Images of Football

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Association Football was born on 26th October 1863, when eleven clubs met at the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London. The next two decades spawned the world's first cup and league competitions. The early years were faltering ones: the 1873 F.A. Cup Final kicked off at 11am to avoid clashing with the Boat Race; and at the world's first official international fixture between England and Scotland in 1872, the attendant photographer refused to record the event for fear of being unable to sell his pictures. His concerns were soon allayed: football became the people's game at home and spread to all corners of the globe. Lavishly illustrated with superb photographs from the archives of the Daily Mail, Images of Football provides a fascinating pictorial record of football in England, the cradle of the Beautiful Game.