Sport Archives - Page 5 of 5

Pool

When I left school in 1982 I used to play pool (and snooker) with a friend at the time, Dominic Duffy. He lived down the road from me. I used to enjoy playing on his six-foot table with him in his back garden. It was even better on lovely, hot summer days. It was fun.

In the 2010’s I used to play pool mainly at the Emerald Club in Green Lane, Small Heath and The Hunters Moon in Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill with my granddaughter Kasey’s dad, Andy Sayers. He is yet another friend that used to be. You see I am the same person I have always been, it is just everyone else who seems to end up not giving a shit and/or end up being so far up their own arse thinking they are better than me and become total twats for one reason or another. Guess what? THEY AREN’T!

About Pool

Pool is a classification of cue sports played on a table with six pockets along the rails, into which balls are deposited. Each specific pool game has its own name; some of the better-known include eight-ball, blackball, nine-ball, ten-ball, seven-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, and bank pool.

The generic term pocket billiards is sometimes also used, and favoured by some pool-industry bodies, but is technically a broader classification, including games such as snooker, Russian pyramid, and Kaisa, which are not referred to as pool games. In most parts of the world, it is commonly referred to as just “billiards”, analogous to the term “bowling” is commonly used to refer to the game of ten-pin bowling.

There are also hybrid games combining aspects of both pool and carom billiards, such as American four-ball billiards, bottle pool, cowboy pool, and English billiards.

Read more here.

The Etymology Of Pool

The etymology of “pool” is uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that “pool” and other games with collective stakes is derived from the French poule (literally translated “hen”), in which the poule is the collected prize; alternatively, it could derive from the verb to pool in the sense of combining objects or stakes. The oldest use of the word “pool” to describe a billiards-like game was made in 1797 in a Virginia newspaper. The OED defines it as generally “any of various types of billiards for two or more players” but goes on to note that the first specific meaning of “a game in which each player uses a cue ball of a distinctive colour to pocket the balls of the other player(s) in a certain order, the winner taking all the stakes submitted at the start of the contest” is now obsolete, and its other specific definitions are all for games that originate in the United States. In the British Empire for most of the nineteenth through the early twentieth century, pool referred specifically to the game of life pool.

Although skittle pool is played on a pocketless carom billiards table, the term pool later stuck to all new games of pocket billiards as the sport gained in popularity in the United States, and so outside the cue sports industry, which has long favoured the more formal term pocket billiards, the common name for the sport has remained pool. The OxfordDictionaries.com definition no longer even provides the obsolete meaning found in the print edition and refers only to the typical game “using two sets [each] of seven coloured and numbered balls … with one black ball and a white cue ball” on a table with pockets.

The History Of Pool

With the exception of one pocket, games typically called “pool” today are descended from two English games imported to the United States during the 19th century. The first was English billiards which became American four-ball billiards, essentially the same game but with an extra red object ball to increase scoring opportunities. It was the most popular billiards game in the mid-19th century until dethroned by the carom game straight rail. American four-ball tournaments tried switching to carom tables in the 1870s but this did not save it from being doomed to obscurity, the last professional tournament was held in 1876. Cowboy pool is a surviving member of this group of games.

The second and more influential game was pyramid pool. By 1850 a variant called fifteen-ball pool became popular. Both games were supplanted by continuous pool in 1888, the immediate forerunner of straight pool (1910). New games introduced at the turn of the 20th century include Kelly pool and eight-ball. The distinctive appearance of pool balls with their many colours and division between solid and striped balls came about by 1889. Prior to this, object balls were uniformly deep-red and differentiated only by numbers. English pyramid pool and life pool players were the first to adopt balls with different colours. The stripes were the last addition.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Snooker

I used to watch snooker in the 70’s when Pot Black was on the telly, in all its black and white glory because my family didn’t have a colour telly until the 80’s from a friend at the time, Dominic Duffy. He lived down the road from me and I can remember me and him carrying it to mine and stopping often because it weighed a bloody ton!

I think it was 1983 when I brought this bulky wooden beast home.

It was during my mid-teens, at secondary school, that I fell in love with the sport properly, playing at a couple of friends at the time, Christopher Eaton and Mark Siletoe’s houses, with others, on their six-foot tables in their living rooms. There wasn’t a lot of room but we all had a laugh.

Finally, when I left school in 1982, I got my first six-foot snooker table from my sister Julie’s catalogue. It went into my bedroom and I had great times playing on it with my Brother-In-Law to be Ken although there wasn’t much room there either, ha ha. As time went on, when he and Julie got married, we used to play on a full-sized 12-foot table at The British Legion (now called The Crown but it will always be “The Legion” to me) in Shard End which was over the road from my house.

I used to enjoy playing snooker and pool with D. D. on his six-foot table in his back garden. It was even better on lovely, hot summer days. It was fun. Me and him used to go to The Local snooker club in Arran Way, Chelmsley Wood as well sometimes. I was never too great at playing on a full-sized snooker table but, like anything else, I always enjoy taking part. It should never be about you being better than anyone, or indeed if anyone is better than you in any sport (or anything in life for that matter). It should be about taking part and good sportsmanship (or mutual respect). Those are morals I had when I was growing up and still have to this day.

My happiest snooker memory was sitting up till the early hours of the morning watching the 1985 World Snooker Championship final with my dad and you can read about that thrilling classic below.

About Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that was first played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets: one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white cue ball to pot the other twenty-one snooker balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player who has scored the most points. A snooker match ends with one of the players having won a predetermined number of frames.

Snooker gained its identity in 1875 when army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, stationed in Ootacamund, Madras, and Jubbulpore, devised a set of rules that combined black pool and pyramids. The word snooker was a well-established derogatory term used to describe inexperienced or first-year military personnel. In the early 20th century, snooker was predominantly played in the United Kingdom where it was considered a “gentleman’s sport” until the early 1960s, before growing in popularity as a national pastime and eventually spreading overseas. The standard rules of the game were first established in 1919 when the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed. As a professional sport, snooker is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

Read more here.

The History Of Snooker

Snooker was given its first definite reference in England in an 1887 issue of the Sporting Life newspaper, which led to a growth in popularity. Chamberlain was revealed to be the game’s inventor, 63 years after the fact, in a letter to The Field magazine published on 19 March 1938. Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj, and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for military officers and the gentry, and many gentlemen’s clubs that had a snooker table would not allow non-members inside to play. To cater for the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed. The Billiards Association (formed 1885) and the Billiards Control Club (formed 1908) merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) and a new, standardised set of rules for snooker was first established in 1919. Before this, there were local rules, but these were codified and a drawn game was abolished by the use of a re-spotted black. These rules are similar to the ones used today, although rules for a minimal point penalty was imposed later.

Played in 1926 and 1927, the first World Snooker Championship—then known as the Professional Championship of Snooker—was won by Joe Davis. As a professional English billiards and snooker player himself, Davis raised the game from being simply a recreational pastime to becoming also a professional sporting activity. Entirely dominant, he won every tournament until 1946, when he retired from taking part in the championships. The 1952 World Snooker Championship was only contested by two players and was replaced by the World Professional Match-play Championship, but was also discontinued in 1957. Feeling that the popularity of the game was waning, Davis introduced a variation known as “snooker plus”, with the addition of two extra colours, but this failed to attract attention and was very short-lived. A Women’s Professional Snooker Championship (now the World Women’s Snooker Championship) was created in 1934 for top female players, whilst a world championship for top amateur players, now known as the IBSF World Snooker Championship was founded in 1963.

Read more here.

Pot Black

About Pot Black

Pot Black was a snooker tournament in the United Kingdom broadcast on the BBC. Each match was contested over a single frame, where other tournaments were significantly longer. The event carried no ranking points but played a large part in the popularisation of the modern game of snooker. The event was first held in 1969 with a field of eight players and ran annually until 1986. The event resurfaced for three years in both 1991 and 2005. The series was followed by events for other categories of players, with juniors and seniors events, and a celebrity version held in 2006.

Read more here.

The History Of Pot Black

The BBC began broadcasting in colour in 1967 and was looking for programmes that could exploit the new technology. The idea of broadcasting snooker, then still a minor sport, was the brainchild of David Attenborough who was the controller of BBC2 at the time. The game of snooker is based on coloured balls, and was deemed a good way to sell the new technology. The first Pot Black event was held in 1969 at the BBC Studios in Birmingham, and the programme was aired on BBC2 on 23 July 1969. This first contest featured eight players: Gary Owen, Jackie Rea, John Pulman, Ray Reardon, Fred Davis, Rex Williams, Kingsley Kennerley and John Spencer, with Reardon the eventual winner. The event continued until 1986, by which time an increasing number of snooker events were being televised and the Pot Black format was becoming outdated. The programme returned in 1990, but was discontinued after the 1993 event.

A one-day Pot Black tournament, held on 29 October 2005, was broadcast on the BBC’s Grandstand. The event featured eight players: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Stephen Maguire, Matthew Stevens, Paul Hunter, John Higgins, Jimmy White and Shaun Murphy, with Stevens beating Murphy in the final. The 2006 edition of the tournament took place at the Royal Automobile Club in Central London on 2 September 2006. Mark Williams defeated John Higgins in the final, achieving the highest break in the history of the tournament with a 119 clearance. The 2007 edition, the final Pot Black to date, was aired on Saturday 6 October 2007, with Ken Doherty beating Shaun Murphy 71–36 in the final.

There have been six century breaks at the event. Eddie Charlton compiled the first century in 1973, a break of 110, which stood as the event record for many years until overtaken by Shaun Murphy’s 111 against Jimmy White in 2005, and Williams’s 119 clearance in 2006.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final

About The 1985 World Snooker Championship Final

The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, also known as the black ball final, was played on the weekend of 27–28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The final of the 1985 World Snooker Championship was between defending world champion Steve Davis and 1979 runner-up Dennis Taylor. It was Davis’s fourth appearance in a final, and Taylor’s second. The best-of-35-frame match was split into four sessions. Davis won every frame in the first session to lead 7–0, but only led 9–7 and 13–11 after the second and third sessions. Until the final frame, Taylor was never ahead in frames, but he tied the match three times at 11–11, 15–15 and 17–17. The deciding frame culminated over several shots on the final ball – the black. Taylor potted the ball to win his only world championship. Media outlets reported this as a major shock; Davis had been widely predicted to win the match, having won three of the previous four world championships.

The final took place during the eighth year of the BBC’s daily coverage of the championship and climaxed in the early hours of Monday 29 April. It was viewed by 18.5 million people in the United Kingdom, which as of 2021 remains a record viewing figure for BBC2, and as of 2020 is still the record for a post-midnight audience for any British television channel. The total match time of 14 hours and 50 minutes is the longest ever recorded for a best-of-35-frames match. It is the only final at this venue to contain no century breaks.

The final is one of the most famous matches in snooker history and part of the reason for the surge in the sport’s popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Two hour-long BBC documentaries, When Snooker Ruled the World from 2002 and Davis v Taylor: The ’85 Black Ball Final made in 2010, commemorated the event. The final frame was released in full on home video as “The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time”. The post-match single-word responses to the press from Davis would later be used as a basis for a recurring caricature of him in the television show Spitting Image.

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Football

I am ENGLISH and I have grown up with football being a game of 11 v 11 kicking a ball and NOT Soccer, American football or whatever variation of it. You can call it what you like!

I have been a Birmingham City fan since the late 1970’s. Other teams I used to take a keen interest in were my national team, England, of course, and Nottingham Forest, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers as my Dad supported them, as such..

These days I just have a passion, as ever for Blues and, it goes without saying, I always want England to do well but I don’t watch every match.

About Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football (known as soccer in North America and Oceania); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby union and rugby league; and Gaelic football. These various forms of football share to varying extent common origins and are known as football codes.

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games played in many different parts of the world. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the 19th century. The expansion and cultural influence of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire. By the end of the 19th century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football associations. During the 20th century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.

The Common Elements Of Football

The various codes of football share certain common elements and can be grouped into two main classes of football: carrying codes like American football, Canadian football, Australian football, rugby union and rugby league, where the ball is moved about the field while being held in the hands or thrown, and kicking codes such as Association football and Gaelic football, where the ball is moved primarily with the feet, and where handling is strictly limited.

Common rules among the sports include:

Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players; some variations that have fewer players (five or more per team) are also popular.

A clearly defined area in which to play the game.

Scoring goals or points by moving the ball to an opposing team’s end of the field and either into a goal area or over a line.

Goals or points result from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

The goal or line being defended by the opposing team.

Players using only their bodies to move the ball.

In all codes, common skills include passing, tackling, evasion of tackles, catching and kicking. In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts.

The Etymology Of Football

There are conflicting explanations of the origin of the word “football”. It is widely assumed that the word “football” (or the phrase “foot ball”) refers to the action of the foot kicking a ball. There is an alternative explanation, which is that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot. There is no conclusive evidence for either explanation.

The History Of Football

Ancient China

The Chinese competitive game cuju resembles modern association football. Descriptions appear in a military manual dated to the second and third centuries BC. It existed during the Han dynasty and possibly the Qin dynasty, in the second and third centuries BC. The Japanese version of cuju is kemari and was developed during the Asuka period. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari several people stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie).

Ancient Greece And Rome

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a Greek team game known as Episkyros or phaininda, which is mentioned by a Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388–311 BC) and later referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215 AD). These games appear to have resembled rugby football. The Roman politician Cicero (106–43 BC) describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber’s shop. Roman ball games already knew the air-filled ball, the follis. Episkyros is recognised as an early form of football by FIFA.

Native Americans

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit people in Greenland. There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team’s line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey, a colonist at Jamestown, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. Pasuckuakohowog, a game similar to modern-day association football played amongst Amerindians, was also reported as early as the 17th century.

Games played in Mesoamerica with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and no links have been found between such games and modern football sports. Northeastern American Indians, especially the Iroquois Confederation, played a game which made use of net racquets to throw and catch a small ball; however, although it is a ball-goal foot game, lacrosse (as its modern descendant is called) is likewise not usually classed as a form of “football.”

Oceania

On the Australian continent, several tribes of indigenous people played kicking and catching games with stuffed balls which have been generalised by historians as Marn Grook (Djab Wurrung for “game ball”). The earliest historical account is an anecdote from the 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, in which a man called Richard Thomas is quoted as saying, in about 1841 in Victoria, Australia, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: “Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it.” Some historians have theorised that Marn Grook was one of the origins of Australian rules football.

The Māori in New Zealand played a game called Ki-o-rahi consisting of teams of seven players playing on a circular field divided into zones, and scoring points by touching the ‘pou’ (boundary markers) and hitting a central ‘tupu’ or target.

These games and others may well go far back into antiquity. However, the main sources of modern football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.

Turkic Peoples

Mahmud al-Kashgari in his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, described a game called “tepuk” among Turks in Central Asia. In the game, people try to attack each other’s castle by kicking a ball made of sheep leather.

Medieval And Early Modern Europe

The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in the popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. An early reference to a ball game played in Britain comes from the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, which describes “a party of boys… playing at ball”. References to a ball game played in northern France known as La Soule or Choule, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks, date from the 12th century.

The early forms of football played in England, sometimes referred to as “mob football”, would be played in towns or between neighbouring villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams who would clash en masse, struggling to move an item, such as inflated animal’s bladder to particular geographical points, such as their opponents’ church, with play taking place in the open space between neighbouring parishes. The game was played primarily during significant religious festivals, such as Shrovetide, Christmas, or Easter, and Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).

The first detailed description of what was almost certainly football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:

“After lunch, all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.”

Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of “ball play” or “playing at ball”. This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.

An early reference to a ball game that was probably football comes from 1280 at Ulgham, Northumberland, England: “Henry… while playing at ball.. ran against David”. Football was played in Ireland in 1308, with a documented reference to John McCrocan, a spectator at a “football game” at Newcastle, County Down being charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard. Another reference to a football game comes in 1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: “during the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his… ran against him and wounded himself”.

Read more here.

Calcio Fiorentino

In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is known as “calcio storico” (“historic kickball”) in the Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, calcio players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de’ Bardi di Vernio wrote Discorso sopra ‘l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was revived in May 1930).

Official Disapproval And Attempts To Ban Football

There have been many attempts to ban football, from the middle ages through to the modern-day. The first such law was passed in England in 1314; it was followed by more than 30 in England alone between 1314 and 1667. Women were banned from playing at English and Scottish Football League grounds in 1921, a ban that was only lifted in the 1970s. Female footballers still face similar problems in some parts of the world.

American football also faced pressure to ban the sport. The game played in the 19th century resembled mob football that developed in medieval Europe, including a version popular on university campuses known as Old division football, and several municipalities banned its play in the mid-19th century. By the 20th century, the game had evolved to a more rugby style game. In 1905, there were calls to ban American football in the U.S. due to its violence; a meeting that year was hosted by American President Theodore Roosevelt led to sweeping rules changes that caused the sport to diverge significantly from its rugby roots to become more like the sport as it is played today.

The Establishment Of Modern Codes In Football

English Public Schools

While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools (equivalent to private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important in taking football away from its “mob” form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second, many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students, and former students from these schools who first codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English public schools that the division between “kicking” and “running” (or “carrying”) games first became clear.

The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools – mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes – comes from the Vulgaria by William Herman in 1519. Herman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase “We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde”.

Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at other English schools has been described as “the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football”. Among his contributions is the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster’s writings refer to teams (“sides” and “parties”), positions (“standings”), a referee (“judge over the parties”) and a coach “(trayning maister)”. Mulcaster’s “footeball” had evolved from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:

“Some smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one an other so barbarously… may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges.^“

In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football games in a short Latin textbook called Vocabula. Wedderburn refers to what has been translated into modern English as “keeping goal” and makes an allusion to passing the ball (“strike it here”). There is a reference to “get hold of the ball”, suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players (“drive that man back”).

A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby’s Book of Games, written in about 1660. Willughby, who had studied at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield, is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: “a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals.” His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions tactics (“leaving some of their best players to guard the goal”); scoring (“they that can strike the ball through their opponents’ goal first win”) and the way teams were selected (“the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness”). He is the first to describe a “law” of football: “they must not strike [an opponent’s leg] higher than the ball”.

Read more here.

Clubs

Sports clubs dedicated to playing football began in the 18th century, for example, London’s Gymnastic Society which was founded in the mid-18th century and ceased playing matches in 1796.

The first documented club to bear in the title a reference to being a ‘football club’ were called “The Foot-Ball Club” which were located in Edinburgh, Scotland , during the period 1824–41. The club forbade tripping but allowed pushing and holding and the picking up of the ball.

In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football. This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game.

The earliest known matches involving non-public school clubs or institutions are as follows:

13th February 1856: Charterhouse School v. St Bartholemew’s Hospital.

7th November 1856: Bedford Grammar School v. Bedford Town Gentlemen.

13th December 1856: Sunbury Military College v. Littleton Gentlemen.

December 1857: Edinburgh University v. Edinburgh Academical Club.

24th November 1858: Westminster School v. Dingley Dell Club.

12th May 1859: Tavistock School v. Princetown School.

5th November 1859: Eton School v. Oxford University.

22nd February 1860: Charterhouse School v. Dingley Dell Club.

21st July 1860: Melbourne v. Richmond.

17th December 1860: 58th Regiment v. Sheffield.

26th December 1860: Sheffield v. Hallam.

Read lots more about Football here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Birmingham City: Kits For The 2023/24 Season.

Birmingham City: First Team Squad For The 2023/24 Season.

Birmingham City: Staff For The 2023/24 Season.

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Sport

I never watched loads of sport growing up. I mainly watched football, especially my beloved team, Birmingham City and watched and played Snooker and Pool. I used to watch a fair bit of athletics when I left school and when I was at my secondary school I enjoyed taking part in it. I played shitty Rugby at said school and I HATED it with a passion. As most boys growing up I enjoyed having a game of football either in the school playground, a kick around at my local park or wherever. I even enjoyed kicking a ball on my own against a wall or in the yard at my old childhood house in Shard End.

I enjoyed playing the odd game of Tennis (if you can call them proper games) with others and again enjoyed hitting a tennis ball against a wall. In other words Squash for one but I didn’t care for watching them on the TV.

The only other sports I enjoyed watching on the telly was indoor bowls and when my kids were growing up I enjoyed watching wrestling with them.

Memories of the above, and more, will also be mentioned in my decades section. Check them out and the blog posts that go with them.

About Sport

Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, through casual or organized participation, improve one’s physical health. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest (a match) is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a “tie” or “draw”, in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.

Sport is generally recognised as a system of activities based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition. Other organisations, such as the Council of Europe, preclude activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports: bridge, chess, draughts (checkers), Go and xiangqi, and limits the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

Read more here.

The Etymology Of Sport

The word “sport” comes from the Old French desport meaning “leisure”, with the oldest definition in English from around 1300 being “anything humans find amusing or entertaining”.

Other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling; hunting; and games and diversions, including ones that require exercise. Roget’s defines the noun sport as an “activity engaged in for relaxation and amusement” with synonyms including diversion and recreation.

Read more here.

The History Of Sport

The history of sports extends back to the ancient world. The physical activity that developed into sports had early links with ritual, warfare and entertainment.

The study of the history of sport can teach lessons about social changes and about the nature of sport itself, as sport seems involved in the development of basic human skills (compare play). As one delves further back in history, dwindling evidence makes theories of the origins and purposes of sport more and more difficult to support.

As far back as the beginnings of sport, it was related to military training. For example, competition was used as a means to determine whether individuals were fit and useful for service. Team sports were used to train and to prove the capability to fight in the military and also to work together as a team (military unit).

Read more here.

The above articles were taken from Wikipedia and are subject to change.

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Blues Store Online – The image shown at the top of this page is the copyright of Birmingham City F.C. and is from their Blues Store Online.

Birmingham City

There is only one team in Birmingham worth supporting with true passion and Birmingham City is it. I have been supporting them since 1979 when Jim Smith was the manager. I was 13 at the time. He is my favourite manager to date. I am a blue nose ’til I die.

Although I do have a section for Sport on my website, I could not justify sticking the Blues as a subcategory of it. They have been and are an important part of my life growing up to the present day and as such deserves pride of place on its own in my website menu, joys, sorrows and all!

Read about them, and any memories regarding them in associated blog posts and my decades section as well.

For Blues fixtures, results and goalscorers for the current season click here.

There is information including kits, squads etc. for the current season in the Blog Posts at the bottom of the page.

About Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The club play in the E.F.L. League One (the third tier of English football) in the 2024–25 season, following relegation from the Championship last season. The club’s nickname is Blues, after the colour of their kit, and the fans are known as Blue Noses.

As Small Heath, Blues have played in the Football Alliance before becoming founder members and first champions of the Football League Second Division. The most successful period in our history was in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. We achieved our highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division in the 1955–56 season and reached the 1956 F.A. Cup Final. Blues played in two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals, in 1960, as the first English club side to reach a major European final, and again the following year. We won the League Cup in 1963 and again in 2011. Birmingham has played in the top tier of English football for around half of their history. The longest period spent outside the top division was between 1986 and 2002, which included two brief spells in the third tier of English football, during which time we won the Football League Trophy twice.

St Andrew’s, renamed St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park in 2024 for sponsorship reasons (although many fans will still refer to it as St. Andrew’s as I will), has been our home ground since 1906.

Blues have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa.

Birmingham City F.C. Anthem

Keep Right On is one of the most well-known anthems in football, famously sung by Birmingham City fans.

Where Does The Song Come From?

The song originally came from Scotland. The song was written and sung by Sir Henry Lauder, a singer and a comedian. Lauder was very popular during the early 1900’s and he achieved international success.

The song was written and composed in 1924 by Lauder and William Dillon. The song was then released in 1925.

The song was inspired by personal tragedy. Lauder wrote the song after his son was killed in action during the First World War.

What Are The Lyrics?

For Lauder’s original Keep Right On, the lyrics went like this:

“Every road through life is a long, long road.

Filled with joys and sorrows too.

As we journey on how your heart will yearn.

For the things most dear to you.

With wealth and love ‘tis so.

But onward we must go.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end.

Though the way be long, let your heart be strong.

Keep right on round the bend.

If you’re tired and weary still journey on.

Till you come to your happy abode.

Where all you love and you’re dreaming of.

Will be there at the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

With a big stout heart to a long steep hill.

We may get there with a smile.

With a good kind thought and an end in view.

We can cut short many a mile.

So let courage every day.

Be your guiding star always.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end.

Though the way be long, let your heart be strong.

Keep right on round the bend.

If you’re tired and weary still journey on.

Till you come to your happy abode.

Where all you love and you’re dreaming of.

Will be there at the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end.

Though the way be long, let your heart be strong.

Keep right on round the bend.

If you’re tired and weary still journey on.

Till you come to your happy abode.

Where all you love and you’re dreaming of.

Will be there at the end of the road.”

Keep Right On To The End Of The Road by Harry Lauder.

When Did Birmingham City Adopt It Into The Terraces?

Keep Right On arrived into the terraces of St Andrews in the mid-1950’s.

Blues were on our way to Leyton Orient in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup and manager Arthur Turner got the squad to sing the anthem as a pre-match ritual to calm the nerves before a big game.

Birmingham City legend Alex Govan, a winger who played for Blues during the 1950’s, introduced the team to Lauder’s famous song as the club went on to reach the FA Cup final in 1956.

Since then, the song has been adopted as the club’s anthem and the rest is history.

Govan once said to BBC WM: “We always had a sing-song on the coach wherever we went away from home… And Arthur Turner turned and said “Come on Alex, give us something from Scotland.””

“I couldn’t sing “I belong to Glasgow”, he continued, “so I sang “Keep right on to the end of the road”, it was the easiest one to sing… The fans heard us through the windows and it’s been magic ever since.”

As we all know, Keep Right On, has fans’ hairs standing up on the backs of their necks whenever it is belted around St Andrews. You have to be there to truly experience the magic of it all.

Two great examples of this anthem at its finest were before the Carling Cup final in 2011, and after Paul Caddis scored the equaliser against Bolton at the then-named Reebok Stadium, which saved Blues from relegation to League One on the final day of the season.

Birmingham City Legend Alex Govan.

What Are The Lyrics Of The Chant Sung By The Fans?

As you go through life it’s a long, long road.

There’ll be joys and sorrows too.

As we journey on we will sing this song.

For the boys in royal blue.

We’re often partisan.

We will journey on.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

Keep right on to the end.

Though the way be long.

Let your heart beat strong.

Keep right on to the end.

Though you’re tired and weary.

Still journey on.

Till you come to your happy abode.

Where all the love you’ve been dreaming of will be there.

Where?

At the end of the road.

Birmingham.

Birmingham City fans singing Keep Right On To The End Of The Road before The Carling Cup Final Kick-Off.

The History Of Birmingham City F.C.

Read more here.

The Early Years: 1875 – 1943

Birmingham City was founded as Small Heath Alliance in 1875, and from 1877 we played our home games at Muntz Street in Small Heath, Birmingham. The club turned professional in 1885 and three years later became the first football club to become a limited company with a board of directors, under the name of Small Heath F.C. Ltd. From the 1889 – 90 season Blues played in the Football Alliance, which ran alongside the Football League. In 1892, Small Heath, along with the other Alliance teams, was invited to join the newly formed Football League Second Division. We finished as champions, but failed to win promotion via the test match system. The following season promotion to the First Division was secured after a second-place finish and test match victory over Darwen. The club adopted the name Birmingham Football Club in 1905 and moved into their new home, St Andrew’s, the following year. Matters on the field failed to live up to their surroundings. Birmingham was relegated in 1908, obliged to apply for re-election two years later, and remained in the Second Division until after the First World War.

Frank Womack’s captaincy and the creativity of Scottish international playmaker Johnny Crosbie contributed much to Birmingham winning Blues a second Division Two title in 1920–21. Womack went on to make 515 appearances, a club record for an outfielder, over a twenty-year career. 1920 also saw the debut of the 19-year-old Joe Bradford, who went on to score a club record 267 goals in 445 games and won 12 caps for England. In 1931, manager Leslie Knighton led the club to their first FA Cup Final, which they lost 2–1 to Second Division club West Bromwich Albion. Though Birmingham remained in the top flight for 18 seasons, we struggled in the league, with much reliance placed on England goalkeeper Harry Hibbs to make up for the lack of goals, Bradford excepted, at the other end. Blues were finally relegated in 1939, the last full season before the Football League was abandoned for the duration of the Second World War.

Second Division Champions Small Heath F.C. in 1893.

Post-War Success: (1943 – 1965)

The name Birmingham City F.C. was adopted in 1943. Under Harry Storer, appointed manager in 1945, the club won the Football League South wartime league and reached the semifinal of the first post-war F.A. Cup. Two years later Blues won our third Second Division title, conceding only 24 goals in the 42-game season. Storer’s successor Bob Brocklebank, though unable to stave off relegation in 1950, brought in players who made a major contribution to the club’s successes of the next decade. When Arthur Turner took over as manager in November 1954, he made them play closer to their potential, and a 5 – 1 win on the last day of the 1954 – 55 season confirmed Birmingham City as champions. In our first season back in the First Division, Birmingham achieved our highest league finish of sixth place. We also reached the F.A. Cup final, losing 3 – 1 to Manchester City in the game notable for City’s goalkeeper Bert Trautmann playing the last 20 minutes with a broken bone in his neck. The following season the club lost in the F.A. Cup semi-final for the third time since the war, this time beaten 2 – 0 by Manchester United’s Busby Babes.

Birmingham became the first English club side to take part in European competition when they played their first group game in the inaugural Inter-Cities Fairs Cup competition on the 15th of May 1956. We went on to reach the semi-final where we drew 4 – 4 on aggregate with Barcelona, losing the replay 2 – 1. We were also the first English club side to reach a European final, losing 4 – 1 on aggregate to Barcelona in the 1960 Fairs Cup final and 4 -2 to A.S. Roma the following year. In the 1961 semi-final, Blues beat Internazionale home and away and no other English club won a competitive game in the San Siro until Arsenal managed it in 2003. Gil Merrick’s side saved their best form for cup competitions. Though opponents in the 1963 League Cup final, local rivals Aston Villa, were pre-match favourites, Birmingham raised their game and won 3 – 1 on aggregate to lift their first major trophy. In 1965, after ten years in the top flight, we returned to the Second Division.

Investment, Promotion And Decline: (1965 – 1993)

Businessman Clifford Coombs took over as chairman in 1965, luring Stan Cullis out of retirement to manage the club. Cullis’s team played attractive football which took Blues to the semi-finals of the League Cup in 1967 and of the F.A. Cup in 1968, but league football needed a different approach. Successor Freddie Goodwin produced a team playing skilful, aggressive football that won promotion as well as reaching an F.A. Cup semi-final. Two years later, the club raised money by selling Bob Latchford to Everton for a British record fee of £350,000, but without his goals, the team struggled. Sir Alf Ramsey briefly managed the club before Jim Smith took over in 1978 (the year I started supporting them). With relegation a certainty, the club sold Trevor Francis to Nottingham Forest, making him the first player transferred for a fee of £1 million. Francis had scored 133 goals in 329 appearances over his nine years at Blues.

Smith took Birmingham City straight back to the First Division, but a poor start to the 1981 – 82 season saw him replaced by Ron Saunders, who had just resigned from Aston Villa. Saunders’ team struggled to score goals and was relegated in 1984. Blues bounced back up the following season. Saunders quit after F.A. Cup defeat to non-League team Altrincham, staff were laid off, the training ground was sold, and by 1989 Birmingham was in the Third Division for the first time in their history.

In April 1989 the Kumar brothers, owners of a clothing chain, bought the club. A rapid turnover of managers, the absence of promised investment, and a threatened mass refusal of players to renew contracts were relieved only by a victorious trip to Wembley in the Associate Members’ Cup. Terry Cooper delivered promotion, but the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (B.C.C.I.) put the Kumars’ businesses into receivership. In November 1992 B.C..C.I.’s liquidator put up for sale their 84% holding in the football club.

Sale And Reconstruction: (1992 – 2007)

The club continued in administration for four months, until Sport Newspapers’ proprietor David Sullivan bought it for £700,000, installed the then 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director and allowed Cooper money for signings. On the last day of the season, the team avoided relegation back to the third tier, but after a poor start to the 1993–94 season, manager Terry Cooper was replaced by Barry Fry. The change did not prevent relegation, but Fry’s first full season brought promotion back to the second tier as champions, and victory over Carlisle United in the Football League Trophy via Paul Tait’s golden goal completed the lower-league Double. After one more year, Fry was dismissed to make way for the return of Trevor Francis.

Reinforced by players with top-level experience, including Manchester United captain Steve Bruce, Francis’s team narrowly missed out on a play-off position in 1998, and three years of play-off semi-final defeats followed. Blues reached the 2001 League Cup final against Liverpool at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Birmingham equalised in the last minute of normal time, but the match went to a penalty shoot-out which Liverpool won. By October 2001, lack of progress had made Francis’s position untenable and after a 6–0 League Cup defeat to Manchester City, he left by mutual consent. Bruce’s return as manager shook up a stale team. He took them from mid-table to the play-offs and beat Norwich City on penalties in the final to secure promotion to the Premier League.

Motivated by the inspirational Christophe Dugarry, Birmingham’s first top-flight season for 16 years finished in mid-table. Loan signing Mikael Forssell’s 17 league goals helped Blues to a top-half finish in 2003 – 04, but when he was injured, the 2004 – 05 team struggled for goals. In July 2005, chairman David Gold said it was time to start talking about being as good as anyone outside the top three or four with the best squad of players for 25 years.

Injuries, loss of form, and lack of transfer window investment saw us get relegated in a season whose lowlight was a 7 – 0 F.A. Cup defeat to Liverpool. Jermaine Pennant and Emile Heskey left for record fees, and many others were released, but Bruce’s amended recruitment strategy, combining free-transfer experience with young hungry players and shrewd exploitation of the loan market, brought automatic promotion at the end of a season which had included calls for his head.

Manager Steve Bruce at a pre-season tournament at Weiden, Germany in 2004.

Bruce led Birmingham City to promotion to the Premier League in 2002 and 2007.

The Chinese Years (2007 – 2023)

In July 2007, Hong Kong-based businessman Carson Yeung bought 29.9% of shares in the club, making him the biggest single shareholder, with a view to taking full control in the future. Uncertain as to his future under possible new owners, Bruce left in mid-season. His successor, Scotland national team manager Alex McLeish, was unable to stave off relegation but achieved promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Yeung’s company completed the takeover in 2009, and the team finished in ninth place, our highest in 51 years. In 2011, we combined a second League Cup, defeating favourites Arsenal 2 – 1 with goals from Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins and securing qualification for the Europa League, with relegation back to the second-tier, after which McLeish resigned to join Aston Villa.

Birmingham narrowly failed to reach the knockout rounds of the Europa League and the play-off final. With the club in financial turmoil and under a transfer embargo, manager Chris Hughton left. Under Lee Clark, Blues twice retained our divisional status, albeit through Paul Caddis’s 93rd-minute goal in the last match of 2013 – 14 to avoid relegation on goal difference, but continued poor form saw him dismissed in October 2014. Gary Rowett stabilised the team and led us to two tenth-place finishes before being controversially dismissed by new owners Trillion Trophy Asia in favour of the pedigree of Gianfranco Zola, who would aid the club’s strategic, long-term view to take the club in a new direction.

Two wins from 24 matches under Zola left Birmingham needing two wins from the last three games to stay up, which they achieved under the managership of Harry Redknapp. Redknapp lasted another month, his former assistant Steve Cotterill five months, leaving successor Garry Monk another (ultimately successful) relegation battle. Despite budgetary restrictions and a nine-point deduction for breaches of the League’s Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) rules, Blues finished 17th in 2018 – 19. However, Monk was sacked in June after conflict with the board. He was succeeded by his assistant, Pep Clotet, initially as caretaker. In the 2019 – 20 season, a season that was suspended from March to June 2020 due to COVID, the club once again avoided relegation despite a 14-match winless run at the end of the season and the threat of a further points deduction. Academy product Jude Bellingham was sold to Borussia Dortmund in the summer for a club-record deal reported to be worth up to £30 million, after which Aitor Karanka lasted eight months as head coach before being replaced by former Birmingham player Lee Bowyer. After 16 months and yet another relegation struggle, amid rumours of an imminent takeover, Bowyer was replaced by John Eustace.

America Control (2023 – Present)

After two takeover attempts fell through, Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of US-based Knighthead Capital Management and fronted by that company’s co-founder Tom Wagner, purchased a controlling stake in the club and full ownership of the stadium on the 13th of July 2023.

In early October, with the team in the play-off places, John Eustace was sacked as manager. In a move that echoed Gary Rowett’s replacement by Gianfranco Zola seven years prior, the board stressed the need for a winning mentality and a culture of ambition across the club and a new appointment with responsibility for creating an identity and clear no-fear playing style. After former England international player Wayne Rooney‘s two wins from 15 matches left Birmingham in 20th place, Tony Mowbray was appointed manager. His need for medical leave brought the interim appointment of Gary Rowett, whose 11 points from the last eight games was not enough to prevent relegation to League One after 29 years at a higher level. On the 6th of June, 2024, Blues announced that our new manager would be Chris Davies who was previously at Tottenham Hotspur as their assistant manager.

Click here to read more about the start of the New Era of Birmingham City in 2023.

Colours And Badge

The Small Heath Alliance members decided among themselves that their colours would be blue. In the early days, they wore whatever blue shirt they had. The first uniform kit was a dark blue shirt with a white sash and white shorts. Several variations on a blue theme were tried and the one that stuck was the royal blue shirt with a white V, adopted during the First World War and retained until the late 1920’s. Though the design changed, royal blue remained. In 1971 Blues adopted the penguin strip (royal blue with a broad white central front panel) which lasted five years. This is probably most Blues fans, of a certain age’s favourite kit (it certainly is mine). Since then we have generally worn plain, nominally royal blue tops, though the actual shade used has varied. Shorts have been either blue or white, and socks usually blue, white or a combination. White, yellow, red and black, on their own or in combination, have been the most frequently used colours for the away kit.

There were aberrations: the 1992 kit, sponsored by Triton Showers, was made of a blue material covered with multicoloured splashes. The home shirt has only once featured stripes. In 1999, the blue shirt had a front central panel in narrow blue and white stripes.

You can view all of Birmingham City’s football kits past and present here.

When the club changed its name from Small Heath to Birmingham in 1905 it adopted the city’s coat of arms as its badge, although this was not always worn on the Blues tops. The 1970’s penguin top carried the letters B.C.F.C. intertwined at the centre of the chest. The Sports Argus newspaper ran a competition in 1972 to design a new badge for the club. The winning entry, a line-drawn globe and ball, with a ribbon carrying the club’s name and date of foundation, in plain blue and white, was adopted by the club but not worn on playing shirts until 1976, after the design was granted by the College of Arms in 1975. The design recorded at the College did not include the ribbon and was blazoned as a football ensigned by a terrestrial globe proper. This was granted as a heraldic badge to the English Football League and was licensed to Birmingham City. An experiment was made in the early 1990’s with colouring in the globe and ball but was soon abandoned.

The first sponsor to have its name on the shirt was Birmingham-based brewery Ansells in 1983. They withdrew in mid-1985, and the shirts went unsponsored until January 1987, when Co-op Milk paid a five-figure sum to have its name displayed until the end of the season, which was a relief to the club not only financially; the vice-chairman claimed that as a “big club… people expect us to have a shirt sponsor and we have been lagging behind”. Later sponsors included car retailer P.J. Evans/Evans Halshaw (1988 – 1989), Mark One (1989 – 1992), Triton Showers (1992 – 1995), Auto Windscreens (1995 – 2001), Phones 4u (2001 – 2003), Flybe (2003 – 2007), F&C Investments (2007 – 2011), foreign exchange company RationalFX (2011 – 2012), lifestyle and leisure business EZE Group (2012 – 2013 and 2015 – 2016), e-cigarette company Nicolites (2013 – 2014), mobile payment enabler Zapaygo (2014 – 2015), 888sport (2016 – 2019) and Irish bookmaker BoyleSports (2019 – 2023). L.A. based sports brand Undefeated is the current sponsor (2023 – ) which is supplied by Nike.

Kits

Click here to see the current Birmingham City kits.

Small Heath Alliance’s first football kit from 1875.

Birmingham City’s club badge.

Stadiums

Small Heath Alliance played their first home games on waste ground off Arthur Street in Bordesley Green, Birmingham. As interest grew, we moved to a fenced-off field in Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook, where admission could be charged. A year later, we moved again, to a field adjoining Muntz Street, Small Heath, Birmingham, near the main Coventry Road, with a capacity of about 10,000. The Muntz Street ground was adequate for 1880’s friendly matches, and the capacity was gradually raised to around 30,000, but when several thousand spectators scaled walls and broke down turnstiles to get into a First Division match against Aston Villa, it became clear that it could no longer cope with the demand.

Director Harry Morris identified a site for a new ground in Small Heath, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, some three-quarters of a mile from Muntz Street towards the city centre. The site was where a brickworks once operated. The land sloped steeply down to stagnant pools, yet the stadium was constructed in under twelve months from land clearance to the opening ceremony on Boxing Day 1906. Heavy snow nearly prevented the opening; volunteers had to clear the pitch and terraces before the match, a goalless draw against Middlesbrough, could go ahead. The ground is reputed to have been cursed by gypsies evicted from the site; although gypsies are known to have camped nearby, there is no contemporary evidence for their eviction by the club.

The original capacity of St Andrew’s was reported as 75,000, with 4,000 seats in the Main Stand and space for 22,000 under cover. By 1938 the official capacity was 68,000, and February 1939 saw the attendance record set at the fifth round FA Cup tie against Everton, variously recorded as 66,844 or 67,341. On the outbreak of the Second World War, the Chief Constable ordered the ground’s closure because of the danger from air raids; it was the only ground to be thus closed and was only re-opened after the matter was raised in Parliament. It was badly damaged during the Birmingham Blitz: the Railway End and the Kop as a result of the bombing, while the Main Stand burnt down when a fireman mistook petrol for water.

The replacement Main Stand used a propped cantilever roof design, which meant fewer pillars to block spectators’ view of the pitch. Floodlights were installed in 1956 and officially switched on for a friendly match against Borussia Dortmund in 1957. By the early 1960’s a stand had been built at the Railway End to the same design as the Main Stand, roofs had been put on the Kop and Tilton Road End, and the ground capacity was down to about 55,000.

Resulting from the 1986 Popplewell Report into the safety of sports grounds and the later Taylor Report, the capacity of St Andrew’s was set at 28,235 for safety reasons, but it was accepted that the stadium had to be brought up to modern all-seated standards. After the last home game of the 1993 – 94 season, the Kop and Tilton Road terraces were demolished (fans took home a significant proportion as souvenirs) to be replaced at the start of the new season by a 7,000-seat Tilton Road Stand, continuing round the corner into the 9,500-seat Kop which opened two months later. The 8,000-seat Railway Stand followed in 1999; ten years later, this was renamed the Gil Merrick Stand, in honour of the club’s appearance record-holder and former manager, but the Main Stand has still to be modernised. In 2019, the club website listed the stadium capacity as 29,409.

In 2004 a proposal was put forward to build a sports village comprising a 55,000-capacity City of Birmingham Stadium, other sports and leisure facilities, and a super casino, to be jointly financed by Birmingham City Council, Birmingham City F.C. (via the proceeds of the sale of St Andrew’s) and the casino group Las Vegas Sands. The feasibility of the plan depended on the government issuing a licence for a super casino, and Birmingham being chosen as the venue, but this did not happen. The club have planning permission to redevelop the Main Stand, but the club and council continued to seek alternative sources of funding for the City of Birmingham Stadium project.

In 2013, the Birmingham City Supporters’ Trust’s application for listing St Andrew’s as an Asset of Community Value (ACV, a building or other land whose main use furthers the social well-being or social interests of the local community and where it is realistic to believe it could do so in the future) under the Localism Act 2011 was approved by Birmingham City Council. This requires any proposed sale to be notified to the Council and provides for a six-month moratorium on that sale to allow the Trust and other community groups to submit their own bid. In 2018, the club’s owners agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal under which the name became St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium. This would be changed back to St. Andrews in 2021. In 2024 Blues made an announcement that they had entered into a multi-million pound, multi-year naming rights agreement with Shelby Companies Limited, which is majority-owned by Knighthead and certain other minority investors, including seven-time Super Bowl champion and entrepreneur, Tom Brady. It is the largest commercial agreement in the Club’s history. Under the terms of the deal, the Club’s stadium was re-named St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park. The Club’s Wast Hills training ground was renamed The Knighthead Training and Academy Grounds and a new fan entertainment zone @ Knighthead Park, will be built, situated on Club-owned land close to the Tilton and Main Stand at the Stadium. These will be launched before the end of the 2023/24 Season.

On the 9th of April, 2024, Blues announced Knighthead’s acquisition of the 48-acre former Wheels site in Bordesley Park, East Birmingham, bringing their total land holding to more than 60 acres, excluding St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park. This is a key step toward creating a vibrant Sports Quarter and a new world-class stadium.

A New Look St. Andrew’s

In the first four weeks of owning Birmingham City, which included 100% of St. Andrew’s, Tom Wagner, Knighthead and Shelby Companies made it clear they were going to improve everything to do with Blues, on and off the pitch going forward. They did more for morale for Blues in the first four weeks since they took over than the previous Chinese owners ever did in sixteen years.

The stadium got a much-needed new look in that time that included a giant badge that lights up along with the new lettering and two large screens on either side of it. and what a fantastic improvement it turned out to be.

The following photos were taken before Blues first home game of the 2023/24 season against Leeds United.

Inside the new look St. Andrews showing the improved giant screen.

Inside the new look St. Andrews.

Outside the new look St. Andrews showing the new giant badge and lettering.

Inside the new look St. Andrews.

Inside the new look St. Andrews showing the improved dug-out seats.

Inside the new look St. Andrews showing the improved player’s tunnel.

Inside the new look St. Andrews showing the improved player’s changing room.

Buckingham Group

Despite all the brilliant work that has been done above, the contractor, Buckingham Group, responsible for working on the lower tiers of the Tilton and Kop stands (which include safe standing) had gone into administration. It was announced by Blues on the 17th of August, 2023. You can read about it here.

Supporters

Birmingham fans consider our main rivals to be Aston Villa, our nearest neighbours geographically, with whom we contest the Second City derby. Lesser rivalries include fellow West Midlands clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion.

Blues supporters are generally referred to as Blue Noses in the media and by the fans themselves. A piece of public sculpture in the form of a ten-times-life-size head lying on a mound near St Andrew’s, Ondré Nowakowski’s Sleeping Iron Giant, has been repeatedly painted with blue paint on its nose. Between 1994 and 1997, the club mascot took the form of a blue nose, though it is now a dog named Beau Brummie (which had first appeared on our football programmes back in the 1960’s) , a play on the name Beau Brummell and Brummie, the slang word for a person from Birmingham.

A number of supporters’ clubs are affiliated with the football club, both in England and abroad. An action group was formed in 1991 to protest against chairman Samesh Kumar, the club blamed an internet petition for the collapse of the purchase of player Lee Bowyer in 2005, and antipathy towards the board provoked hostile chanting and a pitch invasion after the last match of the 2007 – 2008 season, but when the club was in financial difficulties, supporters contributed to schemes which funded the purchase of players Brian Roberts in 1984 and Paul Peschisolido in 1992. A supporters’ trust was formed under the auspices of Supporters Direct in 2012.

There have been several fanzines published by supporters. Made in Brum, first issued in 2000, was the only one regularly on sale in 2013. The Zulu began some years earlier and ran for at least 16 seasons.

Our fans’ anthem is Keep Right On (as mentioned above).

Birmingham City’s mascot Beau Brummie.

Birmingham City fans during the club’s first away appearance in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in 2011.

Ownership

Small Heath F.C. became a limited company in 1888. Its first share issue was to the value of £650. The board was made up of local businessmen and dignitaries until 1965, when the club was sold to Clifford Coombs. By the mid-1980’s the club was in financial trouble. Control passed from the Coombs family to former Walsall F.C. chairman Ken Wheldon, who cut costs, made redundancies, and sold off assets, including the club’s training ground. Still unable to make the club pay, Wheldon sold it to the Kumar brothers, owners of a clothing chain. Debt was still increasing when matters came to a head; the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) put the Kumars’ businesses into receivership. The club continued in administration for four months until Sport Newspapers’ proprietor David Sullivan bought the Kumars’ 84% holding for £700,000 from BCCI’s liquidator in March 1993. Birmingham City plc, of which the football club was a wholly owned subsidiary, was floated on the Alternative Investment Market (A.I.M.) in 1997 with an issue of 15 million new shares, raising £7.5 million of new investment. It made a pre-tax profit of £4.3M in the year ending on the 31st of August 2008.

In July 2007, Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, via the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (S.E.H.K.)-listed company Grandtop International Holdings Limited (G.I.H.), bought 29.9% of the plc from its directors. Although his intention to take full control of the club initially came to nothing, G.I.H. completed the purchase in October 2009 at a total cost of £81.5M, re-registered the club as a private company, and renamed the holding company Birmingham International Holdings (B.I.H.).

Trading in B.I.H. shares was suspended in June 2011 after Yeung’s arrest on charges of money laundering. Publication of financial results was repeatedly delayed, which led the Football League to impose a transfer embargo, and offers for the club were entertained from 2012 onwards. After Yeung resigned his positions with both club and company in early 2014, share trading resumed, and following his conviction, efforts intensified to dispose of the club, which had to be done piecemeal in order to retain B.I.H.’s share listing.

Going into 2015, the Football League made public their concerns over Yeung’s attempts to impose his choice of directors on the B.I.H.L. board despite his conviction disqualifying him from exerting influence over a club. Relationships became increasingly factional, as illustrated by the failure of three directors, including the club’s de facto chief executive Panos Pavlakis, to gain re-election, followed the next day by their reinstatement. On the 17th of February, 2015, the board voluntarily appointed receivers from accountants Ernst & Young to take over management of the company. Their statement stressed that no winding-up petition had been issued and the company was not in liquidation.

In June 2015, the receivers struck deals with the previous major shareholders such that legal action against them would be dropped in return for their agreement not to obstruct any transfer of ownership to their preferred bidder, the British Virgin Islands-registered investment vehicle Trillion Trophy Asia (T.T.A.), wholly owned by Chinese businessman Paul Suen Cho Hung, who in turn agreed that the company would not be sold on within two years. The process was completed in October 2016, leaving T.T.A. owning 50.64% of BIH’s share capital, a level of ownership that required them to make an offer for the remainder.

To keep the company running, T.T.A. arranged loans which it settled with discounted shares to the same value; the process of creating such shares diluted the percentage holding of all shareholders. Attempts to diversify the company’s holdings to make it less reliant on the football club were similarly funded. To reduce the club’s losses in light of breaches of the EFL’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations, the stadium was sold for £22.8 million to Birmingham City Stadium Ltd, a new company wholly owned by the football club’s parent, and would be leased back to the club. In December 2020, 21.64% of the club and 25% of Birmingham City Stadium were sold to Vong Pech’s Oriental Rainbow, and in April 2021, the remaining 75% of the stadium was sold.

A June 2022 attempt to purchase the club by a group fronted by former Watford F.C. owner Laurence Bassini, involving financier Keith Harris and money loaned by David Sullivan, came to nothing. A consortium led by fashion industry businessman Paul Richardson and Argentine former footballer Maxi López announced in July that they were close to completing the purchase of a stake in the club, and later confirmed that they were providing operating funds, but pulled out in December citing a failure to agree revisions to the original terms of agreement. In April 2023, Richardson, López and their proposed chief executive, former Charlton Athletic chairman Matt Southall, were sanctioned by the EFL after admitting to breaching regulations by taking effective control of the club without approval.

In April 2023, Birmingham Sports Holdings confirmed letters of intent had been signed to sell 24% of Birmingham City plc shares held by themselves and the 21.64% owned by Oriental Rainbow, as well as the whole of Birmingham City Stadium Ltd, to a then-unnamed potential purchaser, definitive agreements to be reached within a two-month exclusivity period. The purchaser was named Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of asset management company Knighthead Capital Management fronted by Tom Wagner, Knighthead’s co-founder and co-C.E.O. The agreements were subject to approval by the English Football League (E.F.L.), which was forthcoming in early June, and by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (H.K.S.E.), and an extraordinary general meeting (E.G.M.) on the 13th of July, 2023, voted overwhelmingly to accept. Although B.S.H. retains 51% of the shares, Wagner confirmed that Shelby was responsible for the operations of the club moving forward and that nothing about the way the transaction is structured would prevent them from obtaining the long-term goals they have for the club.

On the 14th of July, 2023, Wagner installed Garry Cook as C.E.O. of the club. A lifelong Birmingham City fan, Cook said, “The landscape of Birmingham is continuing to positively change. It’s young, multicultural and dynamic. It is time for the football club that bears its name, and shares its values, to add to this exciting story. With the support of Tom and the Knighthead team, and in partnership with the city of Birmingham, we aim to be world-class in everything that we do.”

On the 3rd of August, 2023, it was announced that N.F.L. legend Tom Brady would become a minority owner and chairman of a new advisory board at the club, in partnership with Knighthead Capital Management L.L.C.

Honours

Birmingham City’s honours include the following:

Second Division / First Division / The Championship (level 2):

Champions:

1892 – 1993, 1920 – 1921, 1947 – 1948, 1954 – 1955.

Runners-up:

1893 – 1994, 1900 – 1901, 1902 – 1903, 1971 – 1972, 1984 – 1985, 2006 – 2007, 2008 – 2009.

Play-off winners:

2001 – 2002.

Third Division / Second Division (level 3):

Champions:

1994 – 1995.

Runners-up:

1991 – 1992.

F.A. Cup:

Runners-up:

1930 – 1931, 1955 – 56.

Football League Cup:

Winners:

1962 – 1963, 2010 – 11.

Runners-up:

2000 – 2001.

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:

Runners-up:

1958 – 1960, 1960 – 1961.

Associate Members’ Cup / Football League Trophy:

Winners:

1990 – 91, 1994 – 95.

Birmingham Senior Cup:

Winners:

1905.

Small Heath first entered the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1878 – 79 (ten years before the foundation of the Football League) and won for the first time in 1905, defeating West Bromwich Albion 7 – 2 in the final. Its importance declined with the increase in League fixtures, and from 1905 – 1906 onwards, Birmingham fielded teams containing reserve-team players.

Football League South (wartime):

Champions:

1945 – 1946.

Preparatory to the Football League resuming in 1946 – 1947, the First and Second Division clubs from the last pre-war season were divided geographically between the Leagues North and South for 1945 – 46. Going into the last day of the season, Aston Villa were top of League South but had finished their programme two points (one win) ahead of the chasers but with a worse goal average. Charlton Athletic was second, above Birmingham by 0.002 of a goal. While Charlton could only draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham won away at Luton Town, so claimed the title by 0.3 of a goal.

Birmingham City’s trophy cabinet showing the Carling Cup.

Records And Statistics

Read more about Records And Statistics here.

Blues achieved our highest finishing position, of sixth in the top flight, in the 1955 – 1956 First Division. Frank Womack holds the record for Birmingham league appearances, having played 491 matches between 1908 and 1928, closely followed by Gil Merrick with 485 between 1946 and 1959. If all senior competitions are included, Merrick has 551, less closely followed by Womack’s 515 which is the record for an outfield player. The player who won the most international caps while at the club is Maik Taylor with 58 for Northern Ireland.

The goalscoring record is held by Joe Bradford, with 249 league goals, 267 altogether, scored between 1920 and 1935; no other player comes close. Walter Abbott holds the records for the most goals scored in a season, in 1898 – 99, with 34 league goals in the Second Division and 42 goals in total.

The club’s widest victory margin in the league was 12 – 0, a scoreline which they achieved once in the Football Alliance, against Nottingham Forest in 1899, and twice in the Second Division, against Walsall Town Swifts in 1892 and Doncaster Rovers in 1903. They have lost a league match by an eight-goal margin on eight occasions: twice in the Football Alliance and five times in the First Division, all away from home, and once at home, beaten 8 – 0 by A.F.C. Bournemouth in the Championship in 2014. Our record F.A. Cup win was 10 – 0 against Druids in the fourth qualifying round of the 1899 competition; their record F.A. Cup defeat was 7 – 0 at home to Liverpool in the 2006 quarter-final.

Birmingham’s home attendance record was set at the fifth-round F.A. Cup tie against Everton on the 11th of February, 1939. It is variously recorded as 66,844 or 67,341. The highest transfer fee received for a Birmingham player is, according to the Sky Sports website, a guaranteed £25 million up front received in July 2020 from Borussia Dortmund for Jude Bellingham, which made him the most expensive 17-year-old in world football. The deal also included add-ons worth several millions more. The highest fee paid is £6.3m for Croatian midfielder Ivan Šunjić, who joined from Dinamo Zagreb in July 2019.

Retired Numbers

In appreciation of Jude Bellingham’s contribution in a short time with the first team. Bellingham was the club’s youngest debutant, at 16 years and 38 days, and the youngest goalscorer, he completed a full season before becoming Birmingham’s record transfer and the world’s most expensive 17-year-old, showing what can be achieved through talent, hard work and dedication while retaining a caring, humble and engaging off-the-field demeanour. The club retired his number 22 shirt to remember one of their own and to inspire others.

Managers And Coaches

Click here to see the current manager of Birmingham City.

You can read about Birmingham City’s managers and coaches past and present in-depth by clicking here.

Players And Staff

Players

You can read about Birmingham City players’ past and present in-depth by clicking here.

First Team Squad

Click here to see the current first team of Birmingham City and their squad numbers

Staff

Click here to see the current staff of Birmingham City.

Reserves And Academy

For full information on Birmingham City’s Reserves and Academy players click here.

Birmingham City Women

For full information on Birmingham City’s Women’s team click here.

Birmingham City Ladies mascot Belle Brummie.

Club Officials

Owners

As of the current date.

Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd – 51.7%

Shelby Companies Ltd – 45.96%

Board

As of the current date.

Chairman:

Tom Wagner.

C.E.O:

Garry Cook.

Directors:

Matthew Alvarez.

Andrew Shannahan.

Kyle Kneisly.

Wenqing Zhao.

Gannan Zheng.

Chairman Of The Advisory Board: Tom Brady.

Directors: Matthew Alvarez, Andrew Shannahan, Kyle Kneisly, Laura Torrado, Wenqing Zhao and Gannan Zheng.

Read more from the Birmingham City page on Wikipedia here.

Blog Posts

Birmingham City: Blues History.

Birmingham City: First Team Squad For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: Fixtures, Results And Goal Scorers For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: January Transfers For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: Kits For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: News For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: Our 2023/24 Season In Review.

Birmingham City: Summer Transfers For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: Staff For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: The 2023/24 Season Archive.

Birmingham City: Trevor Francis.

Birmingham City: Videos For The 2024/25 Season.

Birmingham City: Welcome To New Manager Chris Davies.

Notes And Links

The above information was sourced from the Birmingham City Wikipedia page except for “Birmingham City F.C. Anthem” which was sourced from the Birmingham Mail’s Birmingham City page.

Wikipedia content is subject to change.

The Birmingham City club logo shown at the top of this page is the copyright of Birmingham City F.C. and came from their social media pages.

The Home Kit photos are copyright of Birmingham City F.C. and came from their official website.

The Small Heath F.C. champions team photo from 1893 above is copyright unknown and came from Wikipedia.

The Steve Bruce photo from 2004 above is in the public domain and came from Wikipedia. It is copyright of Wikipedia user Struway.

The photo above of Beau Brummie is copyright of B.C.F.C and came from the Blues Store Online.

The photo above of Belle Brummie is copyright of B.C.F.C and came from the Blues Store.

The Small Heath F.C. original 1875 kit image from above is copyright of Historical Football Kits Birmingham City page.

The photo above of St. Andrews is copyright of photographer Slobozhansky and came from Wikimapia.

The photo above of St. Andrews in 2005 is copyright of photographer Struway and came from Wikipedia.

The photo above of Birmingham City away fans in 2011 is copyright of photographer Ratipok and came from Wikipedia.

The photo above of Birmingham City’s trophy cabinet is copyright of photographer Lokomotive74 and came from Wikipedia. You can view more of his or her great work here.

Birmingham City F.C. – Official website.

Birmingham City on Facebook – This is their official Facebook page.

Birmingham City on Twitter – This is their official Twitter page.

Birmingham City on YouTube – This is their official YouTube page.

Blues Store Online – Birmingham City’s official club store online.

List of Birmingham City F.C. seasons – List of seasons, including league division and statistics, cup results, top scorer and average league attendance from 1878 to the present day.

Birmingham Mail – Official website. The Birmingham Mail is a newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire.

Historical Football Kits – Official website. They have a very detailed and comprehensive graphic archive of football kits available including every team from the English and Scottish Leagues.

Wikipedia – Official website. Its purpose is to benefit readers by acting as a widely accessible and free encyclopedia that contains information on all branches of knowledge. Funded and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia consists of freely editable content whose articles also provide numerous links to guide readers to related pages with more information.

Wikimapia – Official website. Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge. Their goal is to describe the whole world by compiling as much useful information about all geographical objects as possible, organising it, and providing free access to their data for the public domain.