Now the World Cup is out of the way, our resident weird history investigator Matthew Blaney takes a look at Nottingham's football history...
Last month saw six weeks’ worth of late nights with 104 football matches, 308 goals, and the odd midweek sickie, with the FIFA World Cup ending with Spain as world champions and England ranking the highest in a World Cup since Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick back in 1966. Whilst the result wasn’t what we were praying for, the past six weeks have offered some beautiful moments for the fans – whether it be England’s triumphant win against Mexico, which according to the media was played on the moon, Elliot Anderson doing Notts proud, or Djed Spence’s tackle which was celebrated like a 90+7-minute winner – the Lions created memories which will last a lifetime.
If you are currently in a slight rut during the football drought, fear not, for I’m going to indulge in some ways in which Notts has influenced the game we all know and love.
With AC Milan’s founder hailing from Mansfield Road, Notts County FC being the world’s oldest professional football club since 1862 and Nottingham Forest FC narrowly following on to be the third oldest pro club, it is fair to say that Nottingham has seen it all. Way back in the 1880s, football goals consisted of three poles and no netting, which would lead to heavy disputes between strikers and goalkeepers. With number 10s shooting from halfway lines and pretending it went in and snidey goalkeepers claiming shots went outside the post, it was anyone’s guess who was fibbing and who was being a true sportsman. To prevent further disputes, goal nets were first trialled at Nottingham Forest’s Town Ground with Hyson Green-born Fred Geary being one of the first players to ever grace the back of the net.
Whilst celebrating goals can often lead to showers of Carling – allowing fully grown men to enter their own sort of wet t-shirt competition – these celebrations can be cut short upon the raising of the linesman's flag
Whilst celebrating goals can often lead to showers of Carling – allowing fully grown men to enter their own sort of wet t-shirt competition – these celebrations can be cut short upon the raising of the linesman's flag. Whilst Notts cannot claim to have invented the offside law, which was introduced in the 1860s, Notts County invented the offside trap in the 1920s. This tactic – the defence backline running forwards and catching opponents offside during a forward pass – was adopted by several managers across generations and sadly led to yet many cases of mansplaining upon unsuspecting girlfriends and wives.
A former Nottingham Forest player in the 1870s, Samuel Widdowson, made a considerable contribution to the health and safety of players when he took the risky decision to cut down a pair of cricket pads to protect his legs, thus creating the ‘shin pad.’ I can only imagine the amount of abuse he faced from fellow teammates as he rocked up to a Thursday night training session with half a tree trunk down his socks. Thankfully for both the NHS’ sake and the increased longevity of footballer’s shins remaining intact, shin pads are now mandatory. We can all agree that this was a step in the right direction, especially when facing opposition with a tendency to perform tackles not even allowed in the UFC (Hola, Argentina).
Interestingly enough, a Notts County player had a similar Hand of God experience in 1891 when they committed a blatant handball in the box to prevent Stoke City from scoring in the FA Cup Quarter Final. With incidents like these destroying hopes and dreams, some bright spark decided that a penalty kick was the fairest way to deal with foul play in the box. So, whilst this may not be the proudest claim to fame for Notts, we have welcomed its place in the game when it goes our way.
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