Page 16 - Keynsham Town Ladies v Chichester & Selsey

KEYNSHAM TOWN LADIES 16
More football facts…

The first ever game played under floodlights was at Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 14th October
1878. The electric power was generated by two 8 horsepower portable engines, one behind
each goal. The lamps were on 30ft high wooden towers at each corner. Only the pitch was
lit and not the entrances. It was a record attendance with many sneaking in without paying
under the cover of darkness.
Blackburn Rovers played their first game under similar floodlights on 4th November 1878
but it was felt necessary to paint the ball white to aid both players and spectators.
The FA banned floodlights from 1930 until December 1950 with the proviso one month later
that no competitive match could be played under lights without permission of the FA or the
County FA and the organisers of the competition.

After the ban was lifted Swindon Town were the first League side to install floodlights and
first used them in a friendly game against Bristol City on 22nd April 1951. The first
competitive fixture was Southampton Reserves against Tottenham Hotspurs Reserves at The
Dell on 1st October 1951. The first FA Cup to be played under floodlights was a preliminary
round between Kidderminster Harriers and Brierley Hill Alliance on 14th September 1955.
The first FA Cup match involving league sides was Carlisle United against Darlington at St.
James Park, Newcastle on 28th November 1955 in the second replay of a First Round tie.

Arsenal's manager Herbert Chapman had floodlights installed at Highbury in the 1930's but
as the Football League refused to sanction their use, Arsenal's first major fixture under
floodlights did not take place until 19th September 1951 when 40,000 watched Arsenal beat
Hapoel Tel Aviv 6-1.

Manchester United Junior sides played floodlight matches at the Club's training grounds long
before floodlights were installed at Old Trafford. In case spectators didn't realise as darkness
fell, the programmes contained the vital advice “ To read – hold programme to light.”
When Wolves played a friendly under floodlights against South Africa on 30th September
1953 it opened the floodgates for fixtures against top class foreign opposition, and European
competitive football competitions then followed.

At its AGM in June 1955 the Football League changed its rules to permit League games to
be played under floodlights and the first such match was between Portsmouth and
Newcastle in a First Division fixture on 22nd February 1956 at Fratton Park.
Floodlights were installed at Wembley at a cost of £20,000 and the first game played under
them was an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup match between London and Frankfurt on 26th October
1955. It was not until 20th November 1963 that England played 90 minutes of football under
floodlights at Wembley in a Home International match against Northern Ireland. They won
8-3.