Ah, the joys of Christmas football. Being able to get out of the house on Boxing Day, meet up with friends, have a few beers and watch a game. This Boxing Day, our amazing away fans will trek to Southampton, for their sins.
That is a serious commitment, giving up all that time, navigating the lack of public transport, and for what is likely to be pretty turgid stuff. Up until the 1950s, it was the tradition for professional football to be played on Christmas Day.
Years ago, before there were loads of public holidays, it was an extra special treat to be off work, and people wanted entertainment – so football it was. Back in the day, before players were ‘overplayed’ all the time, it was common for teams to play a game on Christmas Day, followed by one on Boxing Day.
Imagine the look on the faces of the £100k a week boys, if they were asked to do that? Easily the most famous Christmas Day football match took place in 1914, when one of the worst wars ever was paused for a bit of sport.
The First World War ‘Christmas Truce’ saw around 100,000 troops along the Western Front exchange gifts, sing carols, and play football. The match has attained mythical status, and was put to music in Paul McCartney’s Pipes of Peace, which is worth watching on YouTube, if you haven’t seen it.
The last time West Ham played a match on Christmas Day was in 1958, when we beat Spurs 2-1. One of the heroes of the game was our 36 year-old goalkeeper, Ernie Gregory, who pulled off some spectacular first half saves, keeping the score at nil-nil.
Into the second half, Phil Woosnam beat three Spurs defenders before putting it on a plate for John Dick to fire home, to give us a one-nil lead. Woosnam and Dick combined to set up the second, with some intricate passing before supplying the through ball to Vic Keeble to double our lead.
Woosnam had to be subbed after a poor tackle, and as this was in the days before substitutes, the Hammers battled on with ten men. Spurs pulled one back, but Ted Fenton’s team held on for a festive victory. I think many of us may brave the elements on Christmas Day to see us beat Spurs at home, but generally, how would we feel about a Christmas Day game now?
Getting to the stadium is such a mission for many of us, and a matchday can literally take up most of the day. Christmas Day is generally sacrosanct for family gatherings, and for people to slump in front of crap TV, stuffed full of food.
I can’t see it going down too well with many families in these different times. Added to this, the football currently served up is pretty grim, so who would want to ruin their Christmas Day by trekking to the Bowl to see Lopetegui’s dirge?
As things stand, we have the more modern tradition of Boxing Day games, which as I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, many fans still enjoy. These days, I live in deepest Norfolk, so I don’t often make this festive fixture myself.
In my younger years, when I lived reasonably close to Upton Park, I did love a Boxing Day home game – claret and blue Santa hats all round. One of the best Boxing Day games for us in recent years was away at Bournemouth, in 2017, which was a thrilling 3-3 draw.
James Collins scored for us after just seven minutes, before Dan Gosling equalised just before half time. Ake put the Cherries ahead, before Marko Arnautovic scored two, to give us sight of all three points.
Then West Ham Nemesis – Callum Wilson scored to give Bournemouth a share of the points. Trust it to be Wilson to spoil Christmas for Hammers fans. Boxing Day games haven’t been too kind to us in recent years, the best win I can recall is a 4-1 away win at Swansea in 2016, with goals from Andre Ayew, Winston Reid, Michail Antonio, and Andy Carrol.
So, as we head deeper into December, we hope for the team to bring us some festive cheer, and kick on from what has been a poor start to the season. Writing this after we have just squeaked past Wolves, it looks like Sullivan will give Lopetegui a stay of execution – which may mean a grim Christmas all round.
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