On this day – March 22nd

The Football League is formed

In spite of the 12 founding members of The Football League all coming from Lancashire and the Midlands, the meeting that sealed the foundation of that league took place in London , at Anderson's Hotel on March 22nd 1888. This was convenient because the great and the good of the football world then as now were gathering for the FA Cup Final the following day.

Football initially was a gentlemanly pursuit, clubs formed by public school old boys, regimental associations and university alumni dominating the game in its early years. But the increasing popularity of the sport, and the fact that Saturday afternoon was fast becoming a half-day off for the working man to enjoy himself, led to changes: northern clubs sprang up; and free of the Corinthian ethos pervading the posher teams, these clubs used money to draw good players to them – professionalism was established in many.

Beginnings of professionalism

This professionalism meant money had to be raised to pay the players, and so the lure of a league was obvious: regular games against teams of similar stature; and a competition adding spice to the games, and thus numbers to the crowds.

Oddly the father of the English league was in fact Scottish: William McGregor, a successful draper who was on Aston Villa 's board. On March 2 1888 he wrote to Blackburn Rovers , Preston North End , Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich , and the secretary of his own club, mooting the idea of a league. Bolton and Blackburn in particular got behind it, and the suggestion that other clubs be invited to a meeting was made.

For ease of travel the new league consisted of clubs from Lancashire and the Midlands: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers .

A few missed out on the new competition: Sunderland , Sheffield Wednesday , and Nottingham Forest were the better known sides not allowed to join .
The team that won the league in that first season did so without losing a game in the process and thus earning the honorific The Invincibles. They won the 1888/89 FA Cup too, without conceding a goal throughout the competition.

So who was this Invincible team?

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