For football fans, the Christmas period serves up a real festive feast, with fixtures stuffed into the calendar like sage and onion into a turkey’s nether regions. Christmas Day, however, is a football-free zone, with supporters left to sit indoors and endure the Queen’s speech, cracker jokes and kisses from elderly relatives.
This wasn’t always the case, though – up until the 1950s, football was traditionally played on Christmas Day. It made a lot of sense, particularly in the early years.
Christmas Day was a rare public holiday, and football was one of the few entertainments available. In the days before television, it wasn’t possible to slump on the sofa in front of the EastEnders Christmas special, so folk wrapped up in new hats and scarves from Santa Claus and went out to watch football instead.
