Page 17 - Keynsham Town Ladies programme

KEYNSHAM TOWN LADIES 17
Football facts…

In 1893 Willie Groves became the world’s most expensive player when he left West
Bromich Albion to join Aston Villa for the princely sum of £100.

The oldest football club in the world is Sheffield FC, founded on 24th October 1857.

5 asteroids are named after football players : Arsene Wenger, Johan Cruyff, Josef
Bican, Ferene Puskas, and Michael Ballack.

The first game of basketball played on 21st December 1891 was played using a
football.

There are only 2 countries in the world who call football ‘soccer’ – Canada and the
United States.
The first ever international football match as recognised by FIFA was played between
England and Scotland on 30th November 1872 at the West of Scotland Cricket
Ground, Hamilton Crescent, Partick. Admission was one shilling (5p) and 4,000
people attended. The score was 0-0.

A football’s shape and size has not changed in 120 years. It is 28” in diameter.

2/3rds of the world’s footballs are made in Pakistan and 40% of those in one city,
Sialkot, which has more than 100 firms. The story is that when Pakistan was a British
Colony in the late 19th Century, the British soldiers played football with balls shipped
in from England which was often subject to delays. One such delay resulted in a
British army sergeant getting one repaired at Sialkot - where they were billeted. This
led to the footballs also being manufactured there.

India withdrew from the FIFA World Cup in 1950 because they weren’t allowed to
play barefoot.

In 1909, goalkeepers were asked to wear different coloured jersey from the rest of
their team mates so that they could be identified by their own players and the
referee, particularly when corners were being taken.

Cristiano Ronaldo was expelled from school at the age of 14 after throwing a chair
at his teacher for mocking his family’s financial status.

Greenland cannot play in the World Cup. Despite having their own FA, they cannot
join FIFA due to their inability to grow regulation length grass for pitches.