Football Facts - 5 Interesting Details of Football The First Football League
It is generally accepted the first officially organised league competition on earth was the (English) Football League formed in 1888. Then, it contains 12 clubs all of whom were located in the North as well as the Midlands of England. The very first winners from the Football League Championship were Preston North End.
In 1992 using the influx of megabucks from BSkyB (now called Sky TV), the top teams broke off to form their own league called the FA Premier League.
Today, the original Football League has 3 divisions called; the Championship, Division 1 and Division 2.
So that England today features a total of four years old professional football leagues, with teams upgrading (promotion) or down (relegation) with the leagues according to their points tally after each season.
The initial Football Association Cup (FA Cup)
goal rushThe first FA Cup final was played in England in 1872 between Royal Engineers and Wanderers facing 2,000 spectators. Wanderers ran out 1-0 winners partly because Royal Engineers -- who have been the favourites -- lost a new player through injury, at the start of the match, and had to try out lets start on only 10 men since substitutes weren't allowed then. The "Challenge Cup", since it was known originally, was the brainchild of Mr. C. W. Alcock of Sunderland who proposed merely the year before that "A challenge cup should be established regarding the the Association"; the "Association" being the Football Association, hence the FA Cup.
The Oldest Football team in the World
There've been many arguments over the oldest soccer club on the planet. Here are some things to consider though...
The oldest, continuously documented, "football" club in the world is Dublin University Football team, inside the Republic of Ireland, that was founded in 1854. However, the club now plays Rugby Union, not Association Football. For that reason it is not officially thought to be the oldest football club in the world.
goal rush betSheffield Football team -- Sheffield FC -- founded in England in 1857, is recognised by both the English FA and FIFA as the oldest, continuously documented soccer club on the planet still playing Association Football. They participate in the Northern Premier League Division 1 South in England. So they really are generally now recognised as the oldest soccer club on the planet.
But, there is documentation of your "football club" in Edinburgh, Scotland between 1824 and 1841. Several documents remain today which make reference to the "Foot Ball Club" and it's rules. It worked rather just like a golf club where members selected teams using their membership to try out each other. The club has been now been reconstituted and plays under the name of "The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh" within an amateur capacity.
The very first International Football Match
The very first international football match was played between Scotland and England in Glasgow, Scotland on 30th November 1872, facing 4,000 spectators. The result was a hard-fought 0-0 draw. And also 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 very first ever recorded utilization of a sunken covered enclosure at the side of the pitch (the dugout) was at the early 1920s at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland. The trainer during the time, Donald Coleman, been with them built to protect himself while he took detailed notes of his players during matches, as was his practice, and, was partly sunken in to the ground so as not to block spectators' views of the game. Visiting teams were so impressed the idea soon spread all through the UK and so the world.