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   Football in the snow at Watford
Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)Larger image
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
<i>Football in the snow at Watford</i><br>Aquatint with etching by Hubert Andrew Freeth (1912-1986)
  Larger image
© 2006 The British Museum

About AD 1977

This scene, with its spectators bundled up against the cold, emphasises the devotion of many football fans which is at the root of the game’s popularity. Although the star teams, their players and managers are the constant subject of media attention, the solid, grass-roots support of millions of ordinary fans is what keeps the game going.
Height: 152 mm; Width: 252 mm
The British Museum PD 1977,1210.37
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Music Halls and variety entertainment
Music Halls and variety entertainment
Football Rules

Professional football began in the AD 1880s. The Football League was formed by Midland and Northern clubs in 1888, and extended to include the South in 1914. After World War I a third division was formed and attendances were high: at the opening of Wembley Stadium in 1923, over 126,000 watched Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham 2-0. After World War II (when League games were suspended) the sport was even more popular: in the 1948-9 season more than 40 million people in England paid to watch football matches.

Football became part of mass culture in the 1960s, helped by England’s 4-2 victory over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final. Players like England captain, Bobby Moore, and charismatic, long-haired George Best, became popular heroes. However, football ceased to be the family game it once was, and attracted gangs of violent young ‘fans’, who followed their team at home and abroad.

By the 1990s football, helped by sponsorship and massive television coverage, became big business as well as the most popular spectator sport. The European Cup and the World Cup, as well as matches between premier league teams now full of international players, attracted mass audiences of viewers and listeners as well as spectators. Clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal made huge amounts of money from merchandise.

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