Football League Celebrates 125th Year
The Football League, the world’s original league football competition, is set to celebrate its 125th anniversary this year, with the anniversary period kicking off on 2nd March.
The day 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 and was written to Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion.
The Football League will celebrate its 125th anniversary with its clubs and their supporters at the beginning of the 2013/14 season and its head of communications, John Nagle, said: ‘The McGregor letter is the start of Saturday at 3pm as we know it today…looking back now it may seem such an obvious thing to do, but you have to remember it had been 25 years since the formation of the FA and yet nobody else had come up with anything as visionary.’
Nagle added: ‘McGregor’s idea perfectly met the needs of clubs and the paying public, whilst being utterly simple in its inception. The fact that 125 years later The Football League continues to thrive and that league football has become a sporting phenomenon across the globe is the greatest possible tribute to McGregor’s foresight.’
The first season of The Football League kicked-off on 8th September 1888, the 12 founder members were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The first champions were Preston’s ‘invincibles’ who won 18 and drew 4 of their 22 league matches.
The FA also celebrates a landmark this year, with its 150th anniversary also in 2013. FA chairman David Bernstein said of the occasion: ‘The coming year will be a terrific opportunity for us to showcase our work to the whole country and the wider world. It is a wonderful achievement for any organisation and I certainly hope it will capture the imagination in the way it has mine.’
