With the outrage that surrounded Sky’s apparent intentions to broadcast at least one live game on December 24 you’d be forgiven for believing that football at Christmas time was something of an unthinkable notion, but there was once a time when festive football was as much a part of Christmas Day itself as the Queen’s speech and sprouts.
That’s right. There used to be full fixture lists on Christmas Day and then again on Boxing Day and people couldn’t get enough of what was on offer.
It’s hard to comprehend at a time when fixtures are rammed into the calendar tighter than an onion up a parson’s nose that Christmas Day was just like any other when it came to the fixture list, with teams up and down the country playing each other as recently as the 1960s.
Christmas Day fixtures were introduced back in 1889 and the idea quickly caught on, particularly in the early part of the 20th century as Christmas Day itself was just one of very few public holidays at the time with football being one of the few activities people could enjoy as a family other than going to church.
Due to logistical constraints games usually pitted local rivals against each other, often providing a number of tasty derby games but as the Football League began to grow in popularity clubs became willing to travel longer distances and with a full public transport schedule still in operation on Christmas Day it meant fans and players could take trains and buses to watch their team.
As for the traditional Boxing Day fixtures, they weren’t sacrificed to make room for Christmas Day games; teams simply played both. In fact Everton once played two matches on December 25, then another the following day, facing Blackburn Park Road at Anfield in a Lancashire Cup tie that morning before taking part in an annual exhibition match against Ulster FC in the afternoon.
The huge appetite for festive football soon lead to what became known as double-headers with sides facing each other on Christmas Day, before rekindling the rivalry again some 24 hours later on a home and away basis.
Needless to say festive feuds were carried over rather like a row at a family party and games often threw-up some of the more bizarre score lines of the season as sides relished the opportunity to exact immediate revenge for defeat often less than 24 hours before.
A prime example of this occurred at Christmas 1914 when Oldham Athletic played out a 1-1 draw at Bradford Park Avenue on December 25, then on Boxing Day hammered them 6-2 in the return game in Yorkshire. Likewise, the Sheffield Owls overcame Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 at home, before being hammered 6-1 just 24 hours later at White Hart Lane.
Meanwhile on Christmas Day 1931 Clapton Orient's players turned up for their match with Bournemouth apparently slightly the worse for drink, only to be given a barrel of beer in the changing room by their manager. Orient striker Ted Crawford later claimed that every time he went up for a header he “saw two footballs,” as his team went down 2-1. Presumably a little fresher Orient exacted their revenge with a 1-0 win in the return fixture the very next day.
Despite two World Wars the desire for festive football still remained strong and if anything became more popular and the thousands who flocked to fixtures were rarely disappointed by what they were served up.
On Christmas Day 1940 fans were treated to a sack full of goals thanks to results like; Southend 9 Clapton Orient 3; Bournemouth 7 Bristol City 1; Mansfield 7 Stoke City 2 and Bury 5 Halifax 5, not to mention Brighton 0 Norwich City 18 even though the City side was comprised of spectators and reserves after a bout of injury and illness ravaged the club.
That same day Len Shackleton played for Bradford Park Avenue against Leeds in the morning and Bradford City against Huddersfield in the afternoon while Tommy Lawton turned out for Everton’s game with Liverpool in the morning and then for Tranmere against Crewe in the afternoon.
And it wasn’t just players who turned out twice that day. Incredibly several teams actually played two games on Christmas Day 1940, notably Leicester City and Northampton Town. The Foxes lost 5-2 at Northampton in the morning before recovering from the heavy defeat to beat their opponents 7-2 back at Leicester after what was probably quite a hearty lunch.
But by the 1950s the novelty of Christmas Day football began to wear off somewhat. A less frequent public transport schedule meant that fans would often spend the day with their families rather than go to football, whether they liked it or not; while a greater number of clubs with floodlights meant that games could now be played during midweek evenings.
This wasn’t necessarily the case on the continent, however, and on Christmas Day 1955 Barcelona hosted Danish side Stævnet from Copenhagen in the recently created Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, now known as the Europa League with Barcelona winning 6-2, though, not surprisingly, the idea didn’t catch on around the rest of Europe.
The final full programme of Christmas Day games was held on December 25, 1957 as Blackpool hammered Leicester 5-1; Manchester United beat Luton 3-0, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston fighting out a 4-4 draw while Chelsea beat Portsmouth 7-4, thanks to four goals from a young Jimmy Greaves.
12 months later there were only three First Division matches played on Christmas Day and by 1959 only one, with the final festive fixture in England being played between Blackpool and Blackburn in 1965, which the Tangerines won 4-2.
The tradition never really caught on in Scotland though games on Christmas Day were played north of the border as recently as 1976 when Clydebank and St Mirren drew 2-2 in the First Division and Alloa Athletic beat Cowdenbeath 2-1 in the second.
So what are the chances of seeing a return to Christmas Day games?
Well, in 1983 Brentford tried to revive the ailing tradition when they scheduled their game against Wimbledon to be played on December 25 with an 11am kickoff but a number of protests, not least after Chairman Eric White claimed it was: “The perfect opportunity for the husband to go to football while the wives stay at home and cook the turkey,” meant the game was eventually played on Christmas Eve.
However, with the desire among modern managers for fewer games at Christmas rather than more the chances of a return to a full Christmas Day fixture list looks unlikely to say the least, despite the potential for huge television audiences as Liverpool v Everton or Spurs v Chelsea battle it out with the likes of Doctor Who or Strictly Come Dancing when it comes to after dinner viewing.
