HISTORY
A BRIEF HISTORY
A quick research of Football in England would note the first written evidence was by Thomas Becket’s cleric and administrator in 1170. He mentioned after dinner all the youths of the city would go out to the fields for a popular game of ball. In 1314 King Edward II commented about “certain tumults arising from great footballs in fields of the public, from which many evils may arise”. (You see, hooliganism has been part of the game from it’s very beginnings.) By the 16th century, references to organized teams and goals was evidence of refereed, team football games being played in English schools in 1581.
The idea of a football league was first proposed by Scotsman, William McGregor, director of Aston Villa, in 1888. The First version of a league contained 12 teams made up primarily of clubs from the Birmingham and Manchester regions. Other teams quickly followed to where today we have 92 combatants spread over four divisions.
At the top of the pile is the Premier League, which consists of 20 teams. Below that are the Championship League, Leagues One and Two with 24 teams in each. Each team plays every other team in their league twice during the season; once at their home ground and the other at their opponents. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss.
The top teams of the Premier League get to play the next season in one of two European Leagues (games played during the week), where the real money is. This opportunity is in addition to playing their regular scheduled Premier League games. The top three teams of each lower league are promoted to the next tier above. The bottom three are relegated to the league below. The bottom three of League Two are dropped into what is called the National League (a kind of twilight world of darkness and mystery), usually never to be seen again.
When a team is relegated from the Premier League down to the tier below, The Championship League, they are given what amounts to a golden parachute. The amount can vary but it is sizable, somewhere in the region of $50-$60 million. The other teams in the Championship League see this as an unfair advantage as it allows the newly relegated teams a financial boost to strengthen their squad. Consequently you often see relegated teams bounce back up to the Top Tier.
THE CUPS
PREMIER LEAGUE TROPHY
The top team in the Premier League wins the Premier League Trophy, automatic inclusion in the European Champions League for next year and lots of money.
To win the Premier League Trophy is the pinnacle of achievement, but there are two other trophies that are also hotly contested.
THE FA CUP
The FA Cup is the oldest football trophy in the world and is open to all professional clubs plus non-league organizations which can total more than 700 clubs. It is more formally known as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is organized by the English Football Association, and currently sponsored by Emirates Airlines. The FA Cup doesn’t directly offer any support, but the Football Association pays clubs awards based on how far they advance in the FA Cup rounds.
The early rounds are only played by the lower ranked teams and the top outfits only begin to participate in the later rounds. Although the competition is open to all teams, only eight non-first division or Premier League teams have won it in over 150 years.
This image above/left is of a replica of the original 1871 design FA Cup. The original was stolen from a Birmingham shop window in 1895, never to be seen again.
The Carabao Cup
This is the other major trophy that was initially called the League Cup. The main driving force behind this cup began in 1960-61 season with the advent of floodlights. This enabled teams to be able to play at night in mid-week. In 1981 a sponsorship by the Carabao Corp changed the official name. All teams in the four Leagues are eligible to participate in the Cup, but for many years clubs have viewed this competition as a lesser equivalent of the FA Cup. In many ways it still is. Teams traditionally fielded their young talent and players that don’t get regular playing time, and the monetary reward was minimal compared to winning the FA Cup; this led to it being referred to as The Micky Mouse Cup. The winners of this cup get automatic inclusion into next season’s European Champions League, so the potential is there for a big payday. Therefore, in recent years teams have gained a little more respect for this competition.
The Golden Boot
Each season the Golden Boot is given to the top goal scorer in the Premier League. For sponsorship purposes the official title changes from time to time. For the first seven years it was called the Carling Golden Boot then for the next two years the Barclaycard and so on. Currently it is called the Castrol Golden Boot. Whomever wins it gets to hold the trophy for a year plus 1,000 pounds (about $1200) for every goal scored to be donated to a charity of the winner’s choice. The donation amount can add up when a player scores as many as 39 goals! The prestige is revered by all.