March 22 - The Father of the League

IT was on this day in 1888 that the English Football League was born - and it was all down to a Scotsman.

Up until the 1880s when the game was merely an amateur pursuit to give factory workers and miners something to do on the weekend there was no problem. It was only when some shady (yet visionary) club chairman started paying their players in an effort to attract the best ones that things had to change.

In July 1885 the Football Association finally legalised professionalism which would have far wider consequences than simply allowing footballers to get paid for playing. It forced the clubs to become more and more serious about their finances - not only had professionalism among players arrived, but club management also started to treat their teams with a bit more business savvy.

With more and more teams opting to dive into the brave new world of the professional game for fear of being left behind, they suddenly had to find the money to pay their playing staff which in turn meant a radical shake up of the way matches were organised.

At the time clubs competed in the FA Cup, friendly matches, and any number of local or inter-county competitions on a pretty much ad-hoc basis. Now that money had to be found regularly clubs began to hanker for a more structured and financially secure world in which to operate.

Step forward William McGregor. Scot, draper, Aston Villa director, and founding father of the football league. McGregor sent a letter proposing his new league scheme to a number of leading clubs of the day.

He wrote: “Every year it is becoming more and more difficult for football clubs of any standing to meet their friendly engagements and even arrange friendly matches. The consequence is that at the last moment, through cup-tie interference, clubs are compelled to take on teams who will not attract the public.

“I beg to tender the following suggestion as a means of getting over the difficulty: that ten or twelve of the most prominent clubs in England combine to arrange home-and-away fixtures each season, the said fixtures to be arranged at a friendly conference about the same time as the International Conference.”

The clubs were agreeable and representatives of Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers all met in Anderson’s Hotel on Fleet Street in London on March 22, 1888 to discuss the idea, and yea, the Football League was born.

Further meetings followed in April when the name was decided on and the first matches of the new exciting league were played in September 1888. The idea caught on so much that in 1892 a second division.

So bravo McGregor, a tip of the hat to you sir and no mistake. As ever, more from us tomorrow so until then, keep on keeping on.

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