✨ Discover this awesome post from BBC Sport 📖
📂 Category:
📌 Here’s what you’ll learn:
Both teams went into the match languishing at the wrong end of Division One, with Blackburn sitting in 20th and just outside the relegation zone on goal average, while Blackpool are just one point and two places better.
The home team had won just one of their previous eight league matches while Rovers improved with two wins from three ahead of the trip to Bloomfield Road.
The Tangerines included future England World Cup winner Alan Ball into their squad while Blackburn had Mike England, the Wales international defender who would make nearly 400 appearances for Spurs and manage his country for eight years.
A crowd of 20,851 watched Neil Turner give Blackpool the lead only for George Jones to equalize before half-time.
The hosts dominated the second half with two goals scored by Bobby Waddell and top scorer Ray Charnley, and Paul added the fourth goal.
England then wrote themselves into the history books by scoring Blackburn’s second goal of the afternoon – and the last goal scored in the Football League in England on Christmas Day.
The two teams were due to play the second leg at Ewood Park on Boxing Day but it was postponed due to a frozen pitch.
Blackpool eventually dug themselves out of trouble to finish 13th, but Rovers had a disastrous run in the new year, winning just three of their remaining 20 matches to drop to the bottom of the division and suffer relegation to the Second Division.
That match in 1965 was the last we heard of football on Christmas Day until 1983, when Brentford attempted to play a Third Division clash with Wimbledon at 11am.
Brentford chairman Martin Lang said at the time: “I see it as a tremendous opportunity for the family to enjoy Christmas morning outdoors.”
The fans disagreed, and with many complaining, the match was brought forward to Christmas Eve with promotion-bound Wimbledon winning 4–3.
🔥 Tell us your thoughts in comments!
#️⃣ #Football #League #final #Christmas #Day #years
