Football Facts - 5 Interesting Details of Football The First Football League
It's generally accepted the first officially organised league competition on the planet was the (English) Football League formed in 1888. Then, it contained 12 clubs all of whom were based in the North and the Midlands of England. The very first winners with the Football League Championship were Preston North End.
In 1992 with all the influx of megabucks from BSkyB (now called Sky TV), the most notable teams broke off to form their particular league referred to as FA Premier League.
Today, the original Football League has 3 divisions called; the Championship, Division 1 and Division 2.
So that England today has a total of 4 professional football leagues, with teams upgrading (promotion) or down (relegation) from the leagues based on their points tally after each season.
The First Football Association Cup (FA Cup)
goal rushThe first FA Cup final was played in England in 1872 between Royal Engineers and Wanderers in front of 2,000 spectators. Wanderers ran out 1-0 winners partly because Royal Engineers -- who were the favourites -- lost a person through injury, early in the match, together to play lets start on only 10 men since substitutes are not allowed then. The "Challenge Cup", as it was known originally, was the brainchild of Mr. C. W. Alcock of Sunderland who proposed just the year before that "A challenge cup ought to be established in connection with the Association"; the "Association" being the Football Association, hence the FA Cup.
The Oldest Soccer club in the World
There've for ages been many arguments within the oldest football team in the world. Here are some points to consider though...
The oldest, continuously documented, "football" club in the world is Dublin University Soccer club, in the Republic of Ireland, that was founded in 1854. However, the club now plays Rugby Union, not Association Football. Because of this it's not officially thought to be the oldest football club in the world.
goal rush betSheffield Soccer club -- Sheffield FC -- founded in England in 1857, is recognised by both English FA and FIFA as the oldest, continuously documented football club in the world still playing Association Football. They participate in the Northern Premier League Division 1 South in England. So that they are generally now recognised as the oldest football team on earth.
But, there is certainly documentation of a "football club" in Edinburgh, Scotland between 1824 and 1841. Several documents still exist today which refer to the "Foot Ball Club" and it's rules. It worked rather like a golf club where members selected teams from other membership to play one another. The club continues to be now been reconstituted and plays under the name of "The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh" in an amateur capacity.
The very first International Football Match
The first international football match was played between Scotland and England in Glasgow, Scotland on 30th November 1872, in front of 4,000 spectators. The result would be a hard-fought 0-0 draw. And of the 110 games played between 1872 and 1999 if the fixture was disbanded, Scotland had won 41, England 45, and 24 games had resulted in a draw.
The First Trainer's Dugout
The first ever recorded utilization of a sunken covered enclosure at the side of the pitch (the dugout) was in the first 1920s at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland. The trainer at that time, Donald Coleman, had it built to protect himself while he took detailed notes of his players during matches, as was his practice, and, was partly sunken into the ground so they won't block spectators' views with the game. Visiting teams were so impressed how the idea soon spread throughout great britain and so the world.