Football Boots: Earliest Recorded – King Henry VIII in 1526
King Henry VIII’s football boots were listed within the Great Wardrobe of 1526, a shopping list of the day. They were made by his personal shoemaker Cornelius Johnson in 1525, at a cost of 4 shillings, the equivalent of £100 in today’s money. Little is known about them, as there is no surviving example, but the royal football boots are known to have been made of strong leather, ankle high and heavier than the normal shoe of the day.
Football Boots – The 1800’s
Moving forward 300 years saw football developing and gaining popularity throughout Britain, but still remaining as an unstructured and informal pastime, with teams representing local factories and villages in a burgeoning industrial nation. Players would wear their hard, leather work boots, which were long laced and steel toe-capped as the first football boots. These football boots would also have metal studs or tacks hammered into them to increase ground grip and stability.
As laws become integrated into the game in the late 1800’s, so saw the first shift in football boots to a slipper (or soccus) style shoe, with players of the same team starting to wear the same boots for the first time. Laws also allowed for studs, which had to be rounded. (more…)
Saturday, January 28, 2012 | Categories: Apparel, football, shoes, sport | 1 Comment
Chelsea Football Club are considering the possibility of building a new stadium after news this week that the club are set to make attempts to buy back the freehold on the stands and pitch of their current stadium, Stamford Bridge, which are owned by an organisation known as the Chelsea Pitch Owners.
The ownership of the pitch and stands was sold to the group in 1993 by former club chairman Ken Bates, ensuring the club could never be sold to developers or the stadium relocated without the consent of the supporters. Following an ambitious re-development of the ground in the 1970s when the proposal was to develop a 50,000 all seated stadium, although the plans were revolutionary they were also far too ambitious. Chelsea found themselves in severe financial difficulties by the mid 1970s which forced the club to sell many of its star players and ultimately a decision was made to sell the Stamford Bridge ground to property developers in order to generate income and pay off some of the debts as the club was nearly bankrupt.
The decision to sell the ground nearly saw the end of the football club as they faced financial ruin, a ten year legal battle ensued which finally saw the Blues win back their Stadium in 1992, when ironically the developers themselves went bankrupt, lifting the threat of eviction from their own ground and it being redeveloped as houses or shopping pre (more…)
Thursday, January 19, 2012 | Categories: Club, football, sport | Leave a comment
The rich history of Arsenal football goes back to 1886 at a Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich. With help from co-workers and local natives that contributed to the start of the football club, the team had no name despite playing it’s first game against Dial Square which they humbly lost 6-0. While sitting at the local pub called Royal Oak, the team name was invented combining the workplace and the pub, hence Royal Arsenal was born. The name only stuck for five years and the founders of the team eventually went with Woolwich Arsenal for the team name. What began as fun and exercise for these hardworking men, little did history know or the men themselves of what they unleashed. In that same year Woolwich Arsenal became a professional club.
In the early days of the league itself, the London FA tried to coax other London teams like Tottenham, Queen’s Park Rangers and Millwall to form a southern league but the proposal was rejected. Woolwich Arsenal applied to the league and in 1893 were elected to the Second Division. They were London’s only professional club and the first club south of Birmingham City to be elected to the league. Their first ever league game was played in a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United. (more…)
Sunday, January 15, 2012 | Categories: Club, football, sport | Tags: Arsenal, Football, Football Club, The Guners | Leave a comment
Loftus Road will wit
ness football action when QPR clash with champions Manchester United in match week 16 of the Premier League on Sunday, December 18, 2011.
QPR are coming off a 1-0 loss away at Liverpool, in match week 15. QPR emerged with their dignity intact against their accomplished rivals, and they owed it to a sterling display by veteran goalkeeper Radek Cerny who kept the Liverpool forwards at bay for the most part. But for the keeper, Liverpool’s star Uruaguayan striker Suarez could have had a hat-trick but had to remain satisfied with just the solitary goal, off a header on 48 minutes. The pressure told on Liverpool and QPR came close to getting an equaliser when Martin Skrtel kicked QPR midfielder Faurlin in the late stages of the game but the penalty shout was ignored by the referee.
In match week 15, Man United registered a thumping 4-1 victory over Wolves, in a match hosted by the Red Devils at Old Trafford. This was United’s most convincing win getting their title defence back on track after it had flagged in recent weeks following a 6-1 loss at home to Man City. In a welcome return to form, Wayne Rooney scored a brace and that must be an ominous sign for United’s rivals who will be wary of the star striker’s propensity to score goals in bunches. Rooney’s return to form coincided happily with the reduction of his Euro 2012 ban and he was assisted by brilliant performances from Nani and Valencia, the latter dazzled with some brilliant crosses. Jones showcased his talent in midfield. On the flip side, Wolves forward Matt Jarvis proved a handful for Chris Smalling in United’s back-line (more…)
Saturday, January 14, 2012 | Categories: Club, football | Leave a comment
The Soccer kit has come a long way from the ‘jersey, knickers, hose, slip and anklets’ that were worn by players in the early days of the sport. UK Football manufacturers, Umbro, were one of the early pioneers in Soccer T-Shirt development, the picture above shows one of their kits being worn by Manchester City in the 1934 FA Cup Final win over Portsmouth.
In those days, the most techical of fabrics in the soccer T-shirt would have been a thick cotton twill and the goalkeeper would wear a heavy wollen garment similar to a sweater. The refree was pretty much in his Sunday best!
The modern day soccer shirt has evolved significantly from its humble origins.
The soccer apparel industry is a multi-million dollar business with key sportswear companies like Nike and adidas looking for the next best design or innovation that will provide their sponsored club with a performancing-enhancing edge over the competition.
Space-age fabrics and cool, fashion-led designs are key to making the soccer shirt right for the player and right for the fans. Some branded manufacturers deliver consistently strong looking soccer t-shirts…while others can get it hopelessly wrong! he best selling club soccer shirts globally are Manchester United and Real Madrid. Whilst exact figures on the number of replica jerseys sold cannot be provided, the numbers below provide an indication of the numbers involved.
Saturday, January 14, 2012 | Categories: Apparel, sport | Tags: Shoes, T-shirt | Leave a comment
Tottenham are set to clash with Wolves in match week 21, on Saturday, January 14, 2011. A win in the game will boost Tottenham’s title bid as Spurs are hot on the heels of Man City.To find out at what time the match between Tottenham and Wolves is due to kick off, take a look at the EPL schedule.In match week 20, Spurs registered a 2-0 win at White Hart Field against Everton. the win enabled Spurs to draw level on points with second laced Man United, three points adrift of table leaders Man City. After an early scare when Everton’s Saha shot wide, the hosts took the lead after Aaron Lennon cut in from the left to put the ball into the Toffees’ net. In one of many scoring chances in game dominated by Spurs, Emmanuel Adebayor shot over and wide. But the hosts kept up the pressure on Everton and it finally told when Benoit Assou-Ekotto scored from 30 yards out. Referee Martin Atkinson did the hosts a favour when he denied Everton a penalty after Younes Kaboul brought down Royston Drenthe late in the game, but in the end it was a well-deserved win for Spurs.
Wolves lost 2-1 in a home encounter with Chelsea, in match week 20. Chelsea won on the back of Frank Lampard who scored almost in the last minute of regulation time. But Wolves did themselves proud in a hard-fought encounter. Kevin Doyle almost got them an equaliser in injury time and would have earned them a point but for a great save by Cech to deny his header. Wolves had periods of domination both sides of the interval and particularly in the first half they were guilty of squandering brilliant scoring opportunities.
Head to head, in the last 8 years, Tottenham and Wolves have met in 7 league games, with Tottenham winning on 4 occasions and Wolves on 2, with the remaining game ending in a stalemate. The last time these teams met was in September 2011; that match hosted by the Molineux side ended 2-0 in Spurs’ favour. (more…)
Friday, January 13, 2012 | Categories: football | Leave a comment
Football Boots: Earliest Recorded – King Henry VIII in 1526
Sparta & Athena 