On Day History: Sport

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Sabtu, 21 Januari 2012

On this day in history: First live radio broadcast of a soccer match, 1927

On New Year's Day 1927, the British Broadcasting Company Ltd received a Royal Charter and became the publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation. Two weeks later the BBC made the first ever live radio broadcast of a sporting event - a Rugby Union international match between England and Wales at Twickenham. A week later, on 22nd January, BBC radio broadcast the first live coverage of an association football match between Arsenal and Sheffield United.

The game was a First Division fixture played at Arsenal's ground, Highbury, in North-London. The commentator was Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam, a former rugby player, who commentated on the rugby international the week before. The producer of the show, Lance Sieveking, came up with an idea to help the listeners keep track of the action. The Radio Times magazine of that week included a diagram of the pitch that was divided up into numbered sections. As Wakelam described the action, a fellow broadcaster, C.A. Lewis, told the listeners which sector the ball was in.

Bad visibility hampered the commentators but they still managed to keep their listeners informed of the goals. On an icy pitch, Arsenal took the lead when Charlie Buchan headed home with ten minutes to go. The Sheffield United captain, Billy Gillespie, soon equalised and the match ended as a 1:1 draw.

Related posts
First black international footballer: 12th March 1881
English Football Association legalised professionalism: 20th July, 1885
First Italian football championship: 8th May 1898
BBC Radio first broadcast the Greenwich Time Signal: 5th February 1924
Uruguay win first FIFA World Cup: 30th July, 1930
BBC Television Service started broadcasting: 2nd November 1936
First commercial transistor radio announced: 18th October 1954

Sabtu, 10 Desember 2011

On this day in history: First trans-oceanic yacht race, 1866

At 1pm on 11th December 1866, three schooners sailed from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, their destination was the Needles, near Cowes in the Isle of Wight. The three yachts taking part in 'The Great Atlantic Yacht Race' were the Henrietta, owned by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., George A. Osgood's Fleetwing, and the Vesta, owned by the tobacco manufacturer, Pierre Lorillard. Each owner wagered $30,000 on what was the first ever trans-oceanic yacht race, and while Osgood and Lorillard remained in New York, Bennett set sail with his crew.

A flotilla of sailing craft escorted the three yachts from New York to the docks at Sandy Hook, which were lined with a cheering throng. One day into the race, the Henrietta opened a lead on the other two craft and later the Vesta, under the command of Captain Dayton, parted company with the Fleetwing commanded by Captain Thomas. The trailing yacht ran into trouble on the eighth day of the race when she encountered a heavy gale that caused six men to be washed overboard, all of whom were lost along with the yacht's jibboom.

The Henrietta won the race and the $90,000 prize (more than $2 million in today's money), taking 13 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes to complete the crossing. In spite of her earlier tragedy, the Fleetwing came second due to a navigational mistake by the pilot who joined the crew to guide them safely to their goal. Due to misty conditions, he mistook the lighthouse at St. Katherine for the one at the Needles.

Related posts
HMS Beagle launched: 11th May 1820
Suez Canal opened: 17th November 1869
Charles Lindbergh arrived in Paris: 21st May 1927

Minggu, 27 November 2011

On this day in history: Most points scored by one player in NFL game, 1929

Born in Willow River, Minnesota, in 1903, Ernie Nevers developed his sporting prowess while at high school. He gained notoriety playing American football for Stanford University, being named as the Player of the Game in their 1925 Rose Bowl victory against the University of Notre Dame. The following year he made his professional sporting début as a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns baseball team, before also signing for the Duluth Eskimos AFL side as fullback.

In 1929 Nevers signed for he Chicago Cardinals NFL side, as player-coach. On 28th November, the Cardinals had a visit from their local rivals, the Chicago Bears, for the Thanksgiving Day fixture. The crowd of approximately eight-thousand watched as Nevers scored all forty points for the Cardinals in their 40-6 victory. He made six touchdowns and kicked four extra points to establish a record that still stands.

Related posts
Lowest innings total in first-class cricket: 11th June 1907
Garry Sobers hit six sixes in an over: 31st August 1968
Pelé scored his 1000th goal: 19th November 1969

Jumat, 18 November 2011

On this day in history: Pelé scored his 1000th goal, 1969

The most famous footballer of all time was born Edison Arantes do Nascimento in the city of Três Corações in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In spite of his father - João Ramos do Nascimento, nicknamed Dondinho - being a professional footballer, Pelé grew up in poverty in the city of Bauru, São Paulo. Nevertheless, he developed his sporting skills using makeshift footballs such as socks filled with newspaper or grapefruit.

Pelé joined the junior team at Santos at the age of fifteen, before joining the senior squad a year later as a forward. He scored a goal in his début match against Corinthians on 7th September 1956, going on to be the stop scorer in the division. Less than a year after signing a professional contract he played his first game for the national side scoring Brazil's only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Argentina, becoming the youngest ever player to score in an international: he was aged only sixteen years and nine months.

In 1958, he also became the youngest player to take part in a FIFA World Cup. He scored six goals throughout the competition, including two goals in Brazil's 5-2 victory over Sweden in the final. Brazil retained the World Cup in 1962, with Pelé getting on the score-sheet only once.

The 1960s proved to be a golden decade for Santos. Pelé's team won six national championships and two continental trophies. By the end of the decade he approached a milestone in his career: his thousandth goal in senior football.

Anticipation increased during the 1969 season as he approached the landmark. On 19th November, Santos travelled to play Vasco Da Gama in the huge Maracana Stadium with Pelé's goal tally numbering 999. The 125,000 strong crowd watched as he was twice denied in the first half: first by the crossbar; then by a magnificent save from Vasco goalkeeper, Andrada.

In the second half, a defender appeared to bring Pelé down in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot and the Santos left-back, Rildo, stepped up to take the kick, but the team captain, Carlos Alberto, decided that Pelé should take the spot kick as his team-mates retreated to the half-way line in order that he may compose himself.

Pelé slotted the ball into the bottom-left-hand corner to score the goal known popularly as O Milésimo ("The Thousandth"). As photographers and spectators ran onto the pitch and surrounded the goal, he stood in the net repeatedly kissing the ball and thanking it for all it had given him. He was then carried aloft around the pitch while the entire crowd celebrated his achievement.

Kamis, 13 Oktober 2011

On this day in history: Jim Hines won Olympic 100m final, 1968

Born in Dumas, Arkansas, and raised in Oakland, California, Jim Hines earliest sporting ambition was to be a baseball star, but his running ability caught the eye of a track coach who persuaded him to become a sprinter. Later, while attending Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas he joined their track team and took part in the Amateur Athletic Union's 1968 national championships in Sacramento, California. During a semi-final heat of the one-hundred metres, Hines finished in a time of 9.9 seconds (measured manually) making him the first man to run the distance in under ten seconds.

Unsurprisingly, Hines was picked for the US team for the Mexico Olympics. He made it through the heats and lined up with the other contestants for the 100m final, which notably was the first ever Olympic final in which every competitor was black. Hines won the race and after some dispute his official time was recorded as 9.95 seconds (measured electronically) - the first sub-ten-second 100m in an Olympic final, and a world record that stood until Calvin Smith's 9.93 seconds in 1983.

Hines nearly didn't compete at all. There were calls for African-American athletes to boycott the games in protest of the inclusion of an Olympic team from South Africa, in spite of that country's policy of apartheid, and to highlight the issue of racial tensions at home. Two days after Hines' victory, Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a raised fist 'Black Power' salute on the medal podium after finishing first and third respectively in the 200m final - one of the iconic images not only of the Mexico Olympics but also of that most troubled of years.

Senin, 19 September 2011

On this day in history: Foundation of first Irish football club, 1879

While on honeymoon in Scotland in 1878, a young businessman from Belfast called John McCredy McAlery watched soccer being played for the first time. McAlery, an accomplished sportsman, became enthralled by the sport and decided to introduce it to his native land. In October that same year, he arranged an exhibition match at the Ulster Cricket Grounds between the Scottish teams Queen's Park and Caledonians.

A year later he decided to go one better and found the first Irish football club. On 20th September 1879 a notice appeared in the Belfast newspapers the News Letter and the Northern Whig, which read:

Cliftonville Association Football Club (Scottish Association Rules.) Gentlemen desirous of becoming members of the above Club will please communicate with J. M. McAlery, 6 Donegall Street; or R. M. Kennedy, 6 Brookvale Terrace, Antrim Road. Opening practice today at 3.30.

Nine days later the Cliftonville team, including McAlery, played their first game at Cliftonville Cricket Club against a team of rugby players called the Quidnunces to whom they lost 2:1.

Aware that the locals would soon lose interest in a sport with only one club, McAlery aided the Knock Cricket and Lacrosse Club in the formation of their own football team. As happened across the Irish Sea, many other cricket clubs formed their own football teams in order to compete in a winter sport. In November 1880 there were enough of them to form the Irish Football Association with McAlery taking on the role of secretary.

To learn more of the history of Cliftonville F.C., see the history page on the official web-site

Related posts
First black international footballer: 12th March 1881
English Football Association legalised professionalism: 20th July 1885
First Italian football championship: 8th May 1898
First live radio broadcast of a soccer match: 22nd January 1927
Uruguay win first FIFA World Cup: 30th July 1930
First English club to win European Cup: 29th May 1968
Pelé scored his 1000th goal: 19th November 1969

Selasa, 30 Agustus 2011

On this day in history: Garry Sobers hit six sixes in an over, 1968

Born in 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados, Garfield St. Auburn Sobers grew up to be a great sportsman representing the island at golf, football, table-tennis and even dominoes, but it was as a cricketer that he became best known. A talented bowler and batsman, he played his first test match against England in 1954. In 1968, he moved to England to play for the county side Nottinghamshire.

On 31st August 1968, Sobers captained his side in a County Championship match against Glamorgan, at St. Helen's in Swansea. He won the toss and elected to bat first. Sobers, batting at seven, faced an over from the left-arm medium pace bowler Malcolm Nash. The West-Indian hit all six bowls for maximum scores. Roger Davis caught the fifth ball but then fell over the boundary rope making it a six. Sobers hit the sixth ball out of the ground and down a nearby street where it was picked up by a young boy. At the end of the over, the unfortunate bowler said to Sobers, "We've gone into the record books, and you couldn't have done it without me." Nottinghamshire went on to win the match by 166 runs.

Never before had every ball in an over been hit for six in first-class cricket - a feat that has only been repeated four times: by Ravi Shastri for Bombay against Baroda in a West Zone Ranji match in 1985; by Herschelle Gibbs in a One Day International match for South Africa against the Netherlands in 2007; and, also in 2007, by Yuvraj Singh in a 20Twenty International match for India against England.

Selasa, 23 Agustus 2011

On this day in history: First man swam across the English Channel, 1875

Matthew Webb was born at Dawlish, Shropshire, on 18th January 1848 to a country doctor of the same name and his wife, Sarah. By the age of eight, Webb had learnt to swim in the River Severn below Ironbridge. He continued to swim after joining the merchant navy gaining a reputation for strength and stamina.

After reading a newspaper report about an unsuccessful attempt to swim the English Channel, Webb gave up his career in the merchant marine and dedicated himself to swimming full-time. Webb spent months training on the south coast developing his slow and steady breaststroke before making his first attempt to swim the Channel on 12th August. He made it over halfway across before rough seas forced him to abandon the attempt.

At just after 1pm on 24th August 1875, Webb dived off of the Admiralty Pier at Dover at set off. Cheered on by the passengers and crews of passing ships, he finally arrived near Calais after spending nearly twenty-two hours in the water swimming a zig-zag course of around 39 miles. He returned to Britain as a hero.

Fame brought fortune to Webb, but his generosity resulted in him returning to swimming. He took part in endurance races, but the strain was beginning to tell. In 1880 he embarked on another great stunt, swimming across the Niagara downriver from the Falls; unfortunately, the current proved too strong and Webb was drowned.

Related posts

Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on tightrope: 30th June 1859

First crossing of the English Channel in an autogyro: 18th September 1928

Jumat, 29 Juli 2011

On this day in history: Uruguay win first FIFA World Cup, 1930

Founded in 1904, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association: 'International Federation of Association Football') soon fell into dispute with the International Olympic Committee about the sport's position in the Olympic games, particularly with regard to the issue of what constituted amateur status. When the organisers of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics announced that soccer would not be part of the programme - due to the sport's lack of popularity in the United States - the FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to organise an international football competition. This competition took place in Uruguay, who were the current Olympic champions, in 1930, which was the bi-centenary of Uruguayan independence.

Thirteen national teams competed for the inaugural World Cup. Only four European teams travelled across the Atlantic to play the nine teams from the Americas. Initially, no European teams signed up, because their associations could not afford the expense of travel. In response, FIFA and the Uruguayans promised to cover the travel expenses of any European team. One notable absentee, the England team, failed to take part because the Football Association had withdrawn from FIFA three years before and declined a special invitation from the Uruguayan Football Association.

The competition format involved the division of teams into four groups. Each team played the others in their group once and the winners of each mini-league won a place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals the winners of Group 1, Argentina beat the USA, winners of Group 4; the Group 3 winners and hosts Uruguay defeated Yugoslavia - strangely, the result of both games was 6:1.

On 30th July 1930, Uruguay faced their neighbours Argentina in the final at the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo in front of around 80,000 spectators. The hosts scored first, but Argentina responded with two goals to take a lead at half time. Three second-half goals for Uruguay sealed a 4:2 victory and they lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy for the first time.

Jumat, 22 Juli 2011

On this day in history: First international sports federation founded, 1881

On 23rd July 1881, delegates from the gymnastic federations of Belgium, France and the Netherlands met at the Belgian festival of gymnastics at Liège, Belgium. They had gathered at the invitation of the president of the Gymnastic Society of Belgium, Nicolaas J. Cupérus, to create the Bureau des Fédérations Européennes de Gymnastique ('Office of European Gymnastic Federations') - the world's first international sports federation.

Cupérus served as the president of the federation for its first 43 years, during which time it welcomed new members and became associated with the nascent modern Olympic movement. In 1921 the organisation became the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique ('International Gymnastic Federation') as it accepted national federations from non-European countries. At that time it had sixteen members and a participant in the organisation of the Olympic games, drawing up rules of competition and scoring methodology.

You can learn more about the history of the organisation from their website.

Related posts
First modern Olympiad: 6th April 1896
Uruguay won first FIFA World Cup: 30th July 1930

Rabu, 20 Juli 2011

On this day in history: English Football Association legalised professionalism, 1885

Within decades of the Football Association's creation in 1863, its ethos of amateur contest began to be undermined. According to the rules of the FA - the world's first governing body for soccer - no footballer should receive payment for playing in any FA endorsed event. Nevertheless, in 1879 the Lancashire club Darwen F.C. reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup fielding two professional Scottish players: Fergie Suter and Jimmy Love.

By the mid-1880s the controversy surrounding professionalism had created a schism between the more middle-class amateur clubs of the south of England, and the more working-class clubs in the northern towns. In response to the expulsion of Accrington F.C. in 1883, and year-long suspension of Preston North End a year later, thirty-one broke away from the FA to form the rival British Football Association in 1884. In order to assert its authority over the game, the members of the FA had to agree to change their rules.

At the general meeting of the FA in March 1885, a majority of representatives voted to legalise professionalism but they did not amount to the two-thirds required to change the rules. A sub-committee formed to negotiate a settlement, and on the evening of 20th July 1885, FA members met at Anderton's Hotel on Fleet Street, London, to hear its report, which read:

The sub-committee [...] in their opinion it is now expedient, in the interests of association football, to legalize the employment of professional football players, but only under certain restrictions.

They consider that no player can be termed an amateur who receives any remuneration or consideration above his necessary hotel and travelling expenses, but that, under certain conditions, professionals - viz, players receiving for playing more than those expenses - may be allowed to take part in all cup, county, and inter-association matches... [source The Times (21st July 1885), p. 5]

The restrictions included residency requirements, such as being born within six miles of a club's ground or HQ, or living within that radius for two years in order to play for the club in the FA Cup. A list of registered professionals was to be kept, and they were to be barred from serving on any FA committees.

The FA delegates voted 35 to 12 in favour of the recommendations and amended the laws of the game accordingly. Over the next few decades, professionalism began to dominate the game of soccer with many staunchly amateur clubs falling by the wayside. Following the arrival of television (particularly satellite TV) today's top flight footballers now receive enormous salaries to play what was once a wholly amateur sport.

Related posts
Foundation of first Irish football club: 20th September 1879
First Italian football championship: 8th May 1898
First live radio broadcast of a soccer match: 22nd January 1927
Uruguay won first FIFA World Cup :30th July 1930

Kamis, 14 Juli 2011

On this day in history: First Cuban world boxing champion, 1931

On July 15th 1931, Eligio Sardiñas Montalvo - better known as Kid Chocolate or the Cuban Bon Bon - knocked out Benny Bass in the seventh round of their Junior Lightweight title bout at the Baker Bowl, Philadelphia to become the first Cuban world champion boxer. The victory gave him celebrity status and he became a regular guest at society parties.

Born in Havana on 6th January 1910, the young Eligio watched films of boxing matches from which he learned the art. Having fought as an amateur and sparred with many great boxers of the day, in 1927 he went professional. The next year he relocated to New York City to fight the quality of opponent necessary for his shot at the championship.

In November 1931, Eligio went up a weight division to face Lightweight champion Tony Canzoneri, at Madison Square Garden, New York. He failed in this second title bid, and in 1933 he lost his Junior Lightweight belt to Frankie Klick. Following his unsuccessful attempts to regain the title he retired, revealing that he was suffering from syphilis.

The very next year, Kid Chocolate returned to the ring winning 47 out of 50 fights, but not against the sort of opposition that would provide another championship bid. In 1938 he retired again, never to return to the ring. Instead he returned to a quiet life in Cuba and increasing obscurity, particularly after the 1959 revolution. Nevertheless, his boxing career was recognised by the Cuban authorities in the 1970s; he was provided with a state-funded house, in which he died in 1988.

Related posts
Last bare-knuckle championship bout: 8th July 1889

Kamis, 07 Juli 2011

On this day in history: Last bare-knuckle championship bout, 1889

In 1881, the Massachusetts boxer John L. Sullivan insulted Richard Kyle Fox, proprietor of the weekly sports and theatre journal entitled the National Police Gazette, when he refused to visit Fox's table in a Boston Saloon. Over the following years Fox dedicated himself to finding a fighter who could defeat Sullivan, who defeated the reigning American champion, Paddy Ryan, in 1882 before embarking on a coast-to-coast tour of the United States winning fights in over one-hundred towns. Meanwhile, Fox thought he had found his man in the form of Jake Kilrain from Long Island and set about goading Sullivan into a fight by saying that he was afraid to face Kilrain.

Eventually, in January 1889, both sides agreed on a bare-knuckle contest to take place within 200-miles of New Orleans under the London Prize Ring rules. Both parties also agreed to a $10,000 wager on the outcome. The governors of both Louisiana and Mississippi both opposed the fight taking place in their respective states, but the promoter Bud Reneau managed to secure a venue on the land of Colonel Charles W. Rich in Richburg, Mississippi.

On 8th July 1889 around three-thousand spectators gathered to watch the fight. They jeered the local sheriff who read a proclamation banning the contest, under the orders of Governor Lowry. In spite of the proclamation, both contestants ceremonially threw their hats into the ring and entered the ring a little after 10am.

Over the next two hours and sixteen minutes the two fought only pausing at the end of a round, which only occurred when one of them hit the ground, as per the London Prize Ring rules. Kilrain's tactic was to try and dodge Sullivan's lunges while wearing him out by jabbing and wrestling his opponent. Despite vomiting during the forty-fourth round Sullivan's stamina held out. At the beginning of the seventy-sixth round Kilrain's cornerman followed the advice of a doctor who said that their fighter's life was in jeopardy and threw a sponge into the ring to signify that they had conceded. While Kilrain lay on the floor in floods of tears, some of the crowd carried the jubilant Sullivan aloft while others grabbed splinters of the rings posts, lengths of rope and even clumps of turf as souvenirs of the last bare-knuckle championship bout.

The authorities issued arrest warrants for both fighters and consequently they were both taken into custody - Sullivan in Nashville and Kilrain in Baltimore - before being returned to face trial in Mississippi. Having been found guilty of prizefighting Sullivan paid a fine of $500, while Kilrain was found guilty of assault and battery and not only received a fine for the same amount, but was also sentenced to six month is jail. Colonel Rich paid Kilrain's fine and bought his sentence meaning that Kilrain served his time as a guest in Rich's home.

To learn more about the Sullivan - Kilrain fight see The University of Southern Mississippi's McCain Library and Archives page on the subject.

Related posts
First Cuban world boxing champion: 15th July 1931

Jumat, 10 Juni 2011

On this day in history: Lowest innings total in first-class cricket, 1907

On 11th June 1907, Gloucestershire resumed batting on the second day of their English County Cricket Championship match against Northamptonshire at the Spa Ground in Gloucester. At the end of a rain affected day-one the home side had scored a meagre twenty runs for the loss of four wickets. They went on to score a total of sixty runs before they were bowled out. After a short break the teams took to the field for Northamptonshire's first innings. The Times newspaper report of 12th June detailed what happened next:

In the course of 40 minutes [...] Northamptonshire were got out by [Edward] Dennett [pictured] and Mr. [Gilbert] Jessop for 12 runs. The ground, of course, greatly favoured the bowlers; but no men could have used the opportunity better than this pair did. While Mr. Jessop kept a perfect length and so kept the runs down, Dennett got rid of his opponents in startling fashion. Before a wicket fell six were scored from him, but afterwards only three more were hit off his bowling, while he claimed eight wickets.

Jessop took the remaining two wickets. Gloucestershire scored 88 in their second innings, and Northamptonshire reached 40 for 7 at the end of the second day's play, with Dennett taking all the wickets with only twelve runs scored off his bowling. The weather prevented any play on day-three so this historical match ended in a draw.

The scorecard for this match is available at CricketArchive.com.

Related posts
Shortest test match in history: 15th February 1932
Garry Sobers hit six sixes in an over: 31st August 1968

Sabtu, 28 Mei 2011

On this day in history: First English club to win European Cup, 1968

On the evening of 29th May 1968, Manchester United faced the Portuguese club Benfica in the final of the major association football club competition in Europe. Manchester United were the first English side to make to a final, but not the first British side. The previous year the Glasgow Celtic team had defeated Inter Milan to win the trophy in Portugal, earning themselves the nickname of the 'Lisbon Lions'. The Manchester side had an extra advantage since their final took place at Wembley Stadium in London.

The score stood at 1:1 at the end of normal time: United had scored first through England striker Bobby Charlton's header in the 53rd minute; however, midfielder Jaime Graça scored for the Lisbon club in the 75th minute. The hard-tackling Benfica could have won the match had it not been for the heroics of the United goalkeeper Alex Stepney who managed to prevent the great Eusébio from scoring before the end of the ninety minutes.

In extra-time, Manchester United found the net three more times, another goal from Charlton, and one each for Brian Kidd and George Best, who later that year received the accolade of European Footballer of the Year.

Below you can see a British Pathé News report with the highlights of the final.

Kamis, 12 Mei 2011

On this day in history: First Formula One Championship race, 1950

Following the conclusion of hostilities in Europe in 1946, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) standardised the rules of automobile racing. The FIA tasked their Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) with defining Formula A, the premier single-seater category. By the time of the first drivers championship in 1950, the name of the category had become Formula One.

Each of the six European stages of the inaugural Formula One Championship took the title of Grand Prix, the name used to describe the blue-ribbon motor races before the Second World war; the Indianapolis 500 was included as a stage but only U.S. teams and drivers competed there. The first stage was the British Grand Prix held on 13th May 1950, which involved seventy laps of the Silverstone Circuit, on the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshire border. The spectators, including King George VI, watched the Italian Nino Farina win in an Alfa Romeo 158, known as the Alfetta.

Farina went on to win the Drivers Championship after having won three races. His Argentinian teammate, the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, came second having also won three races. Another Alfa Romeo driver, Luigi Fagioli, came third after finishing in second place in four Grands Prix, including the British Grand Prix.

Sabtu, 07 Mei 2011

On this day in history: First Italian football championship, 1898

The first official Italian association football competition was played in entirety on 8th May 1898. The newly formed Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, or FIGC) endorsed the event. Earlier that decade there had been other football competitions staged, initially by teams of English emigrants and later by Italian teams; however, they played in separate leagues.

The city of Turin hosted the first FIGC sponsored competition and supplied three of the four competing teams: FBC Torinese, Ginnastica Torino, and Internazionale Torino. The fourth team and winners of the competition, the Genoa Cricket and Football Club, was the oldest in the country. The team included three Englishmen, one player from the Island of Guernsey and another from Switzerland.

To learn more about the story of Italian football see the FIGC history pages.

Related pages
Foundation of first Irish football club: 20th September 1879
First black international footballer: 12th March 1881
English Football Association legalises professionalism: 20th July 1885
First live radio broadcast of a soccer match: 22nd January 1927
Uruguay win first FIFA World Cup: 30th July 1930
First English club to win European Cup: 29th May 1968
Pelé scored his 1000th goal: 19th November 1969

Senin, 02 Mei 2011

On this day in history: First national telecast of the Kentucky Derby, 1952

While travelling Europe during 1872 and 1873, an American called Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. attended the famous Epsom Derby horse race held annually in England since 1780, as well as the Grand Prix de Paris, which was organised by the French Jockey Club. On his return to the United States, Clark, who was grandson of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, founded the Louisville Jockey Club and Driving Park Association to raise money to build racing facilities on the outskirts of the Kentucky city. Two relatives of his, John and Henry Churchill, leased the land for the track, which from 1883 was known as Churchill Downs.

On 17th May 1875, an estimated ten-thousand people gathered at the track to watch the first Kentucky Derby. Jockey Oliver Lewis rode the colt, Aristides, to victory in the 1.5 mile race. This was the same distance as the Epsom Derby and Grand Prix de Paris; however, the Kentucky Derby was run over its current distance of 1.25 miles from 1896.

Like the races that inspired it, the Kentucky Derby became a regular fixture on the social calendar, and from 1952 it also became an annual television event. On 3rd May that year, CBS broadcast the race coverage of their Louisville affiliate television station, WHAS, to the nation. The winner was Hill Gail, ridden by Eddie Arcaro and trained by Ben A. Jones.

For more details of this race see the official website page about the 78th Kentucky Derby.

Related posts
First live radio broadcast of a soccer match: 22nd January 1927

Also on this day of history
Student Revolt in Paris, 1968

Selasa, 05 April 2011

On this day in history: First modern Olympiad, 1896

On 6th April 1896, the Greek King, George I, officially opened the first summer Olympic games of the modern period at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, Greece, with the words: "I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long live the Nation. Long live the Greek people." There then followed a performance of the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by Kostis Palamas.

The event was the brainchild of the French educator and historian, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Two years earlier he shared his hopes for the games:

May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.

Over the next nine days 241 athletes from fourteen nations participated in forty-three events. The nine sports competed in were athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling. Only men took part in the inaugural modern Olympics. Women athletes had to wait another four years until the second Olympiad in Paris to compete.

You can read more about the 1896 games on the official site of the Olympic Movement.

Related Posts
First international sports federation founded: 23rd July 1881
Tlatelolco Massacre: 2nd October 1968
Jim Hines won Olympic 100m final: 14th October 1968

Sabtu, 26 Maret 2011

On this day in history: First Rugby Union international, 1871

The issue of the sporting journal Bell's Weekly published on 8th December 1870 included the following challenge issued by the captains of five Scottish rugby clubs: "with a view of really testing what Scotland can do against an English team we [...] hereby challenge any team selected from the whole of England, to play us a match, twenty-a-side, Rugby rules, either in Edinburgh or Glasgow". Frederick Stokes, captain of Blackheath F.C. in London accepted the challenge and raised a team. The Scottish committee arranged for the game to take place on 27th March 1871 at Raeburn Place, the home of the Edinburgh Academical Club.

On the day of the match, over four-thousand people paid a shilling to watch the match, which was played over two fifty-minute halves. The Scots, captained by Francis Moncrieff, wore brown shirts, and the English, captained by Stokes, wore white shirts emblazoned with a red rose. The match umpire was Hely Hutchinson Almond, headmaster of Loretto School in nearby Musselburgh.

The Scots scored first when William Cross converted Angus Buchanan's try. John Arthur went over the English goal-line for the second Scottish try, but he knocked the ball on before grounding it. While this was not allowed in the English game, it was perfectly acceptable in Scotland. The umpire judged the knock-on to be inadvertent and ruled that the try stood, to the annoyance of the English. Further controversy was avoided when the Scots failed to convert the try and thus received no points, as were the rules of the day. The English also failed to convert a try, so the first international rugby match ended with the Scots winning 1:0.

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