January 1, 1973: Britain Joins the Common Market, Goes Metric

Edward Heath

January 1, 1973: The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark official enter the European Economic Community -- the EEC, a.k.a. "the Common Market", a predecessor to the European Union.

As a result, the United Kingdom -- England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland -- also, to make economic matters easier, switches over from "the imperial system" to the metric system. Weights go from being measured in ounces and pounds to grams and kilograms; lengths from inches, feet and miles to meters and kilometers; volume from ounces to liters (except in pubs, where the pint remains the classic measurement to this day); and so on.

When I started public school in America in September 1975, all of our math textbooks were published in 1972, and they all included metric references, predicting that America would switch over to the metric system by 1985. As of January 1, 2022, it hasn't happened.

Britain's Prime Minister, Edward Heath, Leader of the Conservative Party, favored the entry into the Common Market. So did the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the the Labour Party, the once and future Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.

But there was significant opposition in the Kingdom, especially in England. In the 1980s, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party would resist efforts at closer ties. In the 2010s, the "Tories" would lead Britain's exit, or "Brexit," from the EU. This would lead to David Cameron being replaced as Leader and Prime Minister by Theresa May, and she by the pro-Brexit Boris Johnson.

Two days after the switchover, on January 3 -- the day that the consortium led by George Steinbrenner bought the New York Yankees -- a soccer game was held at the original Wembley Stadium in London, to commemorate the entry of the three new nations.

Players from those nations were put together as "The Three," managed by England manager Alf Ramsey, against a team of players from "The Six," managed by West Germany manager Helmut Schön: West Germany (which had won the previous year's European Championship), Italy (losing Finalists from the 1970 World Cup), the Netherlands (whose Ajax Amsterdam had won the last 2 European Cups), Belgium, Luxembourg and France.

Franz Beckenbauer, Captain of West Germany and Bayern Munich, chose to play. Johan Cruijff, Captain of the Netherlands and Ajax, chose not to. That may have made a difference. Only 36,500 people saw "The Three" win, 2-0. The low turnout was attributed to its staging on a Wednesday, and to the English people's ambivalence about joining the Common Market.

The goals were scored by Henning Jensen, a forward from Denmark and German team Borussia Mönchengladbach; and Colin Stein, a Scottish forward who had starred for Rangers in Glagsow, but was now playing for English team Coventry City.

The players' reactions to the expansion of the Common Market varied. "I'm really not interested in the whole thing," said Pat Jennings, goalkeeper for Northern Ireland and Tottenham Hotspur. Alan Ball, a holdover from England's 1966 World Cup win and now playing for Arsenal, was a substitute on the evening. He said, "The only thing that interests me about joining the Common Market is whether or not it will make my family's Summer holidays cheaper."

In contrast to Jennings' disinterest and Ball's humor, Johnny Giles of Leeds United, by this point both playing for the Republic of Ireland team (joining at the same time as the United Kingdom, and thus considered part of "The Three") but also managing it, showed far more acumen: "A small country like Ireland need close business and trade links with other European nations, so I'm certainly in favor."

Of the players on The Six team, Beckenbauer was the most Euro-friendly: "The Common Market is vital to us, as it encourages us to work more closely together, and that will hopefully mean that Europe will remain peaceful." Beckenbauer had been born 4 months after V-E Day in a Munich occupied by American troops, and he did not want another Europe-wide war.

The match was part of a week-long "Fanfare For Europe," a cultural festival that would allow Britain to share what Prime Minister Heath called his "heart full of joy" at the prospect of their country forging closer ties with Western Europe.

The cultural exchange didn't quite go as planned. Heath’s plan to borrow the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and its leadup, and display it in Westminster Hall was dropped after critics pointed out that images of Saxons being butchered by Normans was hardly a symbol of European co-operation.

As the British Museum had recently refused France the loan of the Rosetta Stone, the Mona Lisa never appeared in a proposed exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, either. But there was a display of European sweets, food festivals, concerts at Covent Garden and European art exhibitions at various London hotels.

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January 1, 1973 was a Monday. In college football's bowl games:

* The University of Southern California, Champions of the Pacific-8 Conference and ranked Number 1, beat Ohio State University, Champions of the Big 10 Conference and ranked Number 3, 42-17 in the Rose Bowl, in the stadium of the same name in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. This clinched the National Championship for USC and head coach John McKay, over Woody Hayes' Buckeyes.

Lynn Swann, later a Hall of Fame receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, opened the scoring for the Trojans by catching a touchdown pass. Later, Sam Cunningham scored 4 touchdowns. Anthony Davis, who had run wild against Notre Dame a few weeks earlier, and would do so again 2 years later, also scored a touchdown.

* The University of Texas, Champions of the Southwest Conference and ranked Number 5, beat the University of Alabama, Champions of the Southeastern Conference and ranked Number 4, 17-13 in the Cotton Bowl, in the stadium of the same name in Dallas. Alan Lowry scored 2 touchdowns in the 2nd half, including a 34-yard run with 3:20 to go, to give Darryl Royal's Longhorns the victory over Paul "Bear" Bryant's Crimson Tide.

Each team came in having lost only once, and, oddly, each to its arch-rival: Texas to Oklahoma, and Alabama to Auburn.

* The University of Nebraska, ranked Number 9, beat the University of Notre Dame, 40-6 in the Orange Bowl, in the stadium of the same name in Miami. This would be Bob Devaney's last game as Nebraska's head coach, as he turned the reins over to his assistant Tom Osborne. Devaney had led the Cornhuskers to the National Championship in the 1970 and '71 seasons, while Osborne would struggle to reach that level, but eventually achieve it.

* The night before, on New Year's Eve, the Sugar Bowl was played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The University of Oklahoma, Champions of the Big 8 Conference and ranked Number 2, beat Pennsylvania State University, ranked Number 8, 14-0. Oklahoma had beaten both of its major rivals, Nebraska (in the Big 8) and Texas (not), but had lost to Colorado in midseason. That loss cost them at least a share of the National Championship: Having won, they then had to hope that Number 3 Ohio State beat Number 1 USC, but not too convincingly. And, since USC won, they got the National Championship.

In contrast, Penn State was once again the top team in the Northeast (if you can call rural Central Pennsylvania "the Northeast"), but had lost their season opener to Tennessee, which would finish 10-2 and ranked Number 8. As usual, Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions thought the media wasn't giving them enough respect. But, after losing to Tennessee, they played only 1 other ranked team in the regular season, beating Number 18 West Virginia away, and were not convincing. Barry Switzer's Sooners had little trouble with them in the Sugar Bowl.

Baseball was out of season. There were no games in the American Basketball Association. In the NBA, there were 2 games. The Baltimore Bullets beat the Milwaukee Bcks, 88-87 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena). And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Gail Goodrich scored 36 points. Wilt Chamberlain, in his final season as a player, had only 6 points, but grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked 5 shots.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 8-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Phil Esposito scored a hat trick, 3 goals. Bobby Orr had no goals, but assisted on 6.

There were 3 games in the World Hockey Association, then in its 1st season:

* The New York Raiders lost to the Philadelphia Blazers, 3-0 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints and the Houston Aeros played to a tie, 4-4 at the St. Paul Civic Center. Playing in St. Paul, rather than sharing the Metropolitan Sports Center in nearby Bloomington with the Minnesota North Stars, led to the "Fighting Saints" name.

* And the Alberta Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-3 at the Edmonton Gardens. The hosts changed their name to the Edmonton Oilers the next season.