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Stories

The Origins Of The Football League

321 OriginsThe first season 1888/89
by Mark Metcalf
Amberley, £14.99
Reviewed by Paul Brown
From WSC 321 November 2013

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In 1888, during the early days of professional football, clubs began to look for a way to secure a regular income beyond that generated by occasional cup ties and friendly matches. It was Aston Villa director William McGregor who proposed the solution, suggesting that “the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home and away fixtures each season”. As the Football League celebrates its anniversary 125 year later, Mark Metcalf’s extensively researched book examines the inaugural season of the game’s oldest league competition.

The Origins Of The Football League opens with a brief but useful primer on the state of football in 1888. It was an evolving game in which there were no penalty kicks or goal nets, and goalkeepers could handle the ball anywhere within their own half. But growing interest and attendances allowed the League’s 12 founder members to flourish. Indeed, 11 of the 12 still play League football today – the exception is Accrington (not to be confused with Accrington Stanley), who folded in 1896.

The book traces the 1888-89 season via a series of match reports, many of which are taken from contemporary newspapers. These early reports have, as Metcalf puts it, “a certain symmetry to them”, typically detailing the weather and pitch conditions, while studiously recording who won the toss before presenting a fairly perfunctory account of the play. “The visiting right made an attack that was cleared by Bethell,” reads an opening-day report for Bolton Wanderers v Derby County, “and in two minutes from the start Kenny had scored a fine goal for the Wanderers. A protest for offside was raised in vain.” That Kenny Davenport goal was, the author reveals via some detective work involving kick-off times, the first League goal.

Without wishing to spoil the book’s ending, the story of the 1888-89 season is also the story of Preston North End’s “Invincibles”, who won the League without losing a game. “The feat North End have accomplished, gaining 18 victories and four draws [is] a record for which no comparison can fairly be found,” one reporter wrote. Preston also beat Wolves 3-0 in the FA Cup final to claim the first football “double”. That was hard lines for the fearsome Preston full-back Nick Ross, who missed the triumph by moving for a single season to Everton.

Ross is profiled in the book’s comprehensive gazetteer, alongside hundreds of other players ranging from the well known, such as Johnny “All Good” Goodall, who scored 21 goals in 21 games for Preston in that first season, to the virtually unknown, such as the mysterious W Mitchell, who played one game for Blackburn Rovers, scored two goals and was never heard of again.

The comprehensive nature of The Origins Of The Football League may be both a blessing and a curse. For the casual reader, a book that contains hundreds of consecutive match reports, many of which are relatively inconsequential, might not represent much of a page-turner. But as a book to dip into – and as a reference work – it’s a valuable and timely record of the birth of one of football’s most important institutions.

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Guilty pleasures

wsc299 The money that added flair to Manchester City’s functionality has put Barney Ronay in a quandary

Imagine how boring being a billionaire must be. Not so much the process of becoming a billionaire, which is presumably studded with the thrill of ticking off those billionaire-entry marks: beachhouse-overload, mistress-profligacy, servant-saturation. But just being a billionaire, sealed within your own frictionless seven-star world, conveyed by helicopter gunship from lobby to suite to private island. This must surely be quite dull.

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Letters, WSC 295

Dear WSC
Interesting that your review of egotistical arch-buffoon Bobby Gould’s autobiography, 24-Carat Gould, (WSC 294) mentions him glossing over allegations of his racism in only four paragraphs. Having written to the man himself during his calamitous tenure as Wales national manager asking for an full explanation of his reported remarks to Wales striker Nathan Blake, I  received a written reply from him (leading my mum to this day to describe him as “a decent man”) supplying “proof” that he is, in fact, not racist at all. Deep within the body of his non-sequitur-littered letter was his challenge to me, an ultimatum that makes my head ache even 15 summers later. Using the classic “I can’t be racist, a lot of my friends are black” gambit, Gould laid it out to me: “…if you think I am racist I suggest you make contact with the following…” going into a list of, you’ve guessed it, black players with whom he had worked. While hoping that I did not need to become Rufus Brevett’s pen-pal to get to the truth of the matter, I was astonished that Gould’s list included the surreal “…and Laurie Cunningham (the late).” Dear old Bobby. If he had merely forgotten that the prodigiously gifted erstwhile Orient, WBA and Man Utd winger had been tragically killed in a car crash, I could have forgiven him. But explicitly to advise me to contact a player whom he admitted he knew was dead seemed to sum up everything every Wales fan already knew about Gould. This, the international manager who chose his captain by drawing lots in the dressing room (with fellow bluster-buddy Vinnie Jones winning the armband, presaging a 7-1-going-on-24-1 defeat in Eindhoven). Bullshit, bluff, arrogance and solipsistic stupidity. Write to a dead player. Oh aye yeah Bob, tell us another Crazy Gang story, you deluded dullard. Luckily Gould left the Wales job soon after and our trajectory ever since has been an embarrassment of trophy-laden tournament wins, coming to Wembley in September to make Barcelona’s Champions League Final performance look a bit kick-and-rush.
Mark Ainsbury, Hertford

Dear WSC
Having read Rob Murfin’s article Easy Pickings (WSC 294), I can only assume from his wish to see newly created clubs start so high up the pyramid that he supports either one of the runners up to the reformed clubs this season, or one of the reformed clubs themselves. Though obviously not Kings Lynn Town, as he would have known that they did not win the United Counties League this season, but came second to St Neots Town and were therefore not promoted. He questions why reformed clubs are placed so far down the pyramid from the liquidated clubs they were formed to replace. Has he not considered this might just be to deter other clubs from repeating the mistakes of these clubs (granted they don’t all heed this message)? Also having the larger supporter base should not give any club a divine right to leapfrog lesser clubs that have been established for many years. I presume he also thinks it was the right decision to allow MK Dons to begin life in the Football League as opposed to starting from the bottom of the pyramid. Some will say it unfairly punishes the supporters of the defunct side, but apart from Chester, whose team was ruined by misappropriation as opposed to outrageous spending on the team, most fans are quite happy to go along for the ride while the cash is flowing and only voice their objection when it all goes horribly wrong. I had the misfortune to see the nouveau riche Crawley and their obnoxious manager secure the Conference title at Tamworth last season. As their expensively assembled side carved open our hapless defence and scored for the third time, their fans started a chant of “That’s why we’re champions, that’s why you’re going down” (only half right, people). Any criticism of Crawley’s outlandish spending habits this season has been dismissed by these supporters as jealousy. I doubt anyone will feel much sympathy if and when Crawley fans find themselves back in the Southern League sometime soon. Rob Murfin writes that that “clubs in a relegation battle can often find some solace in the financial plight of a rival”. The fact is that rival has achieved their position in the league by spending money they don’t have and tax avoidance, whilst the relegated club has been far more prudent and attempted to live within their means. Who really deserves a place in the Conference next season, Southport or AFC Rushden & Diamonds?
Sean Hallam, Tamworth

Dear WSC
Clive Pacey (Lettters, WSC 294) may wish to dismiss my article as “drivel” but his comments only serve to reinforce the case I was making. Surely he realises that the article was not about corruption. It was about attitudes and where we stand as a nation in relation to football in the rest of the world. The House of Commons Media, Culture and Sport Select Committee took my views seriously enough with regard to their report on the 2018 World Cup bid, that they took evidence from me and used a number of points that I raised in the article as part of their conclusions and recommendations as to the way forward for English football. Is it too much to ask that football fans in this country recognise and respect the fact that football exists beyond the Premier League?
Guy Oliver, Christchurch

Dear WSC
I was very surprised to read the following with regards to Brighton in Tom Green’s League One review (WSC 293): “The danger is that, without huge financial backing, or a big home crowd, their future is rather too dependent on retaining their likeable Uruguayan boss.” In August, Brighton are moving into their new home the American Express Community Stadium. A 22,000 seater state of the art stadium costing £100 million. The stadium has been fully paid for by our chairman with no debt to the club. Season tickets have also sold out for next year, with 18,000 being sold. With planning approval going through for new training facilities, Brighton are now set up for Premiership football. With our terrific fan base and chairman I fully expect us to be more likely to do a Norwich than a Scunthorpe.
Richard Allchild, Brighton

Dear WSC
Regarding Andrew Woods excellent article in WSC 294, I share his sadness at the demise of “proper” away ends in an increasing number of football grounds. Having watched Leeds away from home since the late 1970s, I’ve now visited 123 English league grounds and have seen my team play at all but eight of these However, I’ve become increasingly frustrated in recent seasons at the proliferation of new identikit grounds, where the away end just merges into the rest of the ground and has no redeeming features whatsoever (not that Elland Road is blameless in this regard either). When Leeds are now playing away, I am more likely to be wandering around northern England visiting a new non league ground (71 so far and increasing rapidly) – I accept they often don’t even have an away “end” but at least the traditional old-fashioned grounds remain in many instances and I invariably get a powerful sense of nostalgia, remembering how I 1st started visiting new grounds all those years ago.
Paul Dickinson, Aberford

Dear WSC
Regarding Martin Howard’s view on the current restrictions on players’ goal celebrations (WSC 293), I would agree that little harm could come from a player removing his shirt, donning a mask or even indulging in dancing of dubious aesthetic quality. But as for running into a crowd of his own supporters the present rules must surely remain in place. Whenever this happens a scrum inevitably ensues to try to mob the celebrant. This used to be less of a problem in terraced stadiums where fans were cushioned by others around them. I was often swept along several metres by the crowd on the old Kop – scary, but relatively safe. In today’s stadiums though, the seats can become lethal knee-high traps and from experience when celebrations get out of hand in this environment there’s a real danger to life and limb. And this is before we even start to discuss the potential dangers to the player. So I’d encourage broadcasters and journalists, before they – yet again – recite the tiresome “health and safety gone mad” to think about the well-being of the paying punter. Radical, I admit.
John Inman, Warrington

Dear WSC
I pretty much agree with Andrew Woods’ “No man’s land” (WSC 294), other than of course to say Milton Road was the home end at The Dell. Away fans were housed at the Archers Road end, except in its final years when they were shifted to part of the East Stand, and for a period in the West Stand as well until presumably the local constabulary realised the potential for a pincer movement on Saints’ fans in the now-seated Archers Road, by then known as the Bike Shed. “Crummy….stick to beat….embarrassment”; do I detect Andrew finally letting his frustration out after seeing his team lose there all those years ago? Perhaps that’s because popular myth would tell you The Dell was worth a goal start to the Saints who hardly ever lost there. Looking back to the old ground’s final season ten years ago, despite a tenth place Prem finish (ah, them were the days) home defeats were tasted against Cov (twice), Boro, Man City, West Ham, Ipswich and Sunderland. As loved as it was (by home fans! in its day, I doubt you’d find many Saints’ fans who’d find the move from The Dell regressive. And that’s even taking into account the last six years of turmoil caused in part by financing St Mary’s, where away fans are well placed and in full few of the TV cameras.
John Middleton, London W12

Dear WSC
I greatly enjoyed Guy Oliver’s article “The Empire Games” (WSC 293) and generally agreed with the points made therein. However, as an American, I take umbrage with the comment, “…with just the US, Scotland and Australia standing in our way, we might just win a World Cup again one day.” Allow me to remind Guy that the US finished atop the table in group play at the 2010 World Cup, ahead of England. In addition, the two drew when they met in the group stage. While the popularity and success of both the US men’s team and MLS have both grown since the mid-1990s, the England team has clearly regressed. The EPL’s success, of course, has been largely built on outstanding imports. As a nation, England can keep heaping praise on aging players such as Terry, Lampard and Gerrard, but the national team has been exposed for the mediocrity it is. The US will absolutely win a world cup before England ever gets to another final. England must get over their undeserved smugness if they wish to ever succeed at the international level.
William J Smith, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Dear WSC
Archie McGregor’s article in WSC 294 about the lack of a pyramid system in Scottish football was interesting, but I think he may have overestimated the volatility of the English system. Comparing the 1986-87 and forthcoming 2011-12 season – the 25-year period over which Archie points out that 8 new clubs have entered the Scottish league – there were 12 clubs who played in the earlier season but will not be in the league this coming year: Luton; Grimsby; Mansfield; Chester; York; Darlington; Newport; Wrexham; Cambridge; Halifax; Stockport; and Lincoln. Of these teams, all will play in the Conference next season except Chester and Halifax, and both are well on their way back there, subsequent relegations having been caused as much by financial problems as playing issues (see Rob Murfin’s article also in WSC 294). Some of these teams are having only their debut season at the fifth level (Stockport), or have only been down a season or two; the only really long-term absentees have been Newport. I think we can certainly expect Luton to return soon, and probably a few of the others. The following clubs are in the league this coming year but were not there in 1986-87: Wycombe; Yeovil; Accrington; Cheltenham; Barnet; Morecambe; MK Dons; Stevenage; Barnet; Burton Albion; Crawley; and Dagenham & Redbridge. For a league twice the size, and a population eight times the size, this therefore makes the English league rather less volatile than the Scottish over that period. This is more true when we look at the achievements of the promoted clubs. Of these 12, none will play above the third level this season, nor indeed have ever done so. Accrington were a league club of long standing in the past, and MK Dons a zombie club akin to Airdrie United. Without meaning to offend the fans of the remaining ten clubs I would say that from amongst them, only Wycombe and Yeovil have truly established themselves in the league, though I suspect Stevenage will also do so. Certainly none of them have achieved anything comparable with Inverness CT in Scotland, nor even Ross County. I am not saying I agree with Scotland’s approach to relegating clubs from to its league but when we look at the achievements of those it has admitted, it is not apparent that the ‘arbitrary choice’ method is any worse at selecting worthy league entrants than the ‘playing prowess’ view favoured south of the Tweed, and arguably, it might even be more successful.
Drew Whitworth, Hebden Bridge

Dear WSC
I was disappointed – but not surprised – to see disparaging remarks about Rafa Benitez in WSC 294. Apparently, according to your editorial, he was guilty of “impulsive bulk buying” which has hampered Kenny Dalglish’s efforts to build a squad. Your writer implies that Milan Jovanovic was one of these “bulk buys”, when a quick check would have revealed that Jovanovic was in fact the first signing of that shrewd talent spotter, Roy Hodgson, who was generally applauded for it by his chums down there in the southern press. Woy then proceeded to add further kwolity in the shape of Joe Cole, Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Brad Jones – all of whom are currently congesting the Anfield exits. Even Woy’s best signing, Raul Meireles, seems earmarked for departure. In the meantime, two of Benitez’ signings – Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres – were sold for a combined total of around £70M, which must have made things exceedingly difficult for Kenny when he wanted to buy Luis Suarez and the crocked Andy Carroll for £55M total last January. Benitez’ critics – like your Adam Bate (Home Valuation, WSC 294) generally point to extravagant and ill-judged spending as his major weakness. But the figures, which are easily available, show that his net spend (a notoriously difficult concept to grasp for the journalist with an agenda) was just £90M in six seasons – a total that even the Daily Mail agreed with. Dalglish has already spent more than half that amount this summer buying “topnotch” British players. Amongst other things, Benitez produced the best Liverpool team for 10 seasons and achieved the club’s two best ever Premiership points totals. I won’t mention regular top four finishes and European glory nights, as these obviously don’t count. Bashing the sporting press for excesses and inaccuracies is all very well, but the story about motes and planks comes to mind.
Fred Oldfield, Bromsgrove

From WSC 295 September 2011

Letters, WSC 289

Dear WSC,
Geoff Bradford’s article in WSC 288 about the suspicious betting and playing patterns in a Serie B game sparked a vague memory in me, which I confirmed by a trawl through some decades-old football books. On page 13 of his account of Brighton’s first season in Division One (1979-80), John Vinnicombe recounts the odds offered on the Seagulls getting a result against Arsenal in their opening match, but then says: “Punters could not, of course, bet on the result of a single game. They had to have their money on at least three.”
The “of course” in Vinnicombe’s statement suggests that in the late 1970s the sport was well aware of the dangers of allowing money to be made by gambling on a single result. When, then, did this rule change, and why? It would seem a sensible safeguard against the kind of manipulation Geoff believes he saw in Italy. The logistical problems with fixing three matches instead of one are immense, and suspicious betting patterns surely even easier to spot. And would the bookies lose out? Would punters be somehow less interested in betting on three games rather than one? A bet is a bet, surely.
But of course, the football associations have no authority over bookmakers. Indeed, as Geoff points out, through sponsorship and outright ownership of clubs – like Brighton – by men who have made their money in that industry, influence currently runs the other way. Global action would also be required. I, like Geoff, am not optimistic about what this means for football as a genuine sport.
Drew Whitworth, Hebden Bridge

Dear WSC
Harry Pearson’s review of the recent Tommy Lawton biography (WSC 288) was of great personal interest to me. The biographers seem to suggest that Mr Lawton’s shocking move to Notts County in 1947 was not money-driven as most people assumed, but more of a protest against draconian employment laws and the Chelsea board at the time. This makes more sense of a story I included in my recent book on the history of Fram Reykjavik FC. According to my sources, Tommy Lawton showed interest in becoming manager of Fram in 1947 and entered informal talks with the Fram board. At that time, the Icelandic championship involved only five teams that played each other on the only legal pitch in the country. The Icelandic season took place in the summer, so occasionally British footballers would spend their holidays there, earning a few bob coaching, while attracting a lot of female interest. However, the idea of a player such as Tommy Lawton even considering showing up in Iceland in 1947 seemed so bizarre that I seriously considered leaving it out, but eventually decided to trust 
my sources. Harry Pearson compares Lawton’s move to Notts County in 1947 as equivalent to Wayne Rooney signing for the Magpies, but for Lawton to Fram think something more along the lines of East Timor or Outer Mongolia. But all this makes more sense if the player mostly intended to teach his superiors at Stamford Bridge a lesson. Perhaps now we – the fans of mighty Fram Reykjavik – can stop fantasising about how great it all could have been under Tommy?
Stefan Palsson, Reykjavik, Iceland

Dear WSC
I’d like to add John Motson to the list of people often using a particular phrase repeatedly in order to make it look like a trademark… but more about that in 
a minute.
Keith Chapman, London

Dear WSC
In reply to the letter about Derek Parkin and the (No) Parkin(g) sign (WSC 288). I remember that Football League Review once printed a photo of Peter Shilton standing next to a signpost for the small town of Earl Shilton in Leicestershire with the caption saying something like: “One day that may be his title!” Shilton may also have been among the many goalkeepers who patiently posed in front of “Keep Out!” and “No Entry” signs. In fact there used to be so many of these type of photos that players’ contracts must have specified that they agree to “being depicted next to occupationally relevant signage whenever requested”.
Graham Forshaw, Uttoxeter

Dear WSC
Does Law 4 not matter any more? In the recent FA Cup replay between Manchester City and Leicester City both goalkeepers and all three officials were in black. Law 4 says, as I am sure you know: “The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and also the referee and the assistant referees… Each goalkeeper must wear colours that distinguish him from the other players, the referee and the assistant referees.” If the televised games don’t adhere to that, what hope is there for the ref on a Sunday morning? Secondly, I shall scream if I hear that dreadful baseball expression “step up to the plate” used in a football context. Or any other for that matter.
Thomas Allen, Albufeira, Portugal

Dear WSC
The Owen Amos article in WSC 288 regarding the play-offs for defeated FA Cup semi-finalists stirred memories on two fronts. Firstly, the England v England Youth game wasn’t actually billed as such in the press at the time, I can remember it always being advertised as England against Young England, who were in fact the Under-23 team. I think it became unpopular due to the players being generally unavailable through injury or tiredness (no change there then) and the better players being occupied with the following day’s proceedings.
I was a bit surprised that the third/fourth place play-off lasted as long as five years – I thought it only lasted three at most, but then again it wasn’t the most popular of fixtures even in the days when there wasn’t much televised football. The so-called mementoes made available to players to make the game more attractive were in fact tankards. The winning players got silver tankards and the runners-up received pewter versions. I can vaguely recall Bobby Charlton saying something polite about the quality of his prize but still not able to hide his disdain at having to play an extra unwanted game, a bit like the European Super Cup – but that’s another matter.
Jim McDougall, Reading

Dear WSC
When Tony Pulis proposed promotion and relegation for referees, my initial reaction was similar to that of Chris Barltrop (Letters, WSC 287) – that it was a bad idea from a grumpy manager thinking the whole world was conspiring against him. However, on reflection, I think the Stoke boss may be on to something. All the subsequent attention, of course, was on officials “facing the chop” from the Premier League – but for every relegation there has to be a promotion, and that opens up a whole world of possibilities. Chris Barltrop conceded that “the best referees should be in control of games at the highest level”, but I would go further – why not allow them to progress through the pyramid in exactly the same way as clubs do? The logical conclusion would be to give automatic promotion to the top two refs in each division, while the next best pair are judged by their ability to oversee the play-off semi-finals. Referees in danger of relegation could be given otherwise meaningless end-of-season fixtures, which might just add a little extra spice to those matches. However, I don’t agree with Pulis that this should all be based on an annual end-of-season vote. Where’s the fun in that? I’d suggest keeping the current assessor system – but let’s make the results public, so that we can see “league tables” of referees in the papers every weekend. Surely this would make the whole system more transparent – and I can’t see Sir Alex being concerned at all when the lowest-ranked official is assigned to a Manchester United game. Feel free to pass my details on to Mr Blatter!
David Emanuel, Littleborough

Dear WSC
Howard Pattison’s article on blue plaques (WSC 286) rightly pointed out that football doesn’t get its fair share of the honours. But outside London, fans can push the boat out, as he says. Even in Birmingham something is stirring, but it’s not easy. The case of the missing wall shows that determination is required. A couple of years ago the Aston Villa Supporters’ Trust together with the club erected a statue outside the new Trinity Road stand of William McGregor. This local shopkeeper was the man who thought up the idea of a league system of football clubs. Until he proposed the idea in 1888 there were only cup competitions, and a lack of a regular source of finance. McGregor’s idea was accepted and the world’s first league system was the result. But until the fans raised the issue, the only recognition of his achievement was a plaque inside the main entrance where few people ever saw it. The statue put that right, but it was still nothing that a non-footballing public was likely to clap eyes on, so the idea was floated of putting a blue plaque on his shop. Sadly, the shop had been demolished in a slum clearance scheme. Still, the local library turned up the address, 309 Summer Lane, where a factory now stands. Alas, the factory is now derelict and looks ripe for demolition in its turn. Two obstacles now remain. The first is finding out who owns the wall where the shop used to stand. The second is finding out whether the wall will be demolished before we try to put a plaque on it. Even this doesn’t end the problems, since the local civic society has to approve the actual construction and, while sympathetic, they might not see it as a priority. But if we can find a wall to hang a plaque on and get the approval of everyone concerned, William McGregor will have his plaque in due course.
Trevor Fisher, Stafford

Dear WSC
Perhaps the final word on old-fashioned things taken to the match? For about 15 years now a chap who sits very close to me in the Paddock at Anfield has come to every game with an old wooden rattle upon which is hand-painted “Every Liddell helps”, probably dating it to the mid-1950s at the latest. Sadly we need a bit more than that these days.
Nigel Power, Liverpool

Dear WSC
In the article Fact versus fiction (WSC 288), Ian Preece rightly points out that football novels are thin on the ground. May I point him in the direction of Steve Bruce? After been sacked as Huddersfield manager in 2000, and out of a job, Bruce turned his talents to writing. Three football murder mystery novels appeared, Striker, Sweeper and Defender, inspired by the work of Dick Francis. A typically enthralling excerpt reads: “The gun was level with my belly. So this was what it was like to die. There was no doubt I was going to die. And not even in Newcastle. Not even Premier League. In Halifax, of all places, with a club in the third division.” As Bruce admits himself: “They were the biggest load of crap ever written.”
Chris Olewicz, Sheffield

Dear WSC
On the subject of empty seats at games, I went to buy a couple of tickets for Wigan v Arsenal on December 29. To my surprise they refused to sell them to me. Despite the fact that I am retired, was with my wife, am Lancastrian, live in Norfolk and a lifelong Bury supporter (with a membership card to prove it) they decided I was a security risk. Their evidence was that the only time I have ever bought a ticket at Wigan before was for the game against Arsenal two seasons ago, and therefore was identified on the computer as an Arsenal fan. To be fair, when I wrote to the club I received a very nice letter from the commercial manager offering me two tickets for £20 for the game against Fulham. After some thought I declined the offer and went to watch Boreham Wood v Chelmsford instead. Mind you, as Meadow Park, Boreham Wood, is also the home ground of 
Arsenal Ladies, that is probably another black mark against me on the Wigan 
computer.
Jeff Hoyle, Kings Lynn

Dear WSC
In his letter in WSC 288 Ed Parkinson notes that my article on Partizan Belgrade’s participation in the Champions League (WSC 287) portrayed the club’s supporters – the Gravediggers – in an over-positive light. In particular, Ed 
highlighted the murder of Toulouse supporter Brice Taton by members of this group in 2009. Prior to the article in question, I also wrote about the darker side of Serbian football in an article for the WSC website (WSC Daily, October 21). This piece did indeed discuss Brice Taton’s death, among others, at the hands of Belgrade thugs, alongside the unsavoury past of football hooligan involvement in Arkan’s paramilitary force during the early 1990s. I am well aware of these links between football in the former Yugoslavia and the brutal activities of the paramilitary organisations of the 1990s, having spent the last four years documenting this subject in my work (see for example the International Journal of the History of Sport, 26:9, 2009). My motive for writing this piece with a non-violent focus was to demonstrate that there is another side to football in Serbia. Numerous articles, including my own, have gone into great detail with regards to the deplorable violence which afflicts the game across the former Yugoslavia. But so little is ever said about the game itself, about the vast majority of Serbian football supporters who do not indulge in violence and 
concentrate instead upon backing their own teams.
Hence, while I join Ed in wholeheartedly condemning the attack which led to Brice Taton’s death, I am also keen to emphasise the existence of positive aspects surrounding the Serbian game, to categorically separate the violent criminal behaviour of a minority from the passionate supporting of the majority and to prevent a situation where violent hooliganism becomes the only legitimate topic of conversation.
Richard Mills, Eye, Suffolk

From WSC 289 March 201

Football League, 1888-89

Roger Titford takes us back to a time before the days of Sky, the offside rule and the prawn sandwich brigade, to the inaugural League season, when Preston North End reigned supreme

The long-term significance
On April 17, 1888, the Football League was founded as the first professional league in the world. So obviously a powerful idea, its first imitator, the Combination, was launched only 10 days later. The League set the template for such structures all around the world for a century or more.

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