CHRISTMAS DAY FOOTBALL

The last time the majority of League clubs played matches on Christmas Day was in 1957 when 38 League matches were played. After that the number of matches played declined dramatically largely due to a lack of public transport and the wish of fans to stay at home on Christmas Day. By 1959 just two League matches were played on December 25th - Blackburn 1 Blackpool 0 in Division 1 and Coventry 5 Wrexham 3 in Division 3. The next - and last - match played on Christmas Day took place at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, on December 25th 1965. The home side defeated Blackburn Rovers 4-2 in a First Division match in front of 20,851 spectators.

*********

Only once since has an attempt been made to play a League match on December 25th. In 1983 Brentford had scheduled their Third Division match against Wimbledon at 11 o'clock on Christmas Day morning hoping, as a Brentford spokesman said 'to revive the old tradition of husbands going to football on Christmas Day while the wives cook the turkey'. But the wives thought differently and supporters protests saw the match brought forward to Christmas Eve when a 6689 crowd - which was to be the second highest League crowd at Griffin Park that season - witnessed a 4-3 Wimbledon victory.

*********

So what was the atmosphere like for a Christmas Day match? Below is reproduced the recollections of a Sheffield United supporter who attended his first Christmas Day match in 1948 as a nine-year-old  when Bolton Wanderers visited Bramall Lane in a First Division fixture.

"The match kicked off in the morning and, as there were no trams running, my dad and 1 made an early start and walked to Bramall Lane from Millhouses. Once inside the ground it was clear this was no ordinary occasion, for the atmosphere was something special - particularly to a nine-year-old. The band played Christmas carols and many of the crowd sported their presents. New scarves and gloves were much in evidence, whilst the aroma of cigar smoke hung everywhere. Spirit flasks were passed among groups of friends and swigged with a slightly furtive air."

The attendance was 39,676 and the match ended 1-1.

*********

Because of travelling problems over Christmas, Christmas Day fixtures were generally local derbies, but that was not always the case. Back in 1954 Portsmouth had to travel to Blackpool for a Christmas Day fixture, a 500 mile round trip! Two days later Blackpool had to travel to Portsmouth for the return fixture, a match in which Jimmy Armfield made his debut for Blackpool. In later years Armfield remembered the difficulties in travelling to that match, a journey which started on Boxing Day -

"We had to take the bus from Blackpool to Preston, then get a train from Preston to London, stay overnight in London, get up the next morning, get on a bus to Waterloo station where we took the train to Portsmouth, had lunch and went to Fratton Park. And by the time we got there, the gates were closed, it was a full house!"

*********

Another longish journey was made by Wrexham for a Division 3 (North) match at Hull City on Christmas Day 1936. But Wrexham forward Ambrose Brown need hardly have made the journey - he was sent off after only 20 seconds!

*********

Plenty of goals have been scored in Christmas Day matches. Jimmy Greaves scored his first League hat-trick (he eventually scored 4) in Chelsea's 7-4 victory over Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge on Christmas Day 1957. Leicester's John Duncan scored a club record six goals in the 7-0 Second Division defeat of Port Vale at Filbert Street on December 25th 1924. On Christmas Day 1925 Bury beat Manchester City 6-5 in a Division 1 fixture.

*********

Not unsurprising the footballing rules were more relaxed in war-time. On Christmas Day 1940 two famous footballers each played two matches - for different clubs! Len Shackleton played for Bradford Park Avenue in the morning and Bradford City in the afternoon and Tommy Lawton turned out for Everton (against Liverpool) in the morning and for Tranmere in the afternoon. Mind you, it was the first Christmas with rationing and most players were in the forces so why not play football! On the same day in Norwich the visiting Brighton & Hove Albion side arrived with just 5 players. They made up the numbers with Norwich reserve players and fans who turned up expecting to be spectators. Norwich won 18-0!

*********

Of course it should never be forgotten that Christmas Day has a religious significance and players had the right not to play on Christmas Day (or Good Friday). Many took up that right. Amongst them were Sunderland's Arthur Bridgett (pictured) who was capped 11 times for England and scored 2 goals for Sunderland in that amazing 9-1 victory at Newcastle in 1908. Swindon's Harold Fleming also won 11 caps for England although Swindon at the time were a Southern League side. Like Bridgett he also was a goalscorer in an amazing 9-1 victory - this time 4 goals in Swindon's 9-1 victory over Luton Town in their first match in the Football League in August 1920. England Under 23 international Phil Gunter, who made 321 League appearances for Portsmouth, was another who abstained from playing on religious holidays although later in his career he relented.

*********

The First Division match between Chelsea and Charlton Athletic on Christmas Day 1937 suffered an abandonment when heavy fog descended on Stamford Bridge. The fog was so bad that Charlton 'keeper San Bartram was unaware that the match had ended, assuming that his inactivity was due to the play being in the Chelsea half. It was ten minutes or more before a policeman told him that the game had been abandoned.

*********

When Arsenal moved to their new rented Highbury ground in 1913 their landlords were the St John's College of Divinity and because of the religious connection they were banned from playing matches at Highbury on Christmas Day and Good Friday. That prohibition stayed with them until they bought the ground for £64,000 (the ownership transfer document was signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury no less) and so in 1925 Arsenal presented the Highbury faithful with their first Christmas Day match, a 3-0 First Division defeat of Notts County.

*********

Stoke City entertained Bury in a Division 2 fixture on Christmas Day 1954. A month later they had played a total of 8 matches - amazingly 7 of them had been against Bury! The results.

*********

Fancy going to a European away match on Christmas day? It did happen. European club competition started in 1955 and on Christmas Day 1955 Barcelona hosted an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now Europa League) match. The visitors were Stævnet - the Copenhagen representative side - with Barcelona winning 6-2. The idea didn't catch on!

*********

The most famous football match played on Christmas Day took place in 1914 during the first Christmas of World War 1. By mutual consent an estimated 100,000 British and German troops along the Western Front declared a truce, and those near to Armentieres in France sang Christmas carols before leaving their respective trenches to play a football match in sub-zero temperatures in no-man's land. Before the match - between the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers and the Saxons of 133 Infantry Regiment and the Prussians of 6 Jäger Battalion gifts were exchanged - the Germans giving two barrels of beer and the British a plum pudding. The Germans won - differing reports give the score as 2-1 or 3-2 - and the following day hostilities resumed, again by mutual consent.