The Football History Boys

In 1940, Norway's Asbjørn Halvorsen could’ve just been a football man, but he inspired the resistance. Let's find out some more about: The General The Boss The Bronze Team The Captain The Keeper The Westerner The Whisperer The Spirit Asbjørn Halvorsen The General Asbjørn Halvorsen wasn’t a relatable man. He was a polymath. He was his generation’s best footballer, and then their best coach. He spoke multiple languages and was an adept politician. His friendship would save the life of and inspire a future prime minister. His control of language would save the lives of hundreds of others. His executive control of football would pave the way for the modern league system in Norway. But he didn’t have to be any of those things. He could have just been a football man . It’s worth relating to that fact alone when remembering July 1940, three months into occupation, when ‘ Assi ’, as he was known, was summoned into Oslo’s parliament building. He was to face Josef Terboven, the Reichskom

1966 is certainly one of football history's more frequently visited dates. Certainly in England, the World Cup that year evokes a seemingly immeasurable outpouring of nostalgia, but across the wider game the sport was changing in a multitude of different ways. Alongside increasing television footage, growing players wages and the fight for the fair representation of African and Asian countries was intricate tactical developments that would alter the way we saw and played the game. The Netherlands had not qualified for the 1966 World Cup and the nation's club sides had failed to make a significant impact in the juvenile European Cup. Nevertheless, the 1966/67 season would introduce the world to the European game's next dominant power - Ajax. Prior to the 1966/67 season, Ajax had rarely made an impact on the game outside of the Netherlands. Indeed, the height of the club's power had been before the Second World War as the side won five Eredivisie in the 1930s under the ma

It's 1949 and football, as well as the UK, is recovering from the Second World War. For Scott Dixon this year is an important one personally, the year his Grandad transferred from Hearts to Northampton. He has written the story for The Football History Boys... Arthur Dixon - Northampton Mercury My Grandad, Arthur Dixon, played professional football in the 1940s and early 1950s. As a young child, I struggled to grasp that this ageing man with a crumbling hip, slowly deteriorating short term memory and a long-departed perfect sense of hearing, could ever have been in the required physical shape to play at all, let alone to an elite level.  Of course, time catches up with us all and it transpired he had a successful career - particular in Scotland where he played wartime football as an inside-forward for Queens Park from the age of 18 while also serving in the Home Guard. His performances at Hampden gained him international recognition with a Scotland call up to face England in early

Back during the COVID-19 lockdown we created a number of quizzes on Sporcle. The quiz website has been our main source of procrastination ever since we were in school and we thought it was about time we created some new tests for our followers! You can find below our latest quiz - can you find the 20 modern day clubs from their first stadium? Follow the latest scores and football news @  flashscore.com ©The Football History Boys, 2023 

Blackburn Olympic no longer exist. Even more astounding is the fact they have not played a match in over 135 years. Founded in 1878, the Lancashire club would be dissolved just 11 years later in 1889. However, it is not for their longevity that they retain an undeniable importance to the history of football but it is for their role as one of the game’s first ‘professionals’. We now know football as a professional game, but in 1878, the year of Olympic’s establishment, the sport was distinctly amateur. Football’s codification had been born out of the establishment’s desire to see a return to seemingly forgotten Christian morals of teamwork, leadership and courage with on-the-field battles aiming to mimic real-life wars and conflicts. The game’s growth however, by the time Olympic first entered the FA Cup in 1880, had seen a shift in football’s demographic with working-class men increasingly taking up the sport and the ever-growing middle-classes seeing more and more opportunities to pro

Coventry City’s brief flirtation with a return to the Premier League must have brought back memories of clashes against Liverpool and Man Utd from older fans in the Sky Blue Army. Sadly for the Sky Blues, Luton Town won the 2022/23 Playoff Final and took what many fans believed their rightful place in the Premier League, leaving Coventry City in the Championship, still dreaming of a return to the promised land. Famous day in Coventry City's Premier League history One match from the Premier League that lives long in the memory of Sky Blues fans old enough to remember, was when a Robert Rosario and Mick Quinn-inspired Coventry City team thrashed the mighty Liverpool 5-1 at Coventry’s previous home ground, Highfield Road. #OnThisDay in 1992, the #skyblues beat Liverpool 5-1 at Highfield Road. 2 goals for Borrows & Quinn, 1 for Gallacher pic.twitter.com/BoGuSNLpSW — Coventry City (@Coventry_City) December 19, 2015 Back then, Liverpool wasn’t the force, that they are today.