1.
Bury
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Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irwell. It lies 5.5 miles east of Bolton,5.9 miles west-southwest of Rochdale and 7.9 miles north-northwest of Manchester, Bury is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, with an estimated population in 2015 of 78,723. The borough of Bury has a population of 187,474 as of 2011 Historically part of Lancashire. Bury is known for its open-air Bury Market and the local dish. The Manchester Metrolink tram system terminates in the town, Bury resident Sir Robert Peel was a British Prime Minister who founded the Metropolitan Police and Conservative Party. The Peel Memorial stands outside Bury parish church and the Peel Monument stands on Holcombe Hill in Ramsbottom, the name Bury comes from an Old English word, meaning castle, stronghold or fort, an early form of modern English borough. Bury was formed around the ancient market place but there is evidence of activity dating back to the period of Roman occupation, Bury Museum has a Roman urn containing a number of small bronze coins dated for AD 253–282 and found north of what is now the town centre. Under Agricola the road–building programme included a route from the fort at Manchester to the fort at Ribchester which ran through Radcliffe, the modern Watling Street, which serves the Seddons Farm estate on the west side of town, follows the approximate line of the Roman road. The most imposing building in the town would have been Bury Castle. The castle was built in 1469 by Sir Thomas Pilkington, lord of the manors of Pilkington and Bury, and it sat in a good defensive position on high ground overlooking the Irwell Valley. At that time, the Pilkingtons had been lords of Bury for nearly a century, the Pilkington family suffered badly in the Wars of the Roses when, despite geography, they supported the House of York. When Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Thomas Pilkington was captured, the outcome of the battle was the Lancastrian Duke of Richmond being crowned Henry VII by Sir William Stanley. As a reward for the support of his family, Thomas Stanley was created Earl of Derby and, amongst other lands, the ancestral home of the Earls of Derby is Knowsley Hall on the outskirts of Liverpool. The family maintains a connection with Bury in various ways—the Derby High School is named after them, when the school opened in 1959 the 18th Earl of Derby was patron and the schools badge is based on the Earls coat of arms. The 15th and 16th Earls were both supporters of Bury Grammar School, both financially and in terms of land, and one of the houses is named Derby in their honour. The town was home to the Derby Hall and the Derby Hotel. For many years the remains were buried beneath the streets outside the Castle Armoury. From time to time, it was the subject of archaeological excavations and these established that there was an earlier manor house on the site
2.
Greater Manchester
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Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles, which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. It is landlocked and borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, for the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government, district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts became unitary authority areas. However, the county has continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, has a Lord Lieutenant. A further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester is set to place upon the election of the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester scheduled for 2017. Before the creation of the county, the name SELNEC was used for the area. Since deindustrialisation in the century, Greater Manchester has become known as an exporter of media and digital content, for its guitar and dance music. Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, there is evidence of Iron Age habitation, particularly at Mellor, and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes. Stretford was also part of the believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth, are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086, Redhead states that this was only a partial survey was taken. During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire, Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of Englands woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production. Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, however, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the worlds largest marketplace for cotton goods, and the natural centre of its region. In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as an entity were proposed. In the 18th century, German traders had coined the name Manchesterthum to cover the region in, however, the English term Greater Manchester did not appear until the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the creation of the County of London in 1889
3.
F.C. United of Manchester
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F. C. United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England. The club competes in the National League North, the tier of the English football league system. They achieved three promotions in the first three years of their existence and were promoted for a fourth time to compete in the National League North for the 2015–16 season. In cup competitions, F. C. United reached the round of the FA Cup during the 2010–11 season. After sharing multiple stadia across Greater Manchester between 2005 and 2015, F. C. United opened their own ground, Broadhurst Park in north-east Manchester, the team has been managed by former professional footballer Karl Marginson since its formation. The clubs regular kit colours are red shirts, white shorts and their badge is based on the Manchester coat of arms and features a ship at sea and three stripes for the three rivers that flow through Manchester. F. C. United are the largest fan-owned football club in the United Kingdom by number of members and have one of the highest home attendances in English non-league football. The club is run by its members who have equal voting rights. The club was founded in 2005 by disaffected supporters of Manchester United, although fans had various reasons for dissatisfaction, the catalyst for F. C. Uniteds formation was the 12 May 2005 takeover of Manchester United by American businessman Malcolm Glazer. Supporters first considered forming a club in 1998 during an attempted takeover of Manchester United by BSkyB. The creation of F. C. United in the event of a Glazer buyout was first proposed in February 2005 by Manchester United fanzine Red Issue. Public meetings for fans were held on 19 May 2005 at the Central Methodist Hall in Manchesters Northern Quarter, subsequently, a steering group was created to set up the new club. After the name F. C. United was rejected by The Football Association for being too generic, on 14 June 2005, it was announced that F. C. United of Manchester had been chosen, beating A. F. C. Manchester 1878, Manchester Central and Newton Heath United, and F. C. United were officially registered with the Manchester County Football Association on the same day. Karl Marginson was appointed as the manager on 22 June. Around 900 players applied to part in the trials, of whom 200 were chosen to take part and 17 selected to play for F. C. United. Jonathan Mitten, great-nephew of Manchester United forward Charlie Mitten, was the clubs first signing. F. C. Uniteds inaugural members meeting was held on 5 July 2005 at the Methodist Central Hall, members voted on the constitution, badge, core principles
4.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
Manchester City F.C.
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Manchester City Football Club is a football club in Manchester, England. Founded in 1880 as St. Marks, they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887, the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, having regained their Premier League status in the early 2000s, the club was purchased in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group and has become one of the wealthiest in the world. Since 2011 the club have won five major honours, including the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, by 2014–15, Manchester City had the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €463.5 million. In 2016, Forbes magazine estimated they were the sixth most valuable football club. City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899, with it promotion to the highest level in English football. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, in the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, after relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer, in the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. Further trophies followed, City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in Vienna. City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy, the club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, the final trophy of the clubs most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final. A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s, Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were relegated from the top flight in the 1980s. However, this was only a respite, and following Reids departure Manchester Citys fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, after two seasons in Division One, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their countrys third league tier, after 1. After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline, under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham
7.
Floodlight
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Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights. They are often used to outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are used as a stage lighting instrument in live performances such as concerts. In the top tiers of professional sports, it is a requirement for stadiums to have floodlights to allow games to be scheduled outside daylight hours. Evening or night matches may suit spectators who have work or other commitment earlier in the day, one motivation for this is television marketing, especially in sports such as gridiron football which rely on TV rights money to finance the sport. Some sports grounds which do not have permanent floodlights installed may make use of portable temporary ones instead, many larger floodlights will have gantries for bulb changing and maintenance. These will usually be able to one or two maintenance workers. The most common type of floodlight is the lamp, which emits a bright white light. Sodium-vapor lamps are commonly used for sporting events, as they have a very high lumen-to-watt ratio. In the recent years there have been new developments, and LED technology has come a long way, now LED flood lights are bright enough to be used for illumination purposes on large sport fields. The main reason for the use of LEDs is the power consumption. The first LED lit sports field in the United Kingdom was switched on at Taunton Vale Sports Club on 6 September 2014, the first sport to play under floodlights was polo, on 18 July 1878. Ranelagh Club hosted a match in Fulham, London, England against the Hurlingham Club, Cricket was first played under floodlights on Monday,11 August 1952 in England which was watched by several million people on their television sets. Since then most test playing countries have installed floodlights in some or all of their stadiums, traditional Cricket floodlights have a long pole on which lights are fixed. This is done several times, the ball travels too high when a batsman hits it. However, many cricket stadiums have different types of floodlights like the ANZ Stadium in Australia, the DSC Cricket Stadium in Dubai recently installed Ring of Fire system of floodlights which is latest and smartest system of floodlight in the world. Bramall Lane was reportedly the first floodlit stadium, floodlighting in association football dates as far back as 1878, when there were floodlit experimental matches at Bramall Lane, Sheffield during the dark winter afternoons. With no national grid, lights were powered by batteries and dynamoes, lights were later be used by clubs such as Thames Ironworks, but they stopped the practice after joining the Southern League in 1888
8.
Leicester City F.C.
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Leicester City Football Club, also known as the Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester. They compete in the Premier League, Englands top tier of football, having been promoted as champions of the Football League Championship in 2013–14, this signalled a return to the top flight of English football after a decade away. The club was founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse F. C. playing on a field near Fosse Road and they moved to Filbert Street in 1891, were elected to the Football League in 1894 and adopted the name Leicester City in 1919. They moved to the nearby Walkers Stadium in 2002, which was renamed the King Power Stadium after a change of ownership in 2011, Leicester City won the 2015–16 Premier League, their first top-level football championship. They are one of six clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. A number of newspapers described their title win as the greatest sporting upset ever, multiple bookmakers had never paid out at such long odds for any sport. Due to the magnitude of the title win, it went down in English football history as one of the games finest ever achievements. The clubs previous highest ever finish was second place in the top flight, throughout Leicesters history, they have spent all but one season within the top two leagues of English football. They hold a joint-highest seven second-tier titles, the club have been FA Cup finalists four times, in 1948–49, 1960–61, 1962–63 and 1968–69. This is a tournament record for the most defeats in the final without having won the competition, City have several promotions to their name, two play-off final wins, and one League One title. In 1971, they won the FA Community Shield, and in 2016 and they have also won the League Cup three times in 1964,1997 and 2000, as well as being runners up in 1964–65 and 1999. Formed in 1884 by a group of old boys of Wyggeston School as Leicester Fosse, before moving to Filbert Street in 1891, the club played at five different grounds, including Victoria Park south-east of the city centre and the Belgrave Road Cycle and Cricket Ground. The club also joined the Midland League in 1891, and were elected to Division Two of the Football League in 1894 after finishing second. Leicesters first ever Football League game was a 4–3 defeat at Grimsby Town, with a first League win the following week, the same season also saw the clubs largest win to date, a 13–0 victory over Notts Olympic in an FA Cup qualifying game. In 1907–08 the club finished as Second Division runners-up, gaining promotion to the First Division, however, the club were relegated after a single season which included the clubs record defeat, a 12–0 loss against Nottingham Forest. In 1919, when League football resumed after World War I, the club was reformed as Leicester City Football Club, particularly appropriate as the borough of Leicester had recently been given city status. However the 1930s saw a downturn in fortunes, with the relegated in 1934–35 and, after promotion in 1936–37. City reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history in 1949, the club, however, was celebrating a week later when a draw on the last day of the season ensured survival in Division Two
9.
Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom
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Beginning in at least the 1960s, the UK had a reputation worldwide for football hooliganism, the phenomenon was often dubbed the English Disease. However, since the 1980s and well into the 1990s the UK government has led a crackdown on football related violence. While football hooliganism has been a concern in some other European countries in recent years. Although reports of British football hooliganism still surface, the instances now tend to occur at pre-arranged locations rather than at the matches themselves, Football hooliganism in England dates back to the 1880s, when individuals referred to as roughs caused trouble at football matches. Local derby matches would usually have the worst trouble, but in an era when fans did not often travel, roughs would sometimes attack the referees and these two events led to introduction of crowd segregation and the erection of fences at football grounds in England. Leeds United were banned from Europe soon after, when their fans rioted after the 1975 European Cup Final against Bayern Munich in Paris, Manchester United were banned in 1977 after rioting before, during and after their UEFA Cup game with Saint-Étienne, also in France. In March 1978, a riot broke out at The Den during an FA Cup quarter-final between Millwall and Ipswich Town. Fighting began on the terraces and spilled out on to the pitch, during the 1970s, black footballers became an increasingly frequent presence in English football, mostly born to Afro-Caribbean immigrants who settled in Britain from 1948. Black players became a frequent feature in the English game during the 1980s. On 1 May 1982, after a London derby between Arsenal and West Ham United, a supporter was killed in a riot between fans of the two teams, in response, Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers government set up a war cabinet to combat football hooliganism. This was the first of several high profile incidents of hooliganism in 1985, the fighting that day was described by Justice Popplewell, during the Popplewell Committee investigation into football in 1985, as more like the Battle of Agincourt than a football match. Just before kick-off, Liverpool fans broke through a line of police officers, many fans tried to escape the fighting, and a wall collapsed on them. It was not until 1995 that England got all of its European places back, on 8 August 1986 rival gangs of Manchester United and West Ham United hooligans were involved in violence on a Sealink ferry bound for Amsterdam. Eight football hooligans, all either Manchester United or West Ham United supporters, UEFA President Jacques Georges caused controversy by describing the Liverpool supporters as beasts, suggesting that hooliganism was the cause of the Hillsborough disaster. His remarks led to Liverpool F. C. calling for his resignation and her minister for sport, Colin Moynihan, attempted to bring in an ID card scheme for football supporters. This scheme, set out in Part I of the Football Spectators Act 1989, was never implemented following criticism by the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster. Daniel Taylor, writing in The Guardian in 2015, described the revelations as a reminder about how out of touch the establishment were when it came to football. Racial abuse of players was a common feature of hooliganism during the 1970s and even more so in the 1980s
10.
Manchester United F.C.
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Manchester United Football Club is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Nicknamed the Red Devils, the club was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to its current stadium, Old Trafford, in 1910. Manchester United have won a record 20 League Titles, a joint-record 12 FA Cups,5 League Cups, the club has also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup. In 1998–99, the became the first in the history of English football to achieve the treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup. The 1958 Munich air disaster claimed the lives of eight players, in 1968, under the management of Matt Busby, Manchester United became the first English football club to win the European Cup. Alex Ferguson won 38 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles,5 FA Cups and 2 UEFA Champions Leagues, José Mourinho is the clubs current manager, having been appointed on 27 May 2016. As of June 2015, it is the worlds most valuable football brand and it is one of the most widely supported football teams in the world. In August 2012, Manchester United made a public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The club holds several rivalries, most notably with Liverpool, Manchester City and Leeds United, Manchester United was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath. By 1888, the club had become a member of The Combination. Following the leagues dissolution after only one season, Newton Heath joined the newly formed Football Alliance and this resulted in the club starting the 1892–93 season in the First Division, by which time it had become independent of the railway company and dropped the LYR from its name. After two seasons, the club was relegated to the Second Division, in January 1902, with debts of £2,670 – equivalent to £260,000 in 2017 – the club was served with a winding-up order. The following season began with victory in the first ever Charity Shield, Manchester United won the First Division for the second time in 1911, but at the end of the following season, Mangnall left the club to join Manchester City. In 1922, three years after the resumption of football following the First World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, relegated again in 1931, Manchester United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of 20th place in the Second Division in 1934. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000, in the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished 14th in the First Division. Busby led the team to second-place league finishes in 1947,1948 and 1949, in 1952, the club won the First Division, its first league title for 41 years. With an average age of 22, the title winning side of 1956 were labelled the Busby Babes by the media. In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season
