“Today marks 200 years since the world’s first passenger railway journey. On September 27, 1825, around 450 people made the 26-mile journey from Shildon to Stockton in the north-east of England on a steam train named Active, at an average speed of around 8mph. In the 19th century, Britain was the world leader in railways and in football. The relationship between the two shouldn’t be underestimated. Broadly speaking, there were three major reasons for the explosion of sport as a spectator activity in this period. The most important was the novel practice of workers getting their Saturday afternoons off, a victory for a lobbying group named the Early Closing Association, which had been formed in the 1840s. This opened up that time slot for leisure pursuits — and, in particular, sport. …”
NY Times/The Athletic – Michael Cox

Victorious Manchester United captain Noel Cantwell holds the FA Cup in 1963