Christmas Football

“At this time of year,” wrote TalkSport’s Sean O’Brien on Christmas Eve, “it’s important to remember the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not about the presents, or the endless amounts of food and drink. It’s about football.” And indeed, on Boxing Day, hundreds of thousands of Britons head to football stadiums. While football is in deep hibernation on the mainland (with the exception of Italy) the stadiums on this island are even more packed than usual. But this year, everything was different.

“The powers that be,” grumbled O’Brien, “have played Scrooge this year and only scheduled one Premier League match for Boxing Day.” That one match was at Old Trafford, between Manchester United and Newcastle United. Because there are no trains on Christmas Day, traveling north from London was impossible. So, on Boxing Day, I went to The Den, where Millwall were playing Ipswich Town, aka The Tractor Boys. The only other match in the capital was AFC Wimbledon against Stevenage, a top League One side.

The official reason was that Boxing Day fell on a Friday, while a full Premier League fixture was scheduled for Saturday. Some football romantics saw the pernicious influence of Europe in this. Over the years, foreign managers have been critical of Christmas football. Their English colleagues, however, are sympathetic to this tradition. “As a supporter, player, and manager, I love being able to escape the house after Christmas Day,” “Big Ron” once told me, “and with the booze, the atmosphere on Boxing Day is even more boisterous than usual.”

Back in the day, games were even played on both Christmas days. “When I played for Swansea Town in the 1950s,” Tottenham Hotspur’s Cliff Jones told me a few years ago, “you had to work on both Christmas days. You might spend ten or twelve hours on the bus on Christmas Day, going to and from, say, Middlesbrough, and then the next day there was a home game. I didn’t enjoy it, but there was no complaining. It was part of the job. Around Easter, we sometimes played three games in four days. Later when I played for Spurs, football on Christmas Day had been abolished.”

The lack of top-level matches, however, is less dramatic than it seems. Christmas football has existed since Preston North End’s 5-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion in December 1888. This long tradition has been broken before, namely in the winters of 1948, 1954, 1965, 1971, and 1976. To allay fans’ concerns and anger, the Premier League has already promised that Boxing Day 2026 will be held as usual. At Millwall, journalists received a bag of goodies with the message “Season’s Greetings.” However, the more than 18,000 visitors were not treated to any goals.