http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/History/HistoryDetail/0,,10794~3091341,00.html 136 teams have played in league
Now that's what I call the best league in the world - The Football League, the world's original league football competition, is to celebrate its 125th anniversary during 2013. The anniversary period will begin this Saturday (March 2) which marks 125 years since League founder, William McGregor, sent his letter to clubs suggesting "that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home-and-away fixtures each season." McGregor's letter was the catalyst for the beginning of league football, which 125 years later still dominates the sporting landscape in countries throughout the world. Following the decision to permit professionalism in 1885, the game's development was becoming stifled by the lack of a coherent and organised fixture list. The predominance of cup football meant that clubs could easily lose fixtures at relatively short notice and it was even common for clubs to cancel matches (or alternatively field scratch teams) because they had been offered more lucrative fixtures elsewhere. Other interesting points from twitter: The total number of fans to have passed through Football League turnstiles is just under 2.192 billion! Only 3 grounds from the first season in 1888 remain in use today - Deepdale, Turf Moor & Anfield (which was used by Everton!) Most games have been played at Deepdale (2,336), Turf Moor (2,304) & Gigg Lane (2,281) Football League games have been played on 220 different grounds n total, 39,532 players have appeared in Football League matches – the most common surname has been Smith! (508 players) 514,333 goals have been scored with 317,260 (62%) by the home club & 197,073 (38%) by the away club The most played match amongst current FootballLeague clubs is between Harrtlepool and rochdale (136 times) The most played Football League fixture is between Villa and Everton (154 times) The most common result has been 1-0 (or 0-1) with 28,169 occurrences (16% of matches) 2% of games (91,223) have been home wins, 23% away wins & 25% have been draws There have been 177,164 matches played in The Football League since its inception in 1888
Perthshire-born McGregor, the Secretary of Aston Villa, felt that immediate action was needed and he wrote the following letter to Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion: please log in to view this image
who do we reckon the team is in the photo? i know who two of the players are but they both played for both manchester clubs. probably man utd.
39,532 players have appeared in Football League matches – the most common surname has been Smith! (508 players) This is really interesting and puts into contrast just how hard it is to be a professional footballer..
and no mention of hegaghty, hagaghty, ottershaw, eight bloody one or the yorkshire premier league.....tut tut
