December 27, 1915: English Football's 1st Betting Scandal

Sandy Turnbull

December 27, 1915: English football (soccer) has its 1st betting scandal, a result of a game played the previous season, on Good Friday.

On April 2, 1915, Manchester United hosted Liverpool at Old Trafford in Salford, outside Manchester. United were struggling to avoid relegation from the Football League's Division One to its Division Two. Liverpool, on the other hand, were in mid-table, and neither challenging for honors nor facing the threat of relegation themselves. In other words, they had little to play for other than pride.

Liverpool were willing to accept a loss: Man United were only 33 miles away, and, with transportation costs being what they were, the Scousers didn't want to lose a cheap roadtrip. Imagine Liverpool giving the club that has become their most hated opponents a break that saves them from relegation. Better yet: Imagine Man United being in position to be relegated. A wonderful thought.

The effects of "the Great War" (which we now know as World War I) provided further motivation to perpetrate a fix: Although the season had begun on time on September 1, 1914, a month after the war began, the war did not live up to the expectation -- held on both sides -- that it would "be over by Christmas." By the end of the following March, there was no end in sight.

So the decision by the Football Association to suspend Football League operations after the season was already being predicted by nearly everyone. Since no one knew how long the war would last, it was presumed that would be not merely interrupting, but possibly ending, the footballing careers of everyone then playing in the league: Presuming they survived the war, most players would be too old to resume, and all teams would have to start over with younger players. (It didn't quite work out that way.) Also, the players perhaps thought that the diversion of the conflict would lessen the attention that would normally be paid to a dubious match result.

Old Trafford, shortly after its 1910 opening

The match ended in a 2–0 win to United, with George Anderson scoring both goals. However, the match referee and some observers noted Liverpool's lack of commitment during the game. They had missed a penalty that had been awarded to them, and when Fred Pagnam hit the Manchester United crossbar late in the match, his teammates publicly yelled at him for trying too hard.

On April 24, Middlesex team Tottenham Hotspur -- a redrawing of boundaries for 1965 meant that they were now in North London -- lost 5-0 away to North-East team Sunderland, clinching 20th and last place in Division One, meaning they were to be relegated to Division Two. West London team Chelsea finished 19th, and were also relegated. United finished 18th, and stayed up. The season thus ended, the FA then did indeed suspend League play, and FA Cup play, for the duration of the war.

At first, this relegation for Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. "Spurs," wouldn't seem to matter to anyone but them and their fans. But it would. 

Handbills started to appear, alleging that a large amount of money had been bet at odds of 7/1 (or "7-1," as we would write in the U.S.) on a 2–0 win to United over Liverpool. The FA investigated, and found that players from both sides had been involved in rigging the match: For Liverpool, Jackie Sheldon (a former United player, and the man found to be the ringleader), Tom Miller, Bob Pursell, and a man both aptly and inaptly named, Thomas Fairfoul; for United, Sandy Turnbull, Arthur Whalley and Enoch West.

Jackie Sheldon

Anderson, who scored both goals, and Pagnam, who hit the crossbar, knew about the fix, but refused to take part. Had Pagnam scored, that would have made the score 2-1, and ruined the bets: They weren't just for United to win, but specifically for them to win 2-0.

Pagnam willingly testified against his crooked teammates. Billy Meredith, one of the top players of the era, who had previously played for Manchester City and had won the FA Cup with both Manchester teams (as had Turnbull), testified that he didn't know about the fix, but that he had gotten suspicious during the match, when nobody would pass to him.

On December 27, 1915, the FA banned all 7 players for life. They found no evidence that any official from either team had participated in the fix. Neither team was fined, or had points deducted, or was relegated, which United would have deserved to be had there been no fix. West protested his innocence, and sued the FA, but lost.

Four of the players were from Scotland, and returned there to play non-league ball, as that country had also suspended its league, and did not recognize England's ban. Eventually, though, all 7 players ended up serving in the war. Turnbull, one of the Scottish players, was killed at the Battle of Arras in France on May 3, 1917.

After the war, in recognition of their military service, all of the players except West were reinstated, including a posthumous reinstatement for Turnbull. Because the war ended on November 11, 1918, it was too soon to start a 1918-19 season, so the next League season didn't start until August 30, 1919. And Fairfoul retired. So West was the only one who actually missed any League play. His ban, which also covered working for any team in the League, in any capacity, ended up being lifted in 1945, after World War II. At least he was still alive to receive his reinstatement.

Turnbull was survived by a wife and 4 children. Two of Turnbull's sons, Alexander Jr. and Ronald, signed amateur forms with Manchester United in 1932, but neither made a senior appearance for them, equivalent to making the major leagues in North American sports.

There was a weird postscript to this scandal. On March 10, 1919, the Football League held a meeting to reorganize. In the leadup to this meeting, it was suggested -- as it turned out, correctly, even more than they suspected -- that the postwar market for football would be insatiable, and that Division One should be expanded from 20 to 22 teams.

This would seem to have been great news for Chelsea, which had finished 19th in Division One; and for Tottenham, which had finished 20th. Now, in spite of each team's grand ineptitude, they could keep their spaces in Division One and not be relegated, while the top 2 teams from Division Two in the last completed season, 1914-15, Derby County of Derbyshire and Preston North End of Lancashire, could still keep their hard-earned promotions.

But Man U were already one of the biggest clubs in the North of England, and a lot of people didn't want them kicked out. And many other teams' owners liked that they were close, and saved them money on travel costs.

It worked: Chelsea rightly got the 21st spot, and Arsenal got the 22nd, even though they had finished 6th in Division Two in 1915. (A later check of the results showed they should have been listed as 5th, but that doesn't matter now.)

But the subject of the 1915 fix was brought up. By all rights, Chelsea were screwed out of 18th place and safety, regardless of how the 1919 reorganization meeting panned out. By all rights, Man U should have been kicked out of the League. After all, it's not as though people in the Manchester area would be without a team: Manchester City, Manchester Central, Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic,

Bury, Rochdale and Stockport County were all already in business. (Wigan Athletic would come later, in 1932, replacing Manchester Central, who went out of business due to the Great Depression.)

So Sir Henry Norris, chairman of North London team Arsenal, knighted for his work supporting the war effort, had a plan: He would bring several clubs in to vote to keep Man U in the League... if Man U and their allies would vote to bring Arsenal into Division One.

This election would seem to have screwed not only Tottenham Hotspur, but Barnsley (a Yorkshire club that had finished 3rd in Division Two), Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers (a.k.a. Wolves, 4th) and Birmingham City (officially 5th) out of that 22nd place. Yet all 3 of those clubs have been in the Premier League in recent years, and while their fans don't particularly like Arsenal (many fans admire Arsenal, but few genuinely like them), they never bring up the fact that "You screwed us out of the first division in 1919!"

Only Tottenham fans do that. To this day, Tottenham fans claim that there must have been bribery, that Norris must have paid off some club chairmen to vote Arsenal into Division One.

It has been over a century. Not one shred of evidence has ever been publicly produced that Norris bribed anyone to make it happen.

Norris' move might have been sneaky, devious, and underhanded, but it was not corrupt. Not until 1987 would the League make a team's promotion be automatic: Until then, it was always by election. Granted, those elections nearly always turned a rightful promotion into a formality and a reality. But not always. Sometimes, it was based on other factors, such as convenience for the clubs' business managers. This was one of the times that it was decided based on something other than finishing position, and, while it may have been odd, it was done within the rules of the time.

Indeed, there is more evidence that Tottenham bribed their way into the League at all in 1908 than there is that Arsenal bribed their way into Division One in 1919. Certainly, no one at the time publicly suggested that Norris had bribed anyone.

Besides, as the team that finished last in the last season, Tottenham had far less right to gripe about Arsenal screwing them over than did Barnsley, Wolves or Brum. Spurs were last, and on merit, too.

It's also worth pointing out that, whatever Norris' motivations at the time, Tottenham had nothing to do with it. He never cared who the opponent was, as long as he made money and Arsenal won.

Yet the story persists, and fans of other clubs who hate Arsenal are more than happy to pass the lie along.

Tottenham did rightly win promotion to Division One at the end of the 1919-20 season. You would think that, since (presuming that they were screwed at all) they were only screwed for 1 year, they would have gotten over it by then. Or at any time in the intervening century.

But since they can't claim to be a more successful club than Arsenal, or a bigger one, or a more admired one around the world, Tottenham fans hang onto this myth that Arsenal were corrupt in 1919 and cheated them, and that all their success since is illegitimate. (Which doesn't explain their own many failures over the same period.)

It makes me wonder why Spurs fans never blame Man United for screwing them over. After all, if United hadn't fixed that game in 1915, Spurs would have been 19th, and thus, after the 1919 reorganization meeting, entitled to remain in Division One, and Arsenal wouldn't have been able to make arrangements, legal or otherwise, to get that 22nd spot. So why don't Spurs fans hate United?

*

December 27, 1915 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. Football season was over. Professional basketball barely existed. There was professional hockey, but neither the National Hockey Association in the east nor the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in the west scheduled any games.

While England had suspended Football League play for the duration of World War I, there was still competition, including the London Combination. In this, on this day, Arsenal hosted East London team West Ham United at Highbury, and won, 3-2.

October 19, 1963: "You'll Never Walk Alone" Is First Played at Anfield

October 19, 1963: The Gerry & the Pacemakers version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" is played at Anfield, home stadium of Liverpool Football Club, for the first time. It became a team tradition.

The song, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, first appeared in 1945, in the Broadway musical Carousel, sung by Christine Johnson as Nettie Fowler, and later by John Raitt (father of rock music legend Bonnie Raitt) as Billy Bigelow, Jan Clayton as his wife Julie, and Bambi Linn as their daughter Louise.

The musical was made into a film in 1956. Gordon MacRae played Billy, Shirley Jones played Julie, Susan Luckey played Louise, Claramae Turner played Nettie, and Gene Lockhart played the Starkeeper and the doctor.

"You'll Never Walk Alone" became a standard. Jerry Lewis would use it to close his annual Labor Day telethon for research into muscular dystrophy and related conditions. Elvis Presley made it a mainstay of his live performances from his Las Vegas debut in 1969 until his death in 1977.

In 1963, Liverpool rock band Gerry & The Pacemakers recorded a version of it. In the 1960s, at Anfield, the home stadium of Liverpool F.C., games would be preceded by the public address system playing the Top 10 songs in the country. "You'll Never Walk Alone" debuted in the Top 10 on October 19, 1963, and so it was played at Anfield for the 1st time. Liverpool beat West Bromwich Albion, of the Birmingham area, 1-0 on a goal by Gordon Milne in the 32nd minute.

A recent photo of Anfield, seriously added-onto

Liverpool's other major team, Everton, who had won the League the previous season, traveled to the East End of London on this day, and lost to West Ham United, 4-2 at Upton Park. Everton fans would become sick of the song, and one of their fans' slogans is "I'd rather walk alone."

The Pacemakers were the 2nd-biggest band in Liverpool at the time, behind The Beatles, but their version of "YNWA" never became a hit in the song's country of origin, not even in the "British Invasion" year of 1964, when The Beatles caught fire in America and pretty much every other British band that was even remotely good followed them. The Pacemakers had a few songs reach the American charts, most notably "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" and "How Do You Do It" in 1964, and "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (from the film of the same title) in 1965. But not "YNWA."

It did, however, hit Number 1 in Britain. But when it fell out of the Top 10, Liverpool fans demanded that it be played at Anfield, anyway, just before the team walked onto the pitch. This was done, and Liverpool, managed by Bill Shankly, won the Football League in 1964.

After that, in England, the song was considered a good-luck charm by fans of the Mersey Reds, and was irrevocably tied to the team. After the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, the words of the song gave hope to a grieving city. The words "YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE" are now cast in iron atop the Shankly Gates leading into Anfield.

Most Liverpool fans don't even realize that the song debuted on Broadway, in New York, in America, during the waning days of World War II.

Fans of Celtic Football Club in Glasgow, Scotland also took it up. Like Liverpool fans, they sing it before every game, and after every win. In 2003, the teams faced each other in the UEFA Cup Quarterfinal, and Pacemakers singer Gerry Marsden was invited to sing it on the pitch before the game. He did so, wearing one of those "half scarves" produced before international matches with logos of both teams. Another British rocker, Rod Stewart, also attended, supporting Celtic.

Oscar Hammerstein died in 1960, having never learned of his song's connection with Liverpool. Richard Rodgers lived until 1979, and if he ever knew of the connection, he never made a public statement about it. Gerry Marsden died in 2021.

*

October 19, 1963 was a Saturday. North London team Arsenal traveled to Birmingham, and lost to Aston Villa, 2-1 at Villa Park.

In American football, among the college games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Texas beat Arkansas, 17-13 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. Texas went on to win the Southwest Conference Championship.

* Number 2 Wisconsin beat Iowa, 10-7 at Iowa Stadium (now Kinnick Stadium) in Iowa City.

* Number 3 Pittsburgh beat West Virginia, 13-10 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is a rivalry known as "The Backyard Brawl."

* Number 4 Ohio State were upset by the University of Southern California (USC), 32-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. No, this was not the Rose Bowl game. And when that game was played, neither of these teams would be in it.

* Number 5 Mississippi beat Tulane, 21-0 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. "Ole Miss" went on to win the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 6 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 21-18 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 7 Illinois beat Minnesota, 16-6 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. With running back Jim Grabowski, and center and linebacker Dick Butkus, Illinois won the Big Ten Conference title.

* Number 8 Georgia Tech were upset by Auburn, 29-21 at Grant Field in Atlanta.

* Number 9 Alabama beat Tennessee, 35-0 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Alabama didn't win the SEC title, but they didn't play Ole Miss. So those teams were matched up in the Sugar Bowl, the traditional home for the season's SEC Champion, and Alabama won. In fiction, that would have been the last game for 'Bama for running back Forrest Gump.

* Number 10 Navy beat the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), 21-12 at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Virginia. This was the annual Oyster Bowl game, which has featured Navy 10 times and VMI 16 times. These days, though, it's a game for FCS (formerly Division I-AA) teams, like the school for which Foreman Field, now named S.B. Ballard Stadium, is the home field, Old Dominion University. Although it was in VMI's home State, Norfolk, is home to America's largest naval base, so it felt more like a home field for Navy.

Navy were quarterbacked by Roger Staubach, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy, and rose to Number 2 in the country. Through the 2021 season, no service academy team has finished in the Top 10 since. They played Number 1 Texas for the National Championship in the Cotton Bowl, but Texas won.

* The University of Washington, then unranked, beat Stanford, 19-11 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington went on to win the title in the American Association of Western Universities (AAWU, a forerunner of what's now the Pac-12), and beat Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

* Army beat Wake Forest, 47-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Notre Dame beat UCLA, 27-12 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* In a rivalry game, North Carolina beat North Carolina State, 31-10 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* And among New Jersey teams, Rutgers beat Lehigh, 30-6 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; while Princeton beat Colgate, 42-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

Neither the NFL nor the AFL played any games that day. But in Middlesex County, New Jersey, East Brunswick High School, which would one day be my Alma Mater, beat Bridgewater-Raritan, 27-21 at home, on a field that had no name, roughly where the school's practice field now is. Its stadium, later named Jay Doyle Field, wouldn't be built until 1965.

Baseball season had ended 13 days earlier, when the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the New York Yankees in the World Series. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Cincinnati Royals, 121-97 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 124-121 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. This was only the 2nd regular-season game for the Sixers, and the 1st at home, after moving from being the Syracuse Nationals. I have a separate entry for that event. 

* The San Francisco Warriors beat the Baltimore Bullets, 103-102 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena). Walt Bellamy scored 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the Bullets, who were played just their 3rd regular-season since moving from being the Chicago Zephyrs, and only their 2nd home game. They would last just 10 years before moving down Interstate 95, becoming the Washington Bullets, and eventually the Washington Wizards.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 117-108 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 2-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

September 28, 1884: Anfield Opens

September 28, 1884: Anfield opens on the edge of Stanley Park in Liverpool, England. The home team wins.

Present-day fans of Liverpool Football Club will not be surprised to learn this. But they may be surprised to learn that the home team was Everton Football Club. The "Toffees" beat nearby team Earlestown, 5-0, and went on to use Anfield as their home ground until 1892, when Goodison Park opened, a mile away on another side of Stanley Park.

Imagine if, instead of at their actual locations in The Bronx and Queens, respectively, Yankee Stadium had been built where the American Museum of Natural History is, at 79th Street and Central Park West; and Shea Stadium had been built across Central Park, 1 mile away, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art is, at 81st Street and 5th Avenue. That's how close Anfield and Goodison Park are.

The stadium is named after the surrounding area. The word "Anfield" originated in the combination of Old English and Middle English words, which mean "a field on a slope." An alternate explanation is that the name is linked to the influx of people fleeing the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, crossing the Irish sea from Dublin to Liverpool, and was associated with Annefield, outside New Ross, County Wexford.

A dispute between Everton and the land's owner, John Houlding, led to them moving to Goodison. Houlding was left with an empty stadium, and decided to form a new club to occupy it. Liverpool F.C.'s 1st game there was played on September 1, 1892, and they beat South Yorkshire team Rotherham Town, 7-1.

Seating capacity was originally 8,000, and was expanded to 11,000 in 1895. In 1906, a new stand was built along Walton Breck Road. Ernest Edwards, the sports editor of newspapers the Liverpool Daily Post (which went out of business in 2013) and the Liverpool Echo (still in business), named it the Spion Kop, after a famous hill in South Africa where a local regiment had suffered heavy losses during the Boer War in 1900. More than 300 men had died, many of them from Liverpool, as the British army attempted to capture the strategic hilltop. While many soccer stadiums would call one of their end sections the Spion Kop, most, like Liverpool's have been "The Kop" for short.

In 1928, the Kop was redesigned and extended, to hold 30,000 spectators, all standing. A roof was erected as well. The stadium got lights in 1957. In 1963, the old Kemlyn Road Stand was replaced by a cantilevered stand, accommodating 6,700 spectators. Two years later, responding to the demand for tickets following Liverpool's 1964 Football League title and 1965 FA Cup win, alterations were made at the Anfield Road Stand, turning it into a larger covered standing area with refreshments under the structure.

The biggest redevelopment came in 1973, when the old Main Stand was partially demolished and extended backwards with a new roof. In the 1980s the paddock in front of the Main Stand was turned into seating, and in 1982 seats were introduced at the Anfield Road Stand. The Shankly Gates were erected in 1982, a tribute to former manager Bill Shankly.

Across the Shankly Gates are the words "You'll Never Walk Alone." In the 1960s, at Anfield, games would be preceded by the public address system playing the Top 10 songs in the country. Gerry & The Pacemakers' version of "You'll Never Walk Alone," from the 1945 Broadway musical Carousel, debuted in the Top 10 on October 19, 1963, and so it was played at Anfield for the 1st time. It hit Number 1 in Britain. (It was not a hit in America.)

But when it fell out of the Top 10, Liverpool fans demanded that it be played at Anfield, anyway, just before the team walked onto the pitch. This was done, and Liverpool, managed by Shankly, won the Football League in 1964. After that, in England, the song was considered a good-luck charm by fans of the Mersey Reds, and was irrevocably tied to the team. Everton fans would become sick of the song, and one of their fans' slogans is "I'd rather walk alone."

Shankly retired after the 1973-74 season, but under his right-hand man, Bob Paisley, they actually got better. I've often compared Liverpool to American football's Pittsburgh Steelers: A "football" team from a hardscrabble, hardworking town, with the loss of so much industry casting a pall over the era, starts winning, dominating their league in the decade, and becomes everything to the people, many of them of Irish descent. The biggest difference between the teams is that, unlike the Steelers, the Mersey Reds did have some success before the 1970s.

In fact, they won 18 titles in the Football League Division One: 1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990. The Premier League was founded in 1992, and, infamously, it took them until the COVID season of 2019-20 for them to win it, as Manchester United surpassed them with a 19th and a 20th title, in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

They've also won the FA Cup, English soccer's season-long national tournament, 8 times: 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006 and 2022. And they've won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League 6 times, more than any other British team: 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019. The 1985-86 season remains the only one in which they've won both the League and the Cup, known in England as "doing The Double."

They almost did it again in 1989. In the FA Cup Semifinal, they were playing Nottingham Forest, on neutral ground at Hillsborough Stadium in South Yorkshire, home of Sheffield Wednesday. A mistake in opening the gates led to the deaths of 97 people. The game was replayed, Liverpool won, and, as in 1986, they beat Everton in an All-Merseyside Final.

And with North London team Arsenal having blown a lead for the League title, all Liverpool had to do to win the League was avoid losing the last game of the season, home to Arsenal, by more than 1 goal. Arsenal hadn't won at Anfield in 15 years. With the home fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" with more emotion than ever, giving hope to a grieving city over the last few weeks, it seemed impossible for Arsenal to do what needed to be done. But a goal by Michael Thomas in stoppage time gave Arsenal a 2-0 win.

The Hillsborough Disaster led to, among other things, the conversion of English stadiums to all-seater. This would reduce capacity, without more building. The Kemlyn Road Stand was double-decked, and renamed the Cenentary Stand in 1992, in connection with the team's 100th Anniversary. The Kop was demolished and rebuilt in 1994, its capacity reduced to 12,390, but still the most intimidating stand in the sport. Overall, the stadium's seating capacity was down to 35,000. In 1998, a new, 2-tier Anfield Road Stand was opened, bringing capacity back up to 44,736.

In 2017, the Centenary Stand was renamed the Kenny Dalglish Stand, for the team's all-time greatest player, who had managed them to the 1986 Double while still playing.

Since the 2010 purchase of the team by Fenway Sports Group, owners of the Boston Red Sox, the stadium has been redeveloped and modernized. Unlike a ballpark, a four-sided soccer stadium can have parts demolished and rebuilt without the team having to leave. The new Main Stand (southeast) opened in 2016, raising capacity to 54,074. The new Anfield Road Stand (northeast) is set to open in 2023, raising capacity to 60,725. (UPDATE: It took until February 10, 2024.)

As of September 28, 2022, there are no plans to redevelop the Kop (southwest) or the Kenny Dalglish Stand (southeast, and as a 1992 construction the oldest current part of the stadium). 

Outside the stadium are a bust of builder John Houlding, statues of managers Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, and a memorial to the victims of Hillsborough.

*

September 28, 1884 was a Sunday. In America, the only league sport of the time was baseball, and the National League prohibited its teams from playing on Sundays. The American Association allowed it, but had no games scheduled for the day. The Union Association, which played only in this season before folding, allowed Sunday ball, and 3 games were played:

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals, 5-0 at the Wright Street Grounds in Milwaukee. Both of these teams folded with the UA, and have no connection to the present-day National League teams of the same names.

* The St. Louis Maroons beat the Baltimore Monumentals, 12-1 at Union Base Ball Park in St. Louis. In those days, the sport's name was usually written as 2 words, "base ball." The Maroons were run by Henry V. Lucas, a St. Louis businessman and founder of the league. Naturally, he favored his team, and they ran away with the Pennant. That dominance, producing the feeling throughout the league that everybody else's games were meaningless, was a big reason for its demise.

* And the Kansas City Unions beat the Boston Reds, 6-1 at Athletic Park in Kansas City.

August 31, 1946: The Football League Returns After World War II

Jack Balmer

August 31, 1946: After almost exactly 7 years, England’s Football League resumes play. As it had proven to be in 1919, when it resumed after World War I, the British public's appetite for what we would call soccer was ravenous, and the largest crowd on this day was 61,000 at Stamford Bridge in West London, where host Chelsea beat Lancashire club Bolton Wanderers 4–3.

As for the leading club before The War, North London's Arsenal? The Gunners' postwar debut was a disaster, as a visit to Birmingham-area club Wolverhampton Wanderers (a.k.a. Wolves) resulted in a 6-1 defeat in front of 50,845. Clearly, the prewar players were now too old, and new players had to be brought in. Arsenal would finish 13th in the 22-team League.

The title race would be very close., as 4 teams would finish within 2 points: Liverpool beat out Manchester United by 1 point, and Wolves and Stoke by 2. Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins each scored 28 goals for Liverpool -- in each case, 24 in League play.

After the season, George Allison retired as manager of Arsenal, and former player and physiotherapist Tom Whittaker took over. He having rebuilt the team, he led them to the title in 1948. But Wolves, along with Hampshire team Portsmouth FC and North-East team Newcastle United, would soon take over English football: Portsmouth won the League title in 1949 and 1950; Newcastle won the Cup in 1951, 1952 and 1954; while Wolves won the FA Cup in 1949, and the League title in 1954, 1958 and 1959, before winning the Cup again in 1960.

*

August 31, 1946 was a Saturday. In America, these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 4-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Bill Bevens pitched a 7-hit shutout. Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Monte Kennedy outpitched Kirby Higbe.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 10-6. Dick Mauney went the distance to win, while Warren Spahn didn't get out of the 4th inning. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 14-2.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rookie Ralph Kiner went 1-for-3 with a walk. Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-5. Skeeter Webb went 4-for-6 with 3 RBIs. Dick Wakefield went 3-for-5 with a walk and 3 RBIs. And Paul Richards went 1-for-3 and Eddie Lake went 0-for-3, with each of them drawing 3 walks.

August 22, 1964: "Match of the Day" Premieres

August 22, 1964: Match of the Day is first broadcast on BBC1. It becomes British television's most popular TV program -- or "programme," as it would be "spelt" over there.

The 1st game was at Anfield, home stadium of Liverpool Football Club, defending Champions of the Football League Division One, who beat Arsenal Football Club, of North London, 3-2.

The game is not broadcast live: It is filmed, so that it can be shown that night from the BBC's London headquarters. It will be many years before live games are shown, the reasoning being that it would hurt attendance, and thus gate receipts, by far the main source of teams' income. Eventually, they would figure out that TV broadcast rights would be more lucrative than gate receipts.

But, for many years to come, only a scattered few games would be broadcast live, including the annual FA Cup Final. And so, on Saturday nights, MOTD became what Americans would later call "must-see TV." In 1968, ITV, the BBC's main rival, would introduce a show for Sunday afternoons, The Big Match. It, too, becomes a must-watch for footie fans. Both shows are still run today.

*

August 22, 1964 was a Saturday. Tennis player Mats Wilander was born. So was Trey Gowdy, right-wing fanatic Republican Congressman turned Fox News host. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees and their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, split a doubleheader at Fenway Park in Boston. The Red Sox won the opener, 5-3. They scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, off Al Downing, making a winner of Dick Radatz in relief of Bill Monbouquette. Elston Howard hit a home run for the Yankees, Lee Thomas for the Red Sox.

The Yankees won the nightcap, 8-0. Mel Stottlemyre pitched a 6-hit shutout. Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Johnny Blanchard hit home runs. Over the 2 games, Mantle went 2-for-7 with a walk and 3 RBIs, Maris went 2-for-6 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs, and Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-6 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-4 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 6-2 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1969.)

* The Cleveland Indians swept a doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, 1-0 and 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Sonny Siebert pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Milwaukee Braves, 5-4 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Hank Aaron went 3-for-5, and Joe Torre went 2-for-4. The following year, the Astrodome opened, and the Colts became the Houston Astros.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Don Drysdale pitched 8 innings for the Dodgers, Joey Jay 10 for the Reds, and neither ended up as the winning pitcher. Frank Robinson went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Leo Cardenas drew a bases-loaded walk on Howie Reed in the top of the 15th inning.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Lou Brock went 1-for-5 with 2 stolen bases.

* And the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Twins won the 1st game, 6-5. The Tigers won the 2nd game, 5-2. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-7 with 2 walks, and Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-7 with 2 walks.

August 10, 1974: England's Fight-Filled Charity Shield

Left to right: Referee Bob Matthewson,

Billy Bremner, and (back to camera) Kevin Keegan

August 10, 1974: English soccer begins its season as it usually does, with the annual exhibition game between the previous season's winners of the Football League title and the FA Cup, a game then known as the FA Charity Shield. Unusual for the time, the game is played at the national stadium, the original Wembley Stadium in West London.

For Cup holders Liverpool, it is their last game under their greatest manager so far, Bill Shankly, who is handing the team over to his top assistant, Bob Paisley, who will surpass his achievements. For title holders Leeds United, it is their 1st game under new manager Brian Clough, who had won the League at Derby County in 1972, and replaces their greatest manager so far, Don Revie, who has been appointed manager of the national team, and is in attendance.

Clough was a native of Middlesbrough, in the North-East of England, and had starred as a striker for the hometown soccer team, Middlesbrough FC. Revie was also a Middlesbrough native, and had also starred as a striker, for Manchester City. Both men subsequently played for Sunderland FC, ostensibly Middlesbrough's arch-rivals, and for the England national team -- albeit Clough only twice, and Revie only 6 times.

Both went into management at a young age, Revie due to declining skills, Clough due to a nasty knee injury. Both took long-dormant teams out of the 2nd division of English football and into the 1st: Revie at age 33 with Yorkshire team Leeds United in 1964, Clough at 34 with East Midlands team Derby County in 1969, the year Revie's Leeds won the 1st division for the 1st time.

But there were significant differences between them, and Clough's failure to understand them led to his failure to properly understand Revie and the effect he had on his Leeds players. For Revie, 8 years older than Clough, the defining experience of his childhood was the Great Depression, and the result was that he did whatever he had to do to survive, even if that meant cheating.

For Clough, it was World War II, and the result was a basic sense of fairness, which meant that not only did he not accept cheating, but he publicly condemned those whose who did, including Revie, his gifts to referees (the press called them "Don Readies"), the diving of Leeds' Scottish Captain, Billy Bremner, and the rough play of Johnny Giles and Norman Hunter.

In 1972, Clough guided Derby to win the League, beating Leeds for the title by 1 point. At 37, he was 5 years younger than Revie was for his 1st title. He was quoted as saying, "I wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the country, but I'm in the top one." But Leeds won the FA Cup. In 1973, as defending League Champions, Clough got them to the Semifinals of the European Cup, losing to Italian champions Juventus. This matched Leeds' best performance in the tournament, losing to Celtic of Glasgow in the 1970 Semifinal. But a dispute with management led Clough to quit Derby.

In 1974, with England having failed to qualify for the World Cup for the 1st time ever -- although the country hadn't entered qualification until the 1950 cycle -- the Football Association hired Revie as England manager. Leeds management hired Clough, who had been managing with Sussex team Brighton & Hove Albion in the interim. Both moves seemed like no-brainers on the surface: Revie was England's best established manager, Clough the country's best up-and-coming manager.

Both moves turned out to be disasters. England did not qualify for Euro 76, and before qualifying for the 1978 World Cup could be completed, Revie quit to take a coaching job in the United Arab Emirates, abandoning his country for money, shattering whatever reputation he had. England ended up not qualifying for the 1978 World Cup, either.

Clough tried to manage Leeds his way, thinking that, as defending Champions in 1974, working together, he could guide them to the 1975 European Cup, beating not just Revie's greatest achievement, and theirs, but also his own. But the players not only missed Revie, but chafed against Clough's way and his previous comments about them being cheats.

In particular, Giles, who was already manager of the Republic of Ireland team despite still playing, thought that he should have been named Leeds' manager. He later said that if he and Clough had talked things out, things might have turned out differently, and Clough could have succeeded at Leeds.

The Charity Shield was one of the few games broadcast live on national television. The belief then was that putting games on TV would make people stay home rather than go. The whole country saw a disgusting spectacle, as "Dirty Leeds" started a nasty fight that led to referee Bob Matthewson ejecting each team's biggest star (though not tallest, as both were famously short): Leeds' 5-foot-5 Bremner, and Liverpool's prolific "Mighty Mouse," the 5-foot-8 Kevin Keegan. They were the first players ever thrown out of a Shield match.

Each man removed his shirt, and threw it away, considered a major faux pas by the English football establishment. Given each team's theme song, their exits were ironic: Liverpool's is "You'll Never Walk Alone," and Leeds' is "Marching On Together," but each walked off the pitch and into the dressing room alone.

Phil Boersma scored for Liverpool in the 19th minute. Trevor Cherry scored for Leeds in the 70th. The game went to penalties, and when Ray Clemence stopped opposing goalkeeper David Harvey, Liverpool were 6-5 winners.

Embarrassed, the FA decided to make examples out of Bremner and Keegan. Both would be suspended through September 30. Liverpool had enough of a bench to keep themselves afloat in the meanwhile. Leeds did not. Clough was fired after 44 days in charge, not even long enough for Bremner's suspension to run out. Jimmy Armfield stopped the bleeding in League play, and they finished 9th. He got them to the Final of the European Cup, where they controversially lost to Bayern Munich.

But Liverpool actually finished 2nd, only 2 points out of 1st -- ironically, to Derby County, managed by Dave MacKay, who was benefiting from many of Clough's acquisitions.

The game became a Wembley regular, and in 1992, it officially became a match between the previous season's Premier League winners and FA Cup winners. In 2002, the name of the game was changed to the FA Community Shield.

*

August 10, 1974 was a Saturday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Rudy May outpitched Andy Hassler. Hassler allowed only 4 hits, but Lou Piniella got 3 of them. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4 for the Angels. He would soon be traded to Cleveland, and be named MLB's 1st black manager.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. Ray Sadecki blew it for Tom Seaver in the 8th inning. Pete Rose went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4 with a walk. For the Mets, John Milner went 3-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4, but Ralph Garr and Dusty Baker hit home runs. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Willie McCovey, who just never looked right in a Padre uniform, hit a home run. Dave Winfield went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Willie Stargell went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Rod Carew went 3-for-4. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Doug Rau was the winning pitcher. Bob Gibson didn't get out of the 5th inning, partly thanks to a home run by Jimmy Wynn. Lou Brock went 3-for-5, and a stolen base gave him 76 for the season. He would finish with a new major league record, 118. Joe Torre went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-5 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Rookie George Brett went 1-for-4. Rookie Robin Yount did not play.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Al Kaline, in his last few weeks as an active player, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Vida Blue outpitched Reggie Cleveland. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants were rained out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Giants swept, 5-3 and 6-4.

May 31, 1902: The Boer War Ends

May 31, 1902: The Boer War ends, in a British victory.

What is usually now referred to as "The Boer War" was actually the Second Boer War. The First Boer War, also known as the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from December 16, 1880 to March 23, 1881, and resulted in a Boer victory, and the eventual independence of the South African Republic.

The Second Boer War was the 2nd war to be captured on film, after the Spanish-American War in 1898. It was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the 2 Boer Republics: The South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The Boers were, and are, the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the Eastern Cape Frontier in southern Africa during the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. The word "Boer" means "farmer" in Dutch and its offshoot language, Afrikaans.

Following the discovery of gold in the Boer republics, there was a gold rush. These incoming "foreigners," mostly British from the Cape Colony, were regarded as unwelcome visitors. The Boers protested to the British authorities in the Cape, things broke down, and war broke out on October 11, 1899.

The Boers won some early minor victories, including the Battle of Spion Kop on January 24, 1900. Spion Kop was a hill near the town of Ladysmith, and while the British fought hard to defend it, they had to retreat. The name "Spion Kop" would soon be given to steeply-graded end stands at soccer stadiums. Few of these survive, although the southwest stand at Liverpool Football Club's Anfield stadium is still known as simply "The Kop."

Soon enough, the British overwhelmed them, and occupied the republics. The Boers turned to guerrilla warfare, and that led the British to turn to scorched-earth policies, including perhaps the first concentration camps in the modern world. This ultimately led to the Boers coming to the negotiating table, and surrendering.

The Boer War was the last of the British "wars of adventure" in Africa and Asia. Tales of heroism spread throughout the Empire, including a firsthand account of a soldier, a 25-year-old son of a prominent political family, being captured by the Boers, and escaping, leading to his winning a seat in the House of Commons. The young man's name was Winston Churchill.

So when British troops went off to World War I in August 1914, the sense of adventure, the idea that war could be romantic, was still there. Soon, it was shattered forever. They should have paid more attention to the fact that it took 2 1/2 years to overcome the Boers, who were not as well equipped as the Germans turned out to be in 1914.

*

May 31, 1902 was a Saturday. In America, the only team sport in season was baseball:

* The Brooklyn Superbas swept a doubleheader from the Boston Beaneaters at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Superbas -- managed by Ned Hanlon, so named for a famous circus troupe, Hanlon's Superbas -- won both games by a 2-1 score, with the nightcap taking 10 innings.

In 1911, the Superbas became the Dodgers. The Beaneaters would go through a few name changes, finding a keeper in 1912: The Boston Braves.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Americans, 13-7 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. The Americans became the Boston Red Sox in 1908.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-6 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Bronchos beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3 at Oriole Park in Baltimore. At the end of the season, the Baltimore franchise was revoked, and a new one was created in New York, which would become the Yankees.

The Bronchos were renamed for their star 2nd baseman and manager, Napoleon Lajoie: The Cleveland Naps. He did not play in this game, but the winning pitcher was another Hall-of-Famer, Addie Joss. After Lajoie left in 1914, they became the Cleveland Indians. In 2022, they became the Cleveland Guardians.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 4-1 at American League Park in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-3 at Robison Field in St. Louis.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Orphans were rained out at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. The game was made up on July 18, and the Orphans won, 2-0. Honus Wagner went 1-for-4 fort he Pirates.

"Orphans"? For 22 years, the Chicago club's 1st baseman was Adrian Constantine Anson. He became their team captain, and was known as Cap. For most of that time, their team name was the Chicago White Stockings. Eventually, Anson became their manager, and got to be so old -- he was 45 in his final season, 1897 -- that they started calling him Pop. When he left, the team became known as the Orphans, "because they missed their Pop." In 1903, because they had such a youthful roster, they changed their name to the Chicago Cubs.

May 29, 1985: The Heysel Stadium Disaster

May 29, 1985: The European Cup Final is held at the Heysel Stadium, the national stadium of Belgium in Brussels. It should not have been played there. And, while pregame ceremonies were already underway, it should have been canceled.

In the 1983-84 season, Liverpool F.C., a power in English football for the preceding 20 years, won the Football League, and also the European Cup -- the competitions now known as the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, respectively. Winning either one would have qualified them for the 1984-85 European Cup.

But the 1984 Final was tainted. The Finals are set for neutral sites, much like American football's Super Bowls, but that year's final was set for the Stadio Olimpico in Rome -- and one of that stadium's teams, A.S. Roma, advanced to the Final.

Liverpool beat them, but not before their fans were attacked by Roma thugs, many of them doing not drive-by shootings, but drive-by slashings, riding those little Italian motor scooters past anyone who looked English, and reaching out with switchblade knives.

So when the 1985 European Cup Final turned out to be Liverpool against another Italian team, Turin-based Juventus F.C., the Scouse fans were ready for it.

The game was played at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, which was in bad shape and unfit to host such an important event. I've talked to Arsenal F.C. fans who were there for the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, where they lost to Spanish club Valencia CF, and they said it was in bad shape then.

Each team, at the time, was the most hated in the country. Sure, they were the most successful, and that attracted gloryhunters ("frontrunners," as we would say in America), as with American sports teams like the New York Yankees and the football team at the University of Notre Dame; but also many people who were sick of these teams' successes.

A common saying in Italy is, "Amo il calcio, quindi odio Il Juve" -- "I love football, therefore I hate Juventus." Fans of the Rome teams, A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio -- and fans of the Milan teams, A.C. Milan and Internazionale Milano -- will even support their arch-rivals against Juventus. It's called gufare, meaning "to support against": A Milan fan won't support Inter, but he will support against Juve.

Likewise, many English fans' "second team" became Everton F.C., the blue club in Liverpool, or Manchester United, Liverpool's most frequent challenger for national honors. When United finally surpassed Liverpool's record total of League titles, with their 19th in 2011, many celebrated the fact that United had, as their manager Sir Alex Ferguson had said he would do, "knocked Liverpool off their fucking perch." ("Perch" because Liverpool's symbol is a bird, a "Liverbird.")

So, for the 1985 European Cup Final, there were millions of people in the British Isles rooting for Liverpool, but also millions of others rooting for Juventus. Likewise, there were millions in Italy rooting for Juventus, but also millions rooting for Liverpool. And the memory of the fan clashes prior to the previous year's Final was still fresh in everyone's memories.

It's worth noting that 1985 was the depth of England's issue with soccer hooligans. This included the Millwall-Luton riot in an FA Cup Quarterfinal on March 13.

Normally, before a football match, to avoid something like that, barriers are put up to keep each teams' fans in their own separate sections. This time, however, there was a neutral zone, ostensibly set aside for locals and neutrals, and there was no barrier between them and the Juventus fans, and no barrier between them and the Liverpool fans. As it turned out, it was mostly Juventus fans who occupied it.

At around 7:00 PM local time, a group of Liverpool fans ran toward them. Had the Juve fans stood their ground and fought, many of them might have gotten hurt, but it wouldn't have been as bad as what actually happened.

Instead, they ran, and many of them crashed into a wall, which collapsed. People and chunks of concrete fell onto people below, and 39 people died, and over 600 others were hurt.

At the other end of the stadium, Juventus fans began to riot in retaliation for the events in section Z. They stormed the pitch towards the Liverpool fans, and were stopped by the police. It took 2 hours to clear the field, meaning the game started over an hour late. 

Officials from UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, went into each team's locker room, and informed them of the disaster. Officials from both teams recommended that the game be canceled, as playing would be considered disrespectful to the dead. The Royal Belgian Football Association, responsible for staging the event, won the argument by saying that things might get worse between the sets of fans if the game were called off.

The respective team Captains, Liverpool right back Phil Neal and Juventus sweeper Gaetano Scirea, were given microphones to talk to their fans, and plead for calm. Over the years, Neal stuck by his belief that the game should have been called off.

The field was cleared, and the game kicked off at 8:15 PM, Central European Time -- 7:15 PM in Liverpool and the rest of the British Isles, 2:15 on the U.S. East Coast.Each team was in its traditional uniform: Liverpool in all red, Juventus in their black and white stripes, the Mersey Reds vs. the Bianconeri. Both teams were a bit subdued, not really wanting to play, and there were few highlights in the 1st half.

In the 56th minute, Juve's Polish striker, Zbigniew Boniek, was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by centreback Gary Gillespie, who wasn't even supposed to play, but came on as a substitute when Mark Lawrenson was hurt early in the game. Liverpool protested that the foul was outside the penalty area. André Daina, the Swiss referee, awarded the penalty anyway. It was taken by midfielder Michel Platini (despite his Italian roots, he was born and raised in France), and Juve were up 1-0.

In the 74th minute, Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan was brought down in the penalty area by midfielder Massimo Bonini. This time, Daina did not award a penalty. Questionable decisions like these gave rise to the belief, already long present in Italy and maintained to this day, that Juventus cheat, that they buy off referees. They are known as I Ladri: The Thieves.

There were chances for Liverpool the rest of the way, but nothing came of them. Juventus won. Platini took the European Cup. Fans all over Italy declared to it be a Coppa de Sangue: Cup of Blood, won practically on the dead bodies of their own fans.

Michel Platini and the Cup of Blood

Liverpool had previously won it in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984, but this was Juve's 1st. They would win another in 1996, without the tragic circumstances, but have generally had bad luck in the tournament: Despite a record 36 Serie A titles, they are 2-7 in European Cup/Champions League Finals, including including 0-5 since the 1996 win. And this includes the 2003 Final, when they became the 1st team ever to lose the Final to a team from their own country, A.C. Milan. (That game was not played in Italy: It was played at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.) No team has lost more CL Finals.

UEFA had previously banned individual English clubs from playing in their various competitions, at first indefinitely, and then limiting it. This had happened to North London team Tottenham Hotspur after the 1974 UEFA Cup Final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands against Rotterdam club Feyenoord. It had also happened to Leeds United after the 1975 European Cup Final in Paris against Bayern Munich.

Both English clubs lost the games in question, and both had their bans lifted after 2 years. This time, instead of just sanctioning the team involved, UEFA banned all English clubs for 5 years, and tacked on an additional year for Liverpool.

This was punishment far beyond the offense: What did any other English club have to do with this? Were they blaming all English clubs for what one club did -- which it didn't actually do?

What did the British government do about this insult? Led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, they actually supported the decision. The Iron Lady (more like the Iron Bitch) hated sports, and particularly viewed football club supporters as undereducated, manners-lacking scum -- and likely to vote for her opponents in the Labour Party, rather than her own Conservative Party, anyway.

For this reason, football-mad areas such as Merseyside (home to Liverpool and Everton), Manchester, Birmingham (home to Birmingham City and Aston Villa), the North-East (home to Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough), and the cities of Scotland and Wales still tend to vote Labour: Because of a backlash against Thatcher that has lasted nearly 40 years, and has not abated since her death.

By this point, even English liberals were angry at Liverpool, blaming them for their clubs not being able to compete in the European Cup (then a tournament for the defending champions of the various countries' national leagues), or the UEFA Cup (for other high-placing teams), or the European Cup Winners' Cup (competed by the winners of the previous season's various national cups like the FA Cup).

The overreaction was staggering. True, 39 fans had died, but not one died as a result of a direct attack by one person on another. Contrary to what fans of teams that hate Liverpool still claim, the Liverpool fans were not, as opposing fans, especially of Manchester United, claim, "murderers."

An unexpected side effect was that Glasgow-based Rangers FC realized that the ban applied only to English clubs, not to British clubs or to English players. They signed several English players by offering them a chance to keep playing in Europe, and hoped that this would allow them to dominate the Scottish League over the next few years, and to win European tournaments.

They signed Ipswich Town centreback Terry Butcher, Tottenham centreback Graham Roberts, Everton's right back Gary Stevens and midfielder Trevor Steven, and former Nottingham Forest forward Trevor Francis and former Chelsea and Man United midfielder Ray Wilkins. (The latter two had gone to Italy in the interim, to keep playing in Europe.)

Results: They won the Scottish League in 1987, 1989 and 1990; and the League Cup in 1988 and 1989. However, they did not win the Scottish Cup. More to the point, they didn't win a European trophy during the Heysel ban. The closest they came was the Quarterfinals of the 1988 European Cup.

Between the Heysel ban (which wasn't entirely Liverpool fans' fault) and Liverpool's perennial success (in 1986 they won the Double), pretty much anybody who wasn't already a Liverpool fan hated Liverpool's guts. (In other words, they were then what Manchester United would become.) When the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster occurred in 1989, causing the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, some fans finally found sympathy with them -- but some doubled down on their hatred of the Mersey Reds, saying they got what they deserved, especially after Heysel.

Relations between Liverpool and Juventus have been cordial since, and the teams have played both European tournament games and friendlies (exhibition games), with some of the proceeds being donated to the families of the victims of Heysel and Hillsborough. This included a Champions League Quarterfinal on April 5, 2005, at Liverpool's home of Anfield, when a plaque was dedicated. Liverpool went on to win the European Cup that time, and in 2019, they made it 6 wins, more than any other British team.

Left to right: Phil Neal, Michel Platini, Ian Rush

Heysel Stadium was demolished in 1990. In 1995, the new King Baudouin Stadium was built on the site. It seats a little over 50,000 people.

It hosts matches for the Belgium national team, and hosted 5 games in the Euro 2000 tournament. As yet, however, it has not hosted the Final of any European tournament.

*

May 29, 1985 was a Wednesday. It was a day off in the Stanley Cup Finals. The next day, the Edmonton Oilers would win the Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 8-3 in Game 5 of the Finals at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

It was also a day off in the NBA Finals. Two nights before, Game 1 was played at the Boston Garden, and it became known as the Memorial Day Massacre -- by people who had no idea of what would happen in Brussels 2 days later, and many of them may still not know that it ever occurred. The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 148-114. But it's not margin of victory that matters, only victory: On May 30, the Lakers won Game 2, 109-102. On June 9, in Game 6, the Lakers won, 111-100, becoming the 1st team other than the Celtics to clinch the NBA Championship at the Boston Garden.

Ordinarily, football would have been out of season. However, this was the 3rd and, as it turned out, final season of the United States Football League. Nevertheless, it was a Wednesday, and no games were played. But a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:

* The New York Yankees beat the California Angels, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Phil Niekro knuckleballed his way to 8 shutout innings, before the Halos got 2 runs off reliever Rich Bordi in the 9th. Reggie Jackson appeared as a pinch-hitter in that inning, and grounded into a double play to end the game. Rod Carew did not play.

The Yankees got home runs from Mike Pagliarulo and Omar Moreno. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4, and Don Mattingly went 1-for-5. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, but was caught in his only stolen base attempt.

* The New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd pitched a 5-hit shutout. Wade Boggs went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 2-for-6 with a 2-run homer, and Eddie Murray went 1-for-5. But Darnell Coles won the game for the M's with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Mario Soto pitched a 2-hit shutout. Reds manager Pete Rose did not put washed-up player Pete Rose in the game.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4, Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI, and Ernie Riles and Jim Gantner hit home runs.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett hit a home run.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3 at the Astrodome in Houston. Nolan Ryan was the winning pitcher.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 2-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. (It was renamed Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.) Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.