DENTIST CHAIR

June 15th conjours up the Dentist Chair. If you read this past blog first, then you will get the drift.

https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-want-england-to-win.html 

Today's blog recognises the anniversary of an historic England v Scotland match played at Wembley, on June 15th 1996, a Group match as part of the Euro'96 Tournament. 

The two teams met for the first time for seven years, a fixture partly "avoided" due to over excessive rivalry between the two "warring " nations-the crowd that is.

You may remember the Scots invading Wembley, in 1967, after their boys beat England 2-3, England of course were World Cup holders. The Scots claimed they were the best in the World!

76,864 watched Alan Shearer put England ahead, David Seaman saved a Gary McAllister penalty and then Gascoigne conjured up the wonderful humiliation of Colin Hendry and his defence resulting in the dreaded "Dentist's Chair" incident, a goal celebration clearly practised in the past, sometimes on a football pitch! See below.

In their Group, England and Switzerland drew 1-1 on June 8th, Shearer scoring the first of his 7 tournament goals, earning him the Golden Boot.. 

On the 15th June, Scotland were beaten by Shearer and Gascoigne's goals and then in the next game, with some swagger, Shearer scored a brace, including a penalty, beating the Netherlands 4-1, with Teddy Sheringham adding 2 also.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Scotland+v+England+Wembley+1996#id=3&vid=25b97b68ca359ebc94764fc4cd9e17cc&action=view

In the next tie, the Quarter-finals, England beat Spain on penalties 4-2 following a drab 0-0 draw and in the semi-final it was the Germans who beat us (or maybe we beat ourselves) 5-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Shearer scored after 3 minutes. 

Germany then beat the Czechs in the Wembley Final 2-1 with a Golden Goal in the 95th minute.

ENOUGH TO DRIVE YOU POTTY

It's been a miserable May and June, with rain falling incessantly, but go back to the Winter of 1946-7 which meant that the final seven league games of the First Division season were being played on June 14th 1947.
Stoke City needed a win over Sheffield United to take the First Division title, needing to pip Liverpool, but the Potters lost 1-2 and that was that.

The first First Division title, post war, went to Anfield for the fifth time and classically, neighbours Everton had won the 1939 season, book ending the war years.
Needless to say there was a gap in official football for those few years in between, while other battles in Europe were held.

Champions Liverpool had played 42 matches won 27, drawn 7, and scored 84 conceding 52 goals were on top with 57 pts.

Stoke having lost their last game, finished on 55 points, winning 24 drawing 7 scoring 90 and letting in 53. In those days a win was worth 2 points and goal "average" or "ratio" (a method used since 1894-5) would have been calculated if the points had been equal. Stoke (1.698 v 1.615) would have won the division by that calculation had they beaten the Blades.
Stoke had beaten Liverpool 2-1 at home in the league but lost away.

The Football League changed Goal Average/Ratio in 1976-7 to Goal Difference (goals For minus Against).

The first division top looked like this: Liverpool  57, Manchester Utd 56, Wolves 56, Stoke 55, Blackpool 50, Sheffield Utd 49.
Leeds were root with 18 points, with Brentford at 25 next , Huddersfield 33, and Charlton 34 above them.

In the First Division the following teams were playing south of the Midlands-Portsmouth, Brentford, Chelsea, Charlton and Arsenal. Stoke, Wolves, Derby and Villa were Midland clubs the rest came from north of Sheffield, including Grimsby!!

Charlton Athletic won the Cup beating Burnley 1-0 in 1947 having lost the Cup the previous year to Derby 4-1. They became the 10th club to lose the cup one year and return to win it the next! Name the rest up to 1947.

The post-war Government had banned mid week football for a while to help boost production.
This should have been published yesterday!

TERESA GONE; BORIS BORES IN.

Looking at the state of the Government, I thought I might resurrect this Blog from last year that sums up our retiring leader. Bless her.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/theresa-may-but-shouldnt.html

and here's a short note about Theresa's likely successor, Boris, the Old Etonian, whom I am pretty sure did not play "soccer" at his school. I am not sure he played rugby properly either!
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Boris+playing+football#id=1&vid=593c4083dfa5b3e254f603a52bab7d8a&action=click

and another
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-pty-pty_extension&hsimp=yhs-pty_extension&hspart=pty&p=Boris+playing+football#id=2&vid=40b8c6e204e81205c8659715ed6067ac&action=view
Boris played rugby at Balliol College, Oxford and no doubt had a dabble in Aussie Rules during his GAP year at Geelong GS, Victoria, Australia.

THE COPA-BARA

A capybara, the mascot  for the 46th Copa America 2019, is known as Zizito, which is hunted in Brazil for its meat, fur and fatty skin oil used in the pharmaceutical industry! Its a big guinea pig! It pays homage to Zizinho, a Brazilian striker who shares the Copa goal scoring record of 17 goals in the tournament. Brazil hosts the tournament this year. and the final is to be held at the Maracana.

CONMEBOL (the continent's version of UEFA) organises the  tournament which takes place every other year and sometimes over longer gaps, depending on World Cup dates etc. This year it is Brazil's turn to host, having had the honour in the first competition in 1916 with just 4 countries. This year they will host in Rio, Sao, Belo, Porto, Salvador(o).
The South American nations taking part are:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (hosts), Chile (holders, having beaten Argentina on penalties), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The Copa Americo Centennial Trophy designed in Epico Studios USA, made by Thomas Lyte Co in London and presently held by Chile, who have won it in the last two competitions and never before.

The Copa (then known as the South American Championship) was first played for in 1916 with four teams, and has been won by the following nations: Argentina 14 (won the first), Uruguay 15, Brazil 8, Peru 2, Paraguay 2, Chile 2, Bolivia 1, Colombia 1. (45)
Argentina and Uruguay have dominated the competition especially from the early days with Brazil gradually having an influence.

ANOTHER WORLD CUP FOR ENGLAND

This lot won the Under 20 World Cup on June 11th 2017 and thus there is hope for the "grown up" World Cup in 2022.
Played in Suwon, South Korea, the young English scored through Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)  after 35 minutes and were "saved" by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman of Newcastle who "saved" a penalty in the second half and was he awarded the Golden Glove for the tournament.

Alongside Calvert-Lewin were Everton colleagues Jonjoe Kenny, Ademola Lookman and Kieran Dowell (on loan to Sheffield Utd)
Chelsea were represented by Fiyako Tomori (on loan at Derby), Jake Clarke-Salter Vitesse), Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth) was voted Golden Ball winner,
Spurs by Josh Onomah and Kyle Walker-Peters
Arsenal by Ainsley Maitland-Niles (loan to Ipswich) and Liverpool by Sheyi Ojo (Stade Reims) and Lewis Cook from Bournemouth.
The lads were managed by Paul Simpson (previously Newcastle) the modern day Alf Ramsey!

On their way to the Final the Young Lions played Argentina (3-0), Guinea (1-1) and South Korea (1-0) topping their Group and then beat Costa Rica in the last 16, Mexico in the quarter-final (last 8) and Italy 3-1 in the semi.
Venezuela beat Uruguay on pens in their semi-final having scored an equaliser in the 90th +1 minute.

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES

 Somewhere between Liverpool and Everton is the Homebaked Community Land Trust (CLT) and Cooperative Bakery, formerly Mitchells' Bakery. It is a "High Street" business, co-owned and produced by local people, employing 15 local people, the business is set on the boundary of the two Liverpool districts. Have a look at 197, Oakfield Road, L4 0UF, where you will find the pie shop, midst abandoned factories and derelict buildings. The business is sourcing local suppliers, boosting the area's economy.

The building has been saved from demolition, helping a regeneration of the local High Street, the project started in 2017, complete with an apartment above the shop, the first "housing" development in the project.

The Pie business has won awards in 2017, amongst competitors from 150 producers and 963 pies, winning 5 prizes produced by Chef Stephan Sundermeier. Stephan says that the Scouse Pie is the favourite and like all football clubs they have great sales on match days especially.

Along side the Gold medal winner, the Chicken Gumbo Pie won silver and so the Shankly, Mushroom and Brandy and Steak and Cheese have been awarded bronze. Don't forget the Cheese and Onion and Pea and Mint.

Liverpool card holders know that they can bag a free cuppa along with their Scouse pie, flaky pastry, tender chunks of beef and brown sauce set it off perfectly. There is also a bakery workshop available.

Nearby is the Homegrown Collective, a group of local women, who support local gardening and growing projects on unused land nearby creating a non-profit group that also offers a social gathering for local people. This is funded by the Homes England Community Housing Fund and Power to Change. Any profits are ploughed back into the system.

ENGLAND v SCOTLAND LADIES

England play Scotland today; the longest international fixture in history?? NOT!! Its the Ladies/Womens' international, a World Cup fixture being held at Nice in France, the first time Scotland has appeared in the Womens' World Cup finals.

The England team also have Argentina and Japan to get past in their group, if they wish to qualify for further fixtures in France.

Sir Philip Sidney in the 16th Century write a "Dialogue Between Two Shepherds" which happened to mention women and football. Mary Queen of Scots seemed to favour the game when she saw a mob playing football in Carlisle in 1568 and in Scotland there was considerable interest in the game, which of course was in its infancy at that time.

Helen Graham Matthews, using a pseudonym of Mrs Graham was a suffragette and lady footballer from Montrose. She formed a Scottish team called The Lady Footballer that played against England at Easter Road in Edinburgh on May 9th 1881. The inspiration for her was watching the England v Scotland match at the Oval in 1881. Matthews played in goal.

The next international match was played at Shawfield Athletic FC which the Scots won 3-0, however they played in trousers which brought much derision and a ban by the Scottish FA.  Large crowds came to watch the games which often ended up in a riot!

Later Matthews (see below) formed the British Ladies Football team which included the first black female footballer, Carrie Boustead (not pictured).

Needless to say, at this time the Ladies game was banned so Matthews and Nettie Honeyball formed a team called the Lady Footballer in England. Matthews left the team in 1896 and formed her own team, Mrs Graham's XI that played a Scottish men's team at Irvine.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/dickladies-and-co.html

By 1971 Scottish Ladies were allowed use the Scottish FA facilities and were allowed to play in Football League grounds. In 1972 England Women were 0-2 down to Scotland but recovered to win 3-2. For Scotland Rose Reilly scored two and became a World Cup winner, but for Italy in 1983.