Here's a personal story:I'm the person who for 40 years thought Christmas was on 12/26 (that's how I used to relate to holidays - possibly because most newspaper holidays were always different from the regular ones and I never 'wasted' time memorizing the when and why). I'm also the one who "met" Boxing Day on my trip to London, when I saw a sea of people flooding Oxford Street (the day before there wasn't a soul alive) and by asking I learned that this was the day when the crazy sales started (50% and above) to everything. From faucets to buttons.
As I read in the Sun Boxing Day is not about boxing as one might think from reading the term. It concerns boxes, which merchants collected for Christmas, in exchange for their good and reliable service during the previous year.
This took place on the second day of Christmas, an official holiday in England and Ireland (there it is also called St. Stephen's Day - St. Stephen was the first Christian martyr and the 'icon' of charitable acts), as well as in other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations (Australia, Canada and New Zealand), with a predominantly Christian population.
The truth is that there are many versions of how the whole story began and where its beginning is placed. The Oxford English Dictionary places the first use of the term in 1833 (four years before Charles Dickens used it in the 'Pickwick Papers'). It defines it as 'the first day of the week after Christmas, which has been observed as a holiday on which postmen, errand-makers, and servants of various kinds expected to receive a Christmas box'.
Incidentally, the Oxford dictionary also places St. Stephen's Day in 1871 - designates it as a bank holiday. Which was the case in the UK from that year, unless it 'fell' on the weekend and was 'moved' to Monday. But let's see what the researchers have found (the main theories - because there are dozens) that still haven't arrived at exactly when they lived on the planet for the first time, Boxing day. They have agreed that it was established as a holiday by Queen Victoria (1819-1901), in the 19th century.
✍ In Great Britain, the term Christmas Box refers to Christmas gifts. Traditionally (first recorded on 12/19/1663) it was a holiday for servants and on that day (the second day of Christmas) they received their gifts from the lords of the household (aristocrats), along with what was left of the Christmas dinner they had worked on.
✍ Since the Victorian era, a month before Christmas in the churches they displayed a box in which the parishioners left as much money as they wanted, for the needy. The clergy opened it the day after Christmas and distributed the money to those in need.
✍ Sailors used to take with them, on their travels, a sealed box of money, for good luck. If the journey was successful, the box was delivered to the town priest, who opened it at Christmas and then gave the money to the poor.
There are references that want the custom of gifts (money or objects) to those in need - or in official positions - to have existed since the Middle Ages. However, without having identified the origin.
How Boxing day became synonymous with the Premier League
The first English league game played on Boxing Day was between champions Preston North End and Derby County (5-0), for the 1888-89 Football League season. That is, the first season in the history of the Football League.
By 1888 there was an absurdity about football in England that was more like... the Wild West. As Football Stadiums reports there was not the slightest sense of structure or organization. Instead, there were many 'suspects', with teams ignoring associations and regulations that forbade the use of 'professional' players. There are reports that Chelsea and Manchester City received 'financial aid' before the clubs were formed. Health.
The Football Association - the only governing body - considered for four years the request to turn football into a professional one, since apparently there were already several clubs that paid players in order to play for them.
While the teams that had the means (children of the aristocracy for players and money) did not want anything to change, the representatives of the amateur teams of the south pushed in the professional direction. This (the pressure) reached its peak after the 1883 FA Cup win by working-class Blackburn Olympic. The clubs in the region threatened to leave (and create another Union) if their request was not accepted. An extraordinary meeting has been called.
In it, William McGregor, director of Aston Villa, admitted that his team was among those who paid players. He explained that he was initially against professionalism (like every other Midlands representative), before concluding that it was time for a change, which was voted at the end of the meeting.
Henceforth teams could acquire (for a fee) players who had not been born or lived for at least two years within six miles of the club's home.
The first time was a time of adjustment and included countless tensions, canceling games and thus making it difficult to pay players regularly. McGregor decided to do something about it again when Aston Villa canceled five matches in a row - and their fans were furious. He wrote to (say) his club's board, as well as those of Blackburn, Bolton, Preston North End and West Bromwich, proposing the creation of a league that would have a certain number of guaranteed games for each member/team each season. He had asked the clubs that received the letter to nominate other members.
He proposed that they all meet on 23/3, the eve of the FA Cup final in London, where representatives of the top teams, including finalists West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, would be introduced. In the intervening month he did everything to win support for the idea.
Those who changed their mind were Bromwich, Wolverhampton and Derby County. Nottingham Forrest were unconvinced, while Wednesday FC feared a backlash from the FA.
Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County, Notts County, Burnley and Blackburn Rovers went on the date. They suggested invitations be sent to Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Accrington and Everton. They discussed the name of the new venture for a bit, with McGregor suggesting the 'Association Football Union'. They told him it referred to that of rugby and rejected it, preferring 'Football League'. They did not choose the 'English League', to leave open the possibility of the presence of teams from Scotland.
The new meeting was 'closed' for 14/4 in Manchester, where the new league was finalized. The founding members had received quite a few applications, but the positions were specific, since there were only 22 days of 'vacation' on the calendar. Preference was given to those who had been to London, plus those who suggested! Namely Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
McGregor suggested that there should be only one representative from each city, to make a new stir, since Birmingham and Aston Villa shared the same 'home'. Eventually, they ended up in the top 12 teams of the first Football League. McGregor became its first chairman - actually the league's management committee whose responsibilities included handing out punishments for disciplinary offences.
In order to avoid a 'war', it was decided that the representative of the group involved in any case would abstain from the decisions. The 'Father of the Football League' was re-elected in 1891, unanimously. In the 132 games already played (involving 300 players) not a single fatal incident had occurred. When it came time for him to retire, they made him honorary president.
From 1888 to 1894 he was also president of the FA. He became known as a 'football celebrity' through his weekly column in the Birmingham Gazette promoting sporting goods. One was a 'toe lace up type of shoe'
The original regulations of the current Premier League stated that the season would start in the autumn and finish in the spring, as well as that 'the position of the teams will be calculated by wins, draws and losses' without further explanation. Until everyone agreed that something was missing and they put it in in November - it was the point system of two points for a win and one for a draw. It had been noted that if teams were tied, their order would be determined by goal average.
They continued it from there.
(followed by the oldest 'material' that exists from a football match)
Today you know that there are no matches in the Premier League on Christmas Day - when the Queen's greeting is on the program, along with food and drink at home. I don't know if you have in mind how they were conducted, up until the 1957-58 season. There was a full matchday, with the fans leaving with mouthfuls for the stadium. Usually the players returned to the pitches the next day (26/12) for another full matchday. The schedule changed not because the players and coaches recovered from the workload they had on such days, but because the routes of public transport and therefore the people from the stands were reduced.
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