In Europe everyone is talking about Boxing Day of the English Premier League. After all, the tradition is more than 150 years old. Football usually drives many fans to the stadiums or in front of the TV on Boxing Day. However, this year everything is different.
Christmas is full of presents. Be it the presence of loved ones, the package under the decorated tree – or a whole game day of the Premier League. In the motherland of football, the sporty Boxing Day is part of the celebration of love.
The tradition started more than 150 years ago. Because the two oldest football clubs in the world, Sheffield FC and Hallam FC, held their first derby on December 26, 1860.
Before Christmas football was finally included in the Football League, which was founded in 1888, Everton FC started a test.
The Toffees Christmas 1888 played three games. The show match against Ulster alone attracted a full 2,000 spectators – quite a lot for the early days.
Pilgrimage to the stadiums
Football at Christmas was well received by the population and was henceforth written into the game plan.
The league gave fans top-class sport on the holidays – back then even on Christmas Day, December 25th. In addition to the fans, spectators who otherwise had little to do with football were also drawn to the stadiums.
The English “Guardian” described the new folklore as “part of the national character – this drooping, solemn wandering, the essential characteristic of a roaming, shivering people who are drawn to damp, unproductive pilgrimages.”
Indeed, the comparison with pilgrimages is not far-fetched. Because the cult around Christmas football reached its peak in the meantime.
Almost three and a half million viewers are said to have attended the three rounds of the Football League in just four days – including singing Christmas carols and Christmas dinner in the stands.
Boxing Day
But gradually, those responsible slimmed down the jam-packed football program on the holidays. In 1965, the last game was played on Christmas Day – Blackpool beat Blackburn 4-2.
Since then, the English leagues have only given their fans presents on Boxing Day, on Boxing Day.
It got its name from the old tradition that the rich British always gave their servants or those in need with a “Christmas Box”, a small package, on that day.
Football with a pilgrimage character? Everything will be different in 2021
At least the neutral spectators and fans of the winning teams experienced the greatest boxing day as early as 1963.
Back then, an unbelievable 66 goals were scored in ten First Division games. Fulham had the largest share of this with their 10-1 win over Ipswich Town. Graham Leggat scored the fastest hat trick in league history. Three goals in just four minutes – a Christmas miracle!
At the moment, however, hardly anyone on the island believes in a miracle on Boxing Day of the year that is now drawing to a close. After all, the corona pandemic also has Great Britain firmly under control.
Three games, including Liverpool FC’s home game against Leeds United, had to be canceled due to numerous corona cases at the clubs. It was only shortly before the festive season and after a meeting with the clubs that the league declared that they wanted to stick to the traditional game plan despite the expanding Omikron variant.
And so Boxing Day in 2021 has a completely different omen: health. Numerous players have become newly infected, most recently Aston Villas team manager Steven Gerrard, who had to be quarantined after positive corona tests.
This time, Boxing Day has little in common with traditional Christmas football with a pilgrimage character.
Florian Puetz
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