Article by Nathan Gissing
In England, 26th December (also known as Boxing Day, formed in 1871) is one of the biggest days on the footballing calendar.
It is a day to gather with family, enjoy Christmas leftovers, and of course, watch football.
Boxing day is one of the most fixture-filled days of the footballing calendar where crowd attendances are at its highest, due to the well-known tradition in England.
The first Boxing Day match was played in 1860, between local rivals Sheffield FC and Hallam FC, making it the world's oldest derby match.
When professional football returned to England in 1919, clubs played a pair of home-and-away matches against the same opponent on December 25th & 26th. However this tradition stopped in 1959.
Fast-forward to now, teams during the festive period now play either two games every 2 days or 3 days (26th & 28th or 26th & 29th).
With boisterous spectators in the festive spirit, Boxing Day games are simply anyone's guess, where you simply must prepare for the unexpected.
One of the most memorable of matchdays that you see on social media this day of every year occured in 1963, where a mind-blowing 66 goals were scored across 10 First Division matches (Premier League).
However, in the last couple of years (2020 & 2021), it hasn't been an easy ride for all us fans. We have lost this excitement, passion and happy energy due to the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19 where games were played behind closed doors.
With full capacity stadiums returning in September 2021, we are still facing the fight with Covid-19 to this day, with three of the nine games today having been postponed due to the virus.
