Games and More Games on Day After Christmas
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Version 0 of 1. After the confinement and tiring etiquette of Christmas Day, the prospect of soccer on Wednesday offers something of a refuge for Britons. An opportunity to escape the family, the simmering tensions and the dinner table strife, and breathe a sigh of relief, Boxing Day games are a tradition that Britain holds dear. A national holiday, the day after Christmas (also called St. Stephen’s Day) has come to be known as Boxing Day. The origin of its name is largely unknown. One theory suggests the date was a day off for servants who would receive a Christmas box from their employers to take home to their families. Another proposes that great ships setting sail would have a sealed box full of money onboard for good luck. If the voyage was a success, the box was given to the church and the contents donated to the poor on this day. Whatever its roots, its quintessentially British traditions are steeped in history, of which soccer is the centerpiece for many. The tradition of soccer on Boxing Day dates to 1860, when the world’s oldest and second-oldest clubs contested the first interclub match. Hallam and Sheffield played a game under Sheffield Rules, a 19th-century interpretation of today’s modern sport that still permitted participants to catch the ball with their hands. Derby matches were once contrived to fall on Dec. 26, bypassing the computer that randomly decides the schedule for the rest of the season. That particular tradition is now neglected in the upper echelons of English soccer. The past two seasons have had only two genuine derbies, with Fulham drawing with Chelsea in 2011 and West Ham winning at Craven Cottage the year before that. Only Arsenal and West Ham represented such a clash this year, until planned London Underground strikes for Wednesday forced a postponement. These local games were devised to ensure that supporters would not have to travel long distances at a time of the year that revolves around the home. Those who perhaps would not or could not attend their local team’s games for a majority of the season would go to the Boxing Day derby, in much the same way some Christians might attend only Christmas Eve services. Perhaps it is an indictment of modern soccer’s precedence that this consideration is now dismissed. Or maybe the authorities simply decided that holding feisty derby matches fueled by alcohol was probably not the best way to mark the holidays. (At one game between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United in 1979, players and supporters took Boxing Day a little too literally, and more than 50 were arrested.) The most remarkable Boxing Day occurred in 1963, when 157 goals were scored in 39 games, with Fulham registering a 10-1 win over Ipswich Town; Liverpool defeating Stoke City, 6-1; Blackburn Rovers routing West Ham, 8-2; and Burnley topping Manchester United, 6-1. Surprisingly, when United met Burnley again two days later, it scored five goals. Likewise, Ipswich defeated Fulham, 4-2, and West Ham also completed an unlikely turnaround, beating Blackburn by 3-1. As far as the rest of Europe is concerned, sports on Dec. 26 is uniquely British. In Germany, the Bundesliga takes a six-week break in December and January. France similarly enters a state of hibernation, and some Eastern European countries postpone all sporting endeavors until March. But in Britain (Scotland’s Premier League also has a full slate of games), the festivities are a time-honored and much-loved highlight of the sporting calendar, despite a degree of clamor from some for a continental-style winter break. Outsiders question why the most games are played at the most volatile time of the year. (Many lower-level teams will be unable to complete their schedules for months because of unplayable fields.) Insiders might not have an answer. British Boxing Day sports, in general, has a long and storied history. Dog-led fox hunts were a popular pastime, particularly among the upper classes, until the sport was outlawed in 2005. Horse racing was also a Dec. 26 staple, with the King George VI Chase still hosted every year at Kempton racecourse. Rugby once operated a schedule similar to soccer’s until adopting a summer season in 1996. One Boxing Day tradition that has withstood time along with soccer is the urge to take to the sea, as participants don novelty costumes and plunge into the icy waters. That custom puts typical British eccentricity on full display all along the shoreline. But no other sport can claim a stronger influence of good will over the holidays than soccer. Even during World War I, British and German troops called a temporary truce over Christmas to play a game with each other between their trenches. Festive traditions tend to outlast their practicality; the explanation for the name Boxing Day is testament to that. Although the custom of soccer on the day after Christmas might have been diluted somewhat over the years, its place on the calendar is still marked. Soccer and Christmas have changed significantly since Hallam and Sheffield played for the first time in 1860, but some traditions are seen as worth preserving. |