Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors' Estadio Alberto J. Armando (La Bombonera), is one of the great monuments of world football. The current stadium development began in 1938. The previous stadium on the same site at  Brandsen y Del Crucero was home to the club from 1924 onwards . Here are some views from 1929.

Glossop (North End)

Glossop North End currently play in the North West Counties League Premier Division. founded in 1886, they played in the Combination and Midlands League before joining the Football League in 1898–99. 
They were promoted to Division One after just one season, but lasted just one season in the top flight.
On being promoted they dropped the North End from their name. Glossop is the smallest town ever to boast a league club. A remarkable statistic is that the population of the town in the 1910s was about 21,000- and in 1914 10,700 turned up at North Road to see an FA cup tie against Preston North End. 
The club were financed by local cotton magnate and Member of Parliament, Samuel Hill-Wood.



Among the big names to turn out for the club were John Goodall (34 games 1900-03) , Fred Spiksley (5 games 1904-05), Archie Goodall (30 games 1904-05) and Bob Jack (64 games, 1902-03).

season	League	FA Cup
1898-99	Div.2 2nd	R1	Promoted as runners up
1899-1900	Div.1 18th	Q3	Finished bottom, 9 points adrift, with only 4 wins
1900-01	Div.2 5th	IR
1901-02	Div.2 8th	R1
1902-03	Div.2 11th	R1
1903-04	Div.2 17th
1904-05	Div.2 12th	Q4
1905-06	Div.2 16th	Q4
1906-07	Div.2 15th	R1
1907-08	Div.2 17th	R4
1908-09	Div.2 8th	R4
1909-10	Div.2 6th	R1
1910-11	Div.2  14th	R1
1911-12	Div.2 18th	R1
1912-13	Div.2 18th	R1
1913-14	Div.2  17th	R2
1914-15	Div.2  20th	R1	A goal difference of -56 and just 6 wins saw Glossop finish bottom and fail to be re elected.

Here are the club colours...

West Midlands

We cannot overlook the importance of what is now known as The West Midlands conurbation in the development of association football in Britain.
The Birmingham County Football Association was formed in December 1875. The original members were:  Calthorpe, Aston Unity, Wednesbury Town, Wednesbury Old Athletic, Stafford Road, Birmingham FC*, Saltley College, Aston Villa, Tipton, St George’s, and  West Bromwich (Dartmouth).

Aston Villa, in the person of William McGregor, were the leaders of the movement to form the Football League.
Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion were also founder members. Interestingly both clubs were also almost exclusively 'English' in the era when Scotch Professors were to the fore.

West Bromwich Albion 1888. Goalkeeper Roberts in England jersey.

Aston Villa in 1888 with the Birmingham Senior Cup

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1888- red and white stripes.

Here is a head-to head table from the 13 seasons that all 3 teams were in the top flight.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	p
Aston Villa	52	26	12	14	104	73	64
Wolverhampton Wanderers	52	19	15	18	85	87	53
West Bromwich Albion	52	15	9	28	78	105	39

Aston Villa were champions in the seasons 1893–94, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1898–99, and 1899–1900.

A look at the FA Cup Finals from the 1880s and 1890s is also revealing:

Season	Winners	Runners Up
1885–86		West Bromwich Albion
1886–87	Aston Villa	West Bromwich Albion
1887–88	West Bromwich Albion
1888–89		Wolverhampton Wanderers
1889–90
1890–91
1891–92	West Bromwich Albion	Aston Villa
1892–93	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1893–94
1894–95	Aston Villa	West Bromwich Albion
1895–96		Wolverhampton Wanderers
1896–97	Aston Villa

West Bromwich Albion were the first of the 3 to experience relegation at the end of the  1900-01 season. 

Wolverhampton Wanderers were in the top flight until 1905/06, and Aston Villa remained until 1935-36.


* Birmingham Football and Cricket Club existed from 1869-1884 and have no connection with the present Birmingham City or their predecessors, Small Heath. 

The Lancashire FA

In January 1879 the Lancashire FA selected its first representative team. North Wales were invited to play at Darwen.
In the 19th century North Wales equaled Wales in football terms. South Wales was still very much a Rugby loving area. Association football in Wales was concentrated in Denbighshire, Montgomreyshire, Flintshire, Wrexham and the borders of Shropshire.
This was  a time when northern players were only beginning to be rewarded with England caps - North Wales, however, had 10 internationals on show.
Hargreaves scored Lancashire's goal with a header from a Tootil corner. North Wales equalised when Heywood shot from 20 yards (a remarkable thing judging by the reporting) and Doctor Greenwood collided with the goalkeeper, allowing the ball 'to slowly roll between the posts' .
2000 spectators were present at Darwen Cricket Ground , where the pitch was snow covered.

Lancashire FA		1	1		North Wales
04.01.1879 Darwen Cricket Ground
W. Green	St Mark’s Blackburn	G		G. Glascodine **		Oswestry
F. Suter	Darwen	B		L.L. Kenrick (c) **		Oswestry
D. Greenwood*	Blackburn Rovers	B		H. Edwards **		Wrexham
C. Tootil	Turton	H		K. Crosse **		Druids
W.H Moorehouse	Darwen	H		T. Owen **		Oswestry
W.Y Hargreaves (c)	Bolton Wndrs  & Camb U	F		H. Sabine**		Oswestry
T. Bentley	Turton	F		J. H. Jones		Wrexham
T. Bury	Darwen	F		Digby Owen **		Oswestry
J.Yeates	Accrington	F		G. Savin **		Oswestry
R.J Gledhill	Darwen	F		W. Roberts **		Llangollen
R. Birtwhistle	Blackburn Rovers	F		Dennison Heywood **		Oswestry

·         England International

** Wales international

Llewelyn Kenrick in later life.

Knyvett Crosse

Doctor Greenwood- he was a member of a cotton manufacturing family (in 1881 the family company employed 280 workers). Doctor was his given name. He later won 2 England caps (he was 18 years old when this match was played).