Football: The Knowledge - Which was the first football ground to host a boxing match? (original) (raw)

"Which football ground was the first to stage a boxing match?" asked Oli Johansson last week.

Setanta have recently announced that David Haye could face Wladimir Klitschko next June, with Stamford Bridge a possible venue, while Ricky Hatton fought Juan Lazcano at the City of Manchester Stadium earlier this year and says he may take on Oscar De La Hoya at the Emirates Stadium in the future. But this business partnership between boxing and football is not new. It has been going on for nearly a century.

In Britain the tradition of fights taking place at football grounds stretches back to the 1920s and beyond. The first card at Wembley came on August 9 1924 when Phil Scott fought Andre Anderson and there were also bouts at Bloomfield Road (1929), Carrow Road (1930), Selhurst Park (1929), Griffin Park (1929), Cardiff Arms Park (1914 — when Bombadier Billy Wells fought Frenchman Gaston Pigot), Vetch Field (1933), The Dell (1926) and Sincil Bank (1930). But the furthest we trace the roots back is July 31 1909 when Jimmy Britt lost to Johnny Summers in the ninth round of their 20-round contest at the Memorial Ground in east London. The ground was then the home of Thames Ironworks FC who went on to become West Ham United.

In Europe, the Hohe Warte Stadium in Vienna, which opened in 1921, was the Austrian national side's home for much of the 1920s and 30s. The first and, as far as we can tell, only fights there occured on May 1 1924 with Poldi Steinbach's victory over Hans Wesselitsch topping the bill.

Further afield Rama VI of Thailand (1910-25) gave permission for the first modern Muay Thai (Thai boxing) ring to be built at the Wang Suan Kulap football ground in Bangkok, though when exactly the first fight took place is unclear. More information about the stadium can be found here.

Across the Pacific in America boxing was enjoying a similar rise in fortunes. The Polo Grounds in Manhattan was originally built in 1876 for, yes, the regal sport of polo but it quickly became a multi-purpose arena with the New York Giants baseball team moving in in 1883. Football (not the gridiron variety) was first played at the ground in 1894 when half a dozen baseball teams created their own mini-league in an attempt to fill the stands with spectators during the close season. The first boxing match at the stadium came on October 12 1922 and their were regular fights at the venue for the next 38 years — including the famous heavyweight championship fight between Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo in 1923 — with Floyd Patterson's victory over Ingemar Johansson in June 1960 the final bout at the ground. Yankee Stadium, home ground of the New York Cosmos during the short-lived North American Soccer League, has also hosted 30 championship bouts. The earliest was Benny Leonard's defense of his lightweight title over Lou Tendler on July 24, 1923.

Can you go further back? Drop us a line at knowledge@theguardian.com

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CAPS BEFORE DEBUTS

"Following the example of Michael Mancienne, has anyone ever received an international call-up before making an appearance for their first senior club?" asked Phil Myers last week.

It's much more common than you might think, Phil, if the bulge in the Knowledge inbox is anything to go by. As you might expect, a number of Manchester United players have achieved the feat over the last couple of decades, including Ben Foster, Pat McGibbon, Jonny Evans and Phil Mulryne. Foster, as Jamie Woods points out, had been signed by two senior clubs, Stoke City and Manchester Unitred, but had played for neither when he won his first England cap against Spain at Old Trafford in February 2007.

Given the distribution of talent, most examples come from the weaker nations. But, as Taha Saleh observed, Javier Mascherano did make his Argentina debut in 2003 before he had played for his club. Overall it's possible to put together a half-decent team of players:

GK: Ben Foster

DF: Ryan Green (made his only two appearances for Wales in 1998 before turning out for Wolves)

DF: Jonny Evans

DF: Pat McGibbon

DF: Ryan McGivern (yet to play for Manchester City but was sent off on his Northern Ireland debut in August)

M: Phil Mulryne

M: Javier Mascherano

M: Steve Morrow (made his Northern Ireland in 1990 but did not appear for Arsenal until 1992)

M: Geoffrey Plumpton Wilson (played for England in 1900, making his debut for Southampton in 1901)

F: Mark Kelly (played for Republic of Ireland in April 1988, a month before his Portsmouth debut)

F: Billy Crone (made his debut for Ireland in February 1882, having only played only a handful of practice matches for his team Distillery. OK he was a defender, but we're desperate).

BIG FOUR NO SCORE

"Following this weekend's results, when was the last time all of 'the big four' failed to score on the same weekend/round of fixtures?" asks Dean Gribben, Dave Stewart and a whole host of others

This freak occurance is up there with Haley's Comet, solar eclipses and pies with flavour from football ground refreshment stands — you hardly ever see them, but when you do the wait makes it all the more satisfying. Nearly 16 years have passed since Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United all failed to score in the same round of fixtures — before this weekend it had not happened since February 8, 9 and 10 1993, when the scorelines read:

Leeds 0-0 Manchester United

Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool

Arsenal 0-1 Wimbledon

Of course, back then the big four were United, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers, which just goes to show how times can change. Though Arsenal losing at home to mid-table opposition just shows how some things never change.

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"Apparently (well, according to Wikipedia), polka dots first became common on clothing in the late 19th century in Britain. Do any teams play in polka dots?" wondered Sam Easterbrook back when all this were fields.

Not any more Sam, as far as we can tell, but more than one eagle-eyed reader spotted Bolton Wanderers' natty red-dotted design among their late 19th century collection at www.kitclassics.co.uk.

Speaking of dashing kit designs, we've also had a few further responses to our question about vertical shirt sponsors a couple of weeks back. Mark Alden points us in the direction of Grimsby's 1982 home strip - on which sponsor Findus's name ran between two vertical black stripes - while Simon Wiltshire notes Leyton Orient's 1997-98 sponsor Maypole also preferred the top-to-bottom look.

Finally, we offer you this Huddersfield Town shocker, submitted by Alan Dooney, which you can check out, along with a host of other garishly brilliant kits from years gone by.

For many more sepia-tinged questions and answers, why not visit the Knowledge archive?

Can you help?

"Is Cesc Fábregas the youngest ever player to captain a Premier League team?" wonders George Oyewole.

"Recently there's been a few questions in the Knowledge concerning family relations between players. But has there ever been a case of a player having a close relative as a referee?" asks Lars Helge Strand.

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com.