Football at Christmas: a UK tradition dating back to 1170

Most of football in Europe takes a break for about two weeks during the Christmas holidays. Why is it different in the UK and why does football have a long tradition here at this time? The roots of this phenomenon go back to 1170.

Premier League fans love the so-called Boxing Day, that is, football matches around Christmas, specifically on 26 December. For most English fans, it is one of the mainstays of these holidays. Why is that?

The important reason is that the British Isles have a milder climate, so football can be played before and during Christmas and New Year. Another fact is that football has simply been played here for much longer, football originated here and so has had more opportunity throughout history to establish this position. Let’s look for an explanation in tradition.

Professional football is a relatively recent invention. The first of the British Football Associations (FA) was not formally created until 1863, but Christmas ‘public games’ have been played in the British Isles for hundreds of years.

Variations of football known as medieval football or mob football are documented as far back as 1170. The games were often concentrated in the Christmas and Easter periods and some of these medieval games are still played today. For example, The Orkney Ba’ on Christmas Day or perhaps more familiar to us, The Royal Shrovetide in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Have you ever heard of medieval football in Ashbourne? No? Here’s a little about the rules: ‘It’s about five miles from goal to goal, the game lasts eight hours. There are hundreds of players on both teams and the rules are simple. It’s really just a matter of stealing the ball and getting it to your “gate”. The top team has it in the village of Sturston to the east of Ashbourne, the bottom team in the village of Clifton in the opposite direction. The goal takes the form of a plinth, which must be tapped three times for the ball to count. If this occurs, the match is over. The special ball, which is bigger than a football and filled with cork to make it easier to float in the local river, is painted over and the name of the person who scored is stuck on it.”

But what about football today? In Victorian times, football at Christmas became a popular working-class pastime. For them, matches were often the only diversion in their very hard lives. In 1871 a special law was even passed called the Bank Holiday Act, which set aside Boxing Day for popular football entertainment. And it remains so to this day.

Football clubs have used “Bank Holidays” as a great opportunity for massively increased stadium attendance. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, some clubs played up to three matches in four days.
In 1913, for example, Liverpool beat Manchester City 4-2 at home on Christmas Day, lost the return match 1-0 on the second Christmas Day, and then drew 3-3 at home to Blackburn Rovers the following day. Such a fixture list would probably make a strike of professional clubs at the moment. But those were different times then.

There is an amusing story in books about English football from Christmas 1937, when the match between Charlton and Chelsea was played. On that day the fog fell so badly on the pitch that the referee sent the players to the booths. However, the home goalkeeper, Sam Bartram, was not told. So he waited in the fog for Chelsea’s counter-attack to emerge from the mist. Charlton were said to have a very strong team at the time and so the goalkeeper was not surprised. It wasn’t until a patrolling policeman walking past the goal that he was told that there was no more play for fifteen minutes.

Probably the best and most famous Christmas football story took place in no man’s land between the British and German trenches at Wulverghem in Belgium. Spontaneously, without orders from above, a lull in the guns reigned on the Western Front of the First World War on Christmas Day 1914.

The Christmas truce began unobtrusively – with the singing of carols on Christmas Eve. First they came from the German trenches, and after a while the British started to sing. They sang together for a while, and then the first brave ones poked their heads out of the trenches. On one side and on the other, the bravest soldiers left the safety of the trench and made their way into no-man’s land in the area near Ypres, Belgium.

Soldiers of the opposing powers began to exchange cigarettes and cigars. And someone brought a ball, and for a moment the enemy did not try to knock the enemy down, but to go around with the ball at their feet. The only shots were on goal. It was not easy to play in the cold and frosty ground in the baganchas. Two teams and two wickets was all that the enemies needed a few hours ago. Not even a referee was needed.

All of the stories and perhaps even the exaggerated legends combine to form a combination of factors that today allow “Premier League fanatics” to enjoy holidays and time off with their favourite clubs and players.

And what about football this Christmas? Chelsea FC lost 1-2 to Wolves in the 18th round of the Premier League, only the second game played on Christmas Day in the competition’s history.

Source: Premier League, FIFA, Wikipedia