top division.

Below the number of seasons at the "TOP". No team has participated in all 126 seasons; Everton have been absent for the fewest seasons, missing just four making a total of 122 seasons in the top flight. Teams in bold participate in the 2024-5 Premier League. Teams in italic have never competed in the Premier League, only the old First Division.

	Clubs
122	Everton
111	Aston Villa
110	Liverpool
108	Arsenal
100	Manchester United
96	Manchester City
93	Newcastle United
90	Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur
86	Sunderland
81	West Bromwich Albion
73	Bolton Wanderers
72	Blackburn Rovers
70	Wolverhampton Wanderers
67	West Ham United
66	Sheffield Wednesday
65	Derby County
63	Sheffield United
62	Stoke City
61	Middlesbrough
60	Burnley
59	Nottingham Forest
57	Birmingham City
56	Leicester City
53	Leeds United
47	Southampton
46	Preston North End
34	Coventry City
33	Portsmouth
32	Huddersfield Town
30	Notts County, Fulham
28	Blackpool
27	Norwich and Ipswich Town
26	Charlton Athletic
25	Crystal Palace
23	Queens Park Rangers
22	Bury
17	Cardiff City, Luton Town
14	Wimbledon, Watford
12	Grimsby, Oldham Athletic, Bradford City, Brighton and Hove Albion
9	Bristol City, Swansea City, Brentford
8	Wigan Athletic, Bournemouth
5	Accrington. Hull City
3	Bradford Park Ave, Oxford Utd, Reading
2	Darwen, Millwall
1	Glossop NE, Leyton Orient, Northampton Town, Carlisle Utd, Swindon Town, Barnsley

Monday, 26 May 2025

FEVER PITCH AND PERFECT CATCH

In 1989 on this day, Liverpool and Arsenal played out a thrilling Premier League title decider when at Anfield, the home side did not need to win! At home, Liverpool just had to avoid a two-goal defeat which would allow them to take the title. Having won their last ten home matches, Liverpool players and the adoring crowd were shocked when Alan Smith gave The Gunners the lead after 52 minutes. Later with around 80 seconds left on the clock, Liverpool fans were celebrating, but Michael Thomas had something left in his tank, when he chipped the ball over Bruce Grobelaar to grab the victory from the home side and crowd! This inspired Nick Hornby to write "Fever Pitch".

After finishing the previous season without winning any titles, Manchester United can match this excitement, when on this day in 1999, the Red Devils completed an historic Football Treble. Two late,late goals from Sheringham and Solskjaer were enough to beat Bayern Munich in the most dramatic fashion ever to a European UEFA Champions League. United had also won the Premier League and the FA Cup that season.

This made them the first English club to achieve this feat. The final match of the Champions League, where they beat Bayern Munich, was particularly dramatic, with two late goals in injury time. This event, which took place in May 1999, cemented their legacy in football history.

A 1997 film version of Fever Pitch, with a screenplay adapted by Hornby, fictionalised the story, concentrating on Arsenal's First Division championship-winning season in 1988-9 and its effect on the protagonist's romantic relationship. Paul Ashworth, played by Colin Firth, the character based on Hornby, a teacher at a school in North London and his burgeoning romance with Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell), a new teacher who joins Ashworth's school. The film culminates with Arsenal playing title rivals Liverpool in the final game of the season on 26 May 1989, in which a last minute Michael Thomas goal gives Arsenal the 2–0 win they need to win the title. Fever Pitch compares Hornby's life at Arsenal and other football clubs.

A 2005 film remake of Fever Pitch, directed by the Farrelly Brothers with Hornby as an executive producer, starred Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. In this adaptation (based on the 1997 film, not the 1992 book), the action is moved from London to Boston, the focus of the protagonist's obsession is shifted from football to baseball and the story is based on the 2004 Boston Red Sox season, which culminated with the team's first Major League Baseball World series victory in 86 years. This championship was entirely coincidental; the 2005 version was being filmed during the 2004 regular season, including scenes filmed at Fenway Park during actual games. As the Red Sox continued to progress through the playoffs, the Farrellys rewrote the script to include the historic moment. The movie was renamed The Perfect Catch outside North America, to avoid confusion with the 1997 film.

Sunday, 25 May 2025

ATHLETIC v ORIENT A South London Derby

The distance between Charlton Athletic FC's, The Valley and Leyton Orient FC's, Brisbane Road is approximately18.6 miles. Brisbane Road is located in Leyton, East London, and The Valley is in Charlton, south-east London.

Within seconds of the final whistle being blown this afternoon...yes, after today's League One Play Off contest at Wembley, between the two London clubs, Charlton Athletic's1-0 success over Leyton Orient meant that the Charlton club was elevated to the Championship. Losers, Leyton Orient, must remain in League One.

Score	1-0 to Charlton Athletic: Gillesphey 31 mins
Competition	League One Play-Offs Final
Venue	Wembley Stadium
Attendance	76,193

In history the results have been Charlton has won 27 times, drawn 10, lost 21= 58 in total.

The first fixture between the two was played at Leyton Orient on December 2nd 1933, in Div 3 South. Charlton won 1-3.

Orient's first victory was on Jan 11 1936 3-0 in the FA Cup 3rd Rd

Recent results between the two have been in Charlton's favour, mainly:

17 Aug 2024	Charlton Athletic v Leyton Orient	W	1-0	League One
10 Dec 2024	Charlton Athletic v Leyton Orient	L	0-2	Football League Trophy
01 Mar 2025	Leyton Orient v Charlton Athletic	W	1-2	League One and today..
25 May 2025	Charlton Athletic v Leyton Orient	W	1-0	League One Play-Offs

Saturday, 24 May 2025

ENGLAND v MAGYARS (yes The Hungarians)

The mighty Magyars visited Wembley in 1953, on May 23rd (sorry, a day late), and it became evident that this was a "humbling experience" to the English FA, that their national team was not exactly most superior in global football. Ferenc Puskas, I hope most of you will know of or remember him, led his Hungarian team to a 3-6 victory, putting pay to the belief that England was the best in the World. This was a warm up for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and indeed it was because at the Nepstadion in Bucharest, the England team was taught a lesson in the "art" of football, winning 1-7, England's heaviest international defeat.

In 1989, "on this day", England fans may have been fearing ther worst and they stayed away from Wembley, when England met The Magyars in a friendly, played in front of a meagre 15,628. A London tube strike didn't help matters and those who braved the journey were rewarded as they enjoyed a 0-0 draw!!! This was the lowest attendance for an England home match and not recorded as an official international.