Watching the “Beautiful Game”
Though football in one form or another has been played in Britain for centuries, the “beautiful game” as we know it was essentially born in the Victorian Age. The catalyst was the Factories Act of 1850, which banned employers from making people work after 2 p.m. on Saturdays. This gave rise to a novel concept: free time. And to make sure that men didn’t spend their free time drinking, gambling, and fighting (as Victorian men were wont to do), churches, factories, and military groups set about forming football teams to keep employees out of trouble.
Despite the increasing importance, the Victorians attached to Christmas, it still wasn’t enough to dampen their football fever. At Anfield in 1888, Everton drew a crowd of 2,000 (a considerable number for the time) when they played two matches on Christmas Day. They won both, but there was no rest for the wicked. Everton played a third match against Bootle on Boxing Day. But whether because of weariness in the legs or the thundering hailstorm pelting the players throughout, it wasn’t such an exciting affair, ending as a goalless draw.