This Month in Football History – September

 We look back at the most memorable happenings in the month of September in world of Football

September 01, 1892 – John Houlding, then president of Everton, had leased and later bought Anfield for their home matches. Later land dispute paved way for Everton to shift their base to Goodison Park. Houlding established a new club, Liverpool, to host their matches at Anfield. On this day, Liverpool played their first match there on their way to thrash Rotherham Town by 7-1 in a friendly.   

September 06, 1995 – Colombia and England finished a London friendly with

a boring score line of 0-0. But the match marked the advent of the scorpion kick by Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita. The eccentric shot stopper inexplicably dove forward and twisted his legs up behind him to smack a goal bound shot away – it was, technically, a save.

8 September 1958 – Legendary centre back Bobby Moore made his debut for the West Ham at the age of 17 in a 3-2 win over Manchester United. He would later become the club’s longest-serving captain with a total of 646 appearances for the Hammers. Moore, who earned repute as an intelligent and technically gifted defender, was handed over the captain’s armband in 1961 and he retained it until his retirement in 1974

September 12, 1885 – Arbroath FC set a then world record, by beating Bon Accord FC 36-0 in the first round of the Scottish Cup. The poor Bon Accord FC was not a football team, rather an Aberdeen cricket team – the Orion Cricket Club. They stumbled upon a Scottish Cup invitation intended for Orion FC and opted for the competition with the name “Bon Accord FC”. Legend has it – they appeared even without proper football kits. In 2002, Madagascar side AS Adema took away the world record by beating Stade Olympique de L’Emyrne (SOE) 149-0, where SOE deliberately scored 149 own goals in protest over a refereeing decision.

September 13, 1973 – A born leader, Fabio Cannavaro was born in Italy. After his big money move to Inter Milan from Parma in 2002, Cannavaro rose to fame during his tenure in Juventus (2004-06). He won back-to-back Serie A titles for the club and marshalled the Azzuri to World Cup glory in 2006. Cannavaro was a stalwart in defense during the World Cup campaign – playing every minute of the game and conceding only 2 goals. Such was his impact that he won the FIFA World Player of the Year, 2006 and remains the only defender to win the accolade till date.
September 14, 1939 – The British government suspended regular football competitions in the wake of World War II. The FA Cup resumed in 1945, while the Scottish Cup and regular league play restarted in 1946.

September 16, 1937 – The BBC broadcast its first live football match. It was a match featuring Arsenal and Arsenal reserves, but unfortunately no record for the match result is available now.

September 18, 1920 – Uruguay defeated Brazil 6-0 in the South American Championship. The margin remains the worst till date for the Samba superpowers.

September 23, 2009 – IFK Göteborg goalkeeper Kim Christensen was accused of cheating in a league match against Örebro SK – by moving the goalposts a few inches closer together!!! Play was stopped in the 20th minute as someone (curious to know who and how he got to know about this) informed the officials that pre-match video had exposed Christensen lifting the goalposts and pushing them together. The allegation was found out to be true. Christensen also confessed of moving the posts in several earlier matches.

September 30, 1945 – Sweden played, and won, two separate matches against Denmark in Solna and against Finland in Helsinki. During the World War II years, Sweden played a lot of friendlies to compensate for the cancelled matches. Somehow, they mismanaged their calendar and booked two matches on the same day. They had no option but to send the same squad in both the matches, but as a sign of their supremacy in those days, they won both the matches handsomely – beating Denmark 4-1 and Finland 1-6.

Debojyoti Chakraborty

About Debojyoti Chakraborty

Debojyoti Chakraborty is a follower of English Premier League and European football. You can reach him at debojyoti.chakraborty@gmail.com