Michael Atherton
Michael Andrew Atherton OBE is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of England at the age of 25 and led the side in a record 54 Test matches. Known for his stubborn resistance during an era of hostile fast bowling, Atherton was described in 2001 as a determined defensive opener who made "batting look like trench warfare", he had several famed bouts with bowlers including South Africa's Allan Donald and Australia's Glenn McGrath. Atherton played the anchor role at a time when England batting performances lacked consistency, his playing career included some controversy, including an accusation of ball tampering, several brushes with the media with whom, by Atherton's own admission, he did not have a good understanding when he was a player. Hampered by a chronic back complaint, to contribute to the end of his career, Atherton was considered a leading England batsman during the 1990s.
Following retirement he became a journalist and is a cricket commentator with Sky Sports, cricket correspondent of The Times. Atherton was born in Failsworth, England, his family includes several lesser known sportspeople, such as his father Alan, a former Manchester United reserve goalkeeper in the 1960s. As a youth, he captained the Manchester Grammar School cricket team, for whom he scored 3,500 runs and took 170 wickets, his performances led to selection for the England under-19 team, which he captained aged 16. He represented Lancashire Schools from 1982 to 1986. In 1983 he won the Jack Hobbs Memorial Award as the Outstanding Schoolboy Cricketer at under-15 level. In a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1984 he took 6–27. Entering Downing College, Cambridge, to read History, he was selected at 18 to play for Cambridge University Cricket Club and awarded a blue. A year he made 73 on his county debut for Lancashire, scoring his maiden first-class hundred against Derbyshire a fortnight later.
During this time he represented his university, the Combined Universities cricket team and his county. This early rise through the ranks, extensive leadership experience earned him the nickname "FEC", thought to have stood for "future England captain". In his autobiography Opening Up, Atherton is candid about the fact that there are more colourful alternatives for "FEC". Atherton's heady rise continued when he made his debut for England in the fifth test against Australia at Trent Bridge, where he scored 0 and 47. Atherton's chance came when several England players announced their decision to go on a rebel tour to South Africa and so were banned from the Test team. Despite these defections, he was selected as vice-captain of the 1989–90 A-team tour to Zimbabwe rather than for the West Indies tour, he learned that he would make his debut when captain David Gower threw a plastic bag of England caps and sweaters at him. Atherton returned to the England side in the summer of 1990, partnering Graham Gooch at the top of the order and giving the first demonstration of his abilities at international level.
In his first innings after recall, his first opening the batting for England, he scored 151 against New Zealand. He shared an opening partnership of 204 with Gooch against India at Lord's, in the match famous for Gooch's scores of 333 and 123, Test centuries against New Zealand and India earned him the title of Young Cricketer of the Year. During the winter of 1990–91, Atherton faced a sterner test on the Ashes tour of Australia. Although he made a century in the third Test at Sydney, he averaged just 31 for his 279 runs, England lost 3–0; when Australia arrived for the 1993 Ashes series, Atherton's place in the team was not assured. However, a consistent summer, during which he scored six 50s in six Tests, cemented his place in the side at a fortunate time. Graham Gooch, frustrated by continual losses against Australia, resigned as captain after the fourth Test and Atherton, aged just 25, replaced him, he lost his first match in charge but England managed to beat Australia in a morale-boosting final Test.
Atherton's first tour as captain, to the West Indies in the winter of 1993–94, was not a success as England lost 3–1. This was a series of highs and lows: Brian Lara of the West Indies compiled a world-record 375 against them at Antigua. For his part, Atherton was the best of the English batsmen, scoring 510 runs at an average of 56.67. Earning plaudits for his determination and leadership, Atherton followed up with two centuries in the first two Tests at home against New Zealand, his reputation suffered a blow when he was implicated in a ball-tampering controversy during the first Test against South Africa at Lord's, for which he was fined £2,000 by Ray Illingworth. Atherton was accused of lying to the match referee. Atherton claims in his autobiography that he answered'no' when asked if he had anything in his pockets, he believed that Burge was referring to nefarious substances such as lip salve. Nonetheless the TV pictures were damning, showing Atherton deliberately putting dirt, taken from the pitch, on the ball.
Speaking, Atherton was not breaking the laws – he pointed out that plenty of bowlers improve their grip on the ball by rubbing their hands on the pitch. After this incident
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A. F. C. Bournemouth is a professional football club in Bournemouth, that play in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1890 as Boscombe St. John's Institute F. C. the club adopted their current name in 1972. Nicknamed The Cherries, since 1910 Bournemouth have played their home games at Dean Court, their home colours are black striped shirts, with black shorts and socks. A. F. C. Bournemouth have won the second and third tiers of English football, were twice runners-up of the fourth tier, they have won the Football League Trophy, the Football League Third Division South Cup. Bournemouth have spent the majority of their history bouncing between the third and fourth tier of English football. Under manager Eddie Howe, they have risen through the pyramid. F. C. Bournemouth's first in England's top division; the club is owned by Maxim Demin, a Russian multi-millionaire involved in the petrochemicals trading industry. Although the exact date of the club's foundation is not known, there is proof that it was formed in the autumn of 1899 out of the remains of the older Boscombe St. John's Institute F.
C. The club was known as Boscombe F. C; the first president was Mr. J. C. Nutt. In their first season, 1899–1900, Boscombe F. C. competed in the District Junior League. They played in the Hants Junior Cup. During the first two seasons, they played on a football pitch in Pokesdown. From their third season, the team played on a pitch in King's Park. In the 1905–06 season, Boscombe F. C. graduated to senior amateur football. In 1910, the club was granted a long lease over some wasteland next to Kings Park as the club's football ground by local businessman J. E. Cooper-Dean. With their own ground, named Dean Court after the benefactor, the club continued to thrive and dominated the local football scene; the same year the club signed its first professional player Baven Penton. Around about this time, the club obtained their nickname "The Cherries," with two foremost tales on how the club gained the nickname. First, because of the cherry-red striped shirts that the team played in and less plausible, because Dean Court was built adjacent to the Cooper-Dean estate, which, it is believed may have encompassed numerous cherry orchards.
For the first time, during the 1913–14 season, the club competed in the FA Cup. The club's progress, was halted in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I, Boscombe F. C. returned to the Hampshire League. In 1920, the Third Division of the Football League was formed, Boscombe were promoted to the Southern League, finding moderate success. To make the club more representative of the district, the name was changed to Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic F. C. in 1923. During the same year, the club was elected to the newly-expanded Football League Third Division; the first league match was at Swindon Town on 25 August 1923, which Bournemouth lost 3–1. The first league game at Dean Court was against Swindon, where Bournemouth gained their first league point after a 0–0 draw. Bournemouth struggled in the Football League but established themselves as a Third Division club. Bournemouth remains on the records as the longest continuous members of the Third Division; as a league club, Bournemouth had to wait until after the Second World War before winning their first trophy.
This was accomplished as they beat Walsall in the Third Division Cup in the final at Stamford Bridge. Under manager John Bond, the club adopted the more streamlined A. F. C. Bournemouth name in 1972. At the same time, the club adopted a new badge as a symbol of the club's progress; the stripes in the background were based on the club shirt, while in the foreground is the profile of a player heading the ball, in honour of Dickie Dowsett, a prolific scorer for the club in the 1950s and 1960s. Their red and black kit, introduced in 1971, was based on the A. C. Milan strip; this was the era of Ted MacDougall, a prolific goalscorer who, in an FA Cup tie in November 1971, scored nine goals in an 11–0 win against Margate. The club recorded a famous victory over holders Manchester United in the FA Cup in January 1984, while they were managed by Harry Redknapp. Redknapp took Bournemouth into the second tier of the English league for the first time in their history as Third Division champions in 1987. After comfortably surviving in their first season in the Second Division, Bournemouth made a serious challenge for promotion to the top flight in the 1988–89 season.
On 5 May 1990, the final day of the 1989–90 season, Leeds United had the chance to win the Second Division and gain promotion into the First Division by beating Bournemouth at Dean Court. Some United fans had caused trouble in the town during the morning and the atmosphere was tense as Leeds won the match by a single goal. Combined with the results of other matches, this meant that Leeds were promoted while Bournemouth were relegated; the violence and destruction by visitors to Bournemouth continued over the holiday weekend, causing more than £1 million worth of damage and injury to opposing fans and police officers. The town's Daily Echo newspaper reported that "spectators, including many young children, had to run to safety as missiles were hurled and riot police waded in to control the crowds." The matter was raised in Parliament by one of the town's MPs. Financially, the Leeds trouble affected the club for more than a decade, as Bournemouth were prevented by local police from staging home games on Bank Holidays until a game aga
Vicarage Road
Vicarage Road, a stadium in Watford, England, is the home of the football club Watford of the Premier League. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 23,700 following the completion of the new Sir Elton John Stand in 2014, expansion work in 2015 and again throughout 2016 and 2017, it has been the home of Watford since 1922. The ground was opened by Col. Charles Healey of Benskins Brewery for the visit of Millwall on 30 August 1922. In addition to being Watford's home since opening, the stadium was home to Wealdstone F. C. between 1991 and 1993, to rugby union side Saracens from 1997 until they moved to their new home at Allianz Park in February 2013. After purchasing the freehold of the stadium from Benskins in January 2002, Watford's financial situation forced them to sell and lease back the stadium that year. However, after a campaign entitled'Let's Buy Back The Vic' with donations coming from fans, as well as celebrity former owner Elton John donating the entire proceeds of a concert held at the venue, the club was able to repurchase the stadium in September 2004.
On 1 September 2011 it hosted England under-21s 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 8 match against Azerbaijan under-21s. The hosts thrashed the visitors 6 – 0 with braces from Craig Dawson and Henri Lansbury and single goals from Jordan Henderson and Martyn Waghorn. There were 7,738 in attendance; the Vicarage Road Stand was built following the conclusion of the 1992–93 season. An open terrace, the all-seater stand was built to comply with the Taylor Report and raise the standard of the ground, it cost £ 2.3 million to had a capacity of 5,800 people. Construction was funded by the £1.2m sale of Bruce Dyer in 1994. A mere earth bank when the club moved to the ground, it was transformed into a conventional terrace. In 1978, an electronic scoreboard was put up, which became an iconic symbol of Watford's eighties heyday. In a display of solidarity with the home support, Graham Taylor maintained that the benches for the coaching staff and substitute on the side of the pitch would remain exposed to the elements until such time as the home end was covered.
Its final game as a terrace was a 1–0 loss to Oxford United on 8 May 1993. It opened to the public once more on 18 September 1993, with Watford defeating Notts County 3–1; the home stand, it now houses the away support. A partition was subsequently added, meaning that both home and away support could be put in the stand. Half of the stand is given to away fans, the other half is used as the family area for home fans, it houses wheelchair supporters of both teams. Since August 2012, the stand has been home to the Hornets Shop The Rookery Stand was built over the course of the 1994–95 season. Another former terrace, the all-seater Rookery stand has a capacity of 6,960. Larger than the Vicarage Road stand, it has facilities on two levels and holds most of the club's administrative areas; the stand cost £1.6 million to build £300,000 of this figure was contributed by the Football Trust, with the remaining money coming from the £2.3m sale of Paul Furlong by then-owner Jack Petchey in 1994. When Watford moved from Cassio Road, this end of the ground featured a roof over a cinder bank, over the years the roof had to be removed for safety reasons.
The Supporters' Club raised funds to enable the Rookery End to feature concrete terracing under cover, this aim was realised in 1959. The new stand, replacing the 1959 model was used by Watford supporters for the first time on 22 April 1995, for the visit of Bristol City; as part of redevelopment work in conjunction with the Watford Health Campus, 164 units of affordable housing, known locally as The Wrap, were built on and around the Rookery end. Construction finished in 2009; the Rookery is the "home end". It lends its name From The Rookery End; the stand was known. The Graham Taylor Stand was renamed for the 2014–15 season, taking its name from the club's most successful manager Graham Taylor, it was named after former FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous. The official renaming ceremony took place on 29 November 2014; the stand with its distinctive wavy roof runs along the side of the pitch, on the west side of the ground. It is a two-tiered stand, with a TV camera gantry. Built in 1986, it replaced the Shrodells Stand.
The £3 million development was funded via a loan from Elton John. The upper tier, complete with executive boxes, was constructed first, temporary seats forming a lower-tier were added later; these were replaced with permanent seats, first used for a game against Notts County on 18 September 1993. When the club moved from Cassio Road in 1922, the Union Stand was transported and reconstructed on this side of the ground, it was replaced by the Shrodells Stand, constructed during the 1930s. It was extended in 1979 with a further 2,200 seats replacing the standing enclosure in front of the stand; the final match for the Shrodells Stand was a 1–1 draw against Manchester United on 3 May 1986, the Graham Taylor Stand opened on 23 August 1986, when Oxford United visited Vicarage Road, with Watford coming out 3–0 winners. The Sir Elton John Stand sits on the east side of the ground, contains the changing rooms & tunnel; the stand was opened on 13 December 2014, in a ceremony attended by Sir Elton John. Prior to the development of the Sir Elton John Stand, the east side of the ground was home to the Main Stand, constructed in 1922 following Watford FC's move from Cassio Road.
The Main Stand was closed in 2008 due to safety con
Jason Lee (footballer)
Jason Benedict Lee is an English former footballer and manager. Lee plays as a forward and has played in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest, he played for Charlton Athletic, Stockport County, Lincoln City, Southend United, Grimsby Town, Chesterfield, Peterborough United, Boston United, Northampton Town, Notts County, Mansfield Town, Kettering Town, Corby Town, Ilkeston Town and Arnold Town. In 2011, he returned to Boston United as player/manager but was dismissed in December 2012. Lee began his career at Charlton Athletic but having failed to establish himself in the side moved to Lincoln City in 1991 before moving to Southend United, he moved to Nottingham Forest in 1994. Lee failed to crack his way into Forest's first team. However, the departure of Stan Collymore to Liverpool saw. In the 1995–96 season he scored eight league goals in 28 games. Following two loan spells, back at his first club Charlton and at Grimsby Town, Lee was transferred to Watford in 1997 for £200,000 – the same fee paid by Forest three years earlier – and played in their 1997–98 Second Division championship-winning side, scoring ten goals.
However, Lee's refusal to uproot his family from Nottingham caused tension with manager Graham Taylor, who sold him to Chesterfield early in the 1998–99 season for £250,000. Since he has played for Peterborough, Boston. In January 2006, Lee joined Northampton Town on a free transfer, he was part of the Northampton side that won promotion from League Two, appearing 11 times for the Cobblers and scoring one goal against Notts County. However, he subsequently joined Aldershot, his stay at the Shots was a brief one, in June 2006 he moved to Notts County, was team captain for the 2007–08 season. It was announced on BBC East Midlands Today, during a feature presented by the player, that he would not be retained by the club for the 2008–09 campaign. Following his release from the Magpies, signed for Mansfield Town on 1 August 2008. Lee signed for Kettering Town on 13 January 2009, for the remainder of the 2008–09 season from Mansfield Town. Lee scored once in six league games for Kettering, his strike coming in a 2–1 loss to Stevenage on 27 January 2009.
He moved on to Corby Town, making his début in a 3–3 draw against Farnborough on 21 March 2009. He joined Ilkeston Town of the Conference North on 1 April 2010, scoring on his début in a 2–1 victory over AFC Telford United. After a long and wide-ranging career Lee announced his retirement from football in November 2010 following the death of his mother. Lee came out of retirement in March 2011 when he joined Arnold Town, debuting in the club's Northern Counties East League 1–0 defeat at Hallam on 8 March 2011; the same week he was announced as the Matchday VIP Host for former club Lincoln City, a role which would limit his availability for Arnold. His second, final, league appearance for the club saw him sent-off for two yellow cards, the second for the use of the elbow, in the 4–2 defeat to Pickering Town on 19 March 2011. On 22 March 2011, along with Lee Canoville was confirmed as caretaker coach of Boston United following the resignation of joint first team managers Rob Scott and Paul Hurst.
Lee re-registered himself as a player towards the end of the 10–11 season. He made three appearances, including the final of the Lincolnshire Senior Shield and one Conference North playoff-game. Jason Lee was sacked as manager in December 2012 after a run of poor results in the 2012/13 season leaving the Pilgrims in 10th place. In 2013 Lee became the Equalities Education Executive for the Professional Footballers Association Jason Lee at Soccerbase Profile at UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database The Life and Times of Jason Lee Interview with Jason for the blog The Ball is Round
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, it employs over 20,950 staff in total. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time and fixed-contract staff are included; the BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee, charged to all British households and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch-up; the fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, used to fund the BBC's radio, TV, online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has funded the BBC World Service, which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, online services in Arabic and Persian.
Around a quarter of BBC revenues come from its commercial arm BBC Studios Ltd, which sells BBC programmes and services internationally and distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC World News, from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd. From its inception, through the Second World War, to the 21st century, the BBC has played a prominent role in British culture, it is known colloquially as "The Beeb", "Auntie", or a combination of both. Britain's first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920, it was sponsored by the Daily Mail's Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba. The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts.
But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests and moved to rescind its ban in the wake of a petition by 63 wireless societies with over 3,000 members. Anxious to avoid the same chaotic expansion experienced in the United States, the GPO proposed that it would issue a single broadcasting licence to a company jointly owned by a consortium of leading wireless receiver manufactures, to be known as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd. John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast; the company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved domestic manufacturers. To this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to "inform and entertain"; the financial arrangements soon proved inadequate. Set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee.
The Committee recommended a short term reorganisation of licence fees with improved enforcement in order to address the BBC's immediate financial distress, an increased share of the licence revenue split between it and the GPO. This was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired; the BBC's broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, as was the prohibition on advertising. The BBC was banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00 and was required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee. By now, the BBC, under Reith's leadership, had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a public service rather than a commercial enterprise.
The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production, with restrictions on news bulletins waived, the BBC became the primary source of news for the duration of the crisis; the crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position. On one hand Reith was acutely aware that the Government might exercise its right to commandeer the BBC at any time as a mouthpiece of the Government if the BBC were to step out of line, but on the other he was anxious to maintain public trust by appearing to be acting independently; the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PM's own. Thus the BBC was granted sufficient leeway to pursue the Government's objectives in a manner of its own choosing; the resulting coverage of both striker and government viewpoints impressed millions of listeners who were unaware that the PM had broadcast to the nation from Reith's home, using one of Reith's sound bites inserted at the last moment
England cricket team
The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, having been governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end of 1996. England, as a founding nation, is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International status; until the 1990s, Scottish and Irish players played for England as those countries were not yet ICC members in their own right. England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match, these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference on 15 June 1909. England and Australia played the first ODI on 5 January 1971. England's first T20I was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia; as of 12 March 2019, England has played 1010 Test matches, winning 365 and losing 300. The team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions. England has played 726 ODIs, winning 362, its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups, in two ICC Champions Trophys.
England has played 108 T20Is, winning 53. They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, were runners-up in 2016; as of 12 March 2019, England are ranked fifth in Tests, first in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. Though the team and coaching staff faced heavy criticism after their Group Stage exit in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, it has since adopted a more aggressive and modern playing style in ODI cricket, under the leadership of captain Eoin Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss; the first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team, which consisted of 11 gentlemen from any part of England exclusive of Kent, played against "the Unconquerable County" of Kent and lost by a margin of "very few notches". Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century. In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven; this team competed against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856.
These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players. The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America; this team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861–62 with this first tour organised as a commercial venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond, restaurateurs of Melbourne. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were "against odds", with the opposing team fielding more than 11 players to make for a more contest; this first Australian tour were against odds of at least 18/11. The tour was so successful that George Parr led a second tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876, they played a combined Australian XI, for once on terms of 11 a side.
The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhite's XI v Combined Victoria and New South Wales; the teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter, 1877, when Lillywhite's team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious. G. Grace included in the team. England lost their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with The Sporting Times printing an obituary on English cricket: In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R. I. P. N. B. – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes".
England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1. Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series. England dominated many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884 and 1898. During this period England played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth. England won the 1890 Ashes Series 2–0, with the third match of the series being the first Test match to be abandoned. England lost 2 -- 1 in the 1891 -- 92 series. England again won the 1894 -- 95 series. In 1895 -- 96 England played Test South Africa; the 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active players: Lord Hawke, W. G. Grace and Herbert Bainbridge, the captain of Warwickshire.
Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played. England lost the 1899 Ashes series 1–0, with WG Grace making his final Test appearance in the first match of the series; the start of the
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, England. They play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, having last appeared in the Premier League in the 2001–02 season; the club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professional until 1936, was subsequently elected to join the Football League in 1938. They play their home games at Portman Road in Ipswich; the only professional football club in Suffolk, they have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Norwich City in Norfolk, with whom they have contested the East Anglian derby 148 times since 1902. The club's traditional home colours are white shorts. Ipswich have won the English league title once, in their first season in the top flight in 1961–62, have twice finished runners-up, in 1980–81 and 1981–82, they won the FA Cup in 1977–78, the UEFA Cup in 1980–81. They have competed in all three European club competitions, have never lost at home in European competition, defeating Real Madrid, A.
C. Milan, Inter Milan and Barcelona, among others; the club was founded as an amateur side in 1878 and were known as Ipswich A. F. C. until 1888 when they merged with Ipswich Rugby Club to form Ipswich Town Football Club. The team won a number of local cup competitions, including the Suffolk Challenge Cup and the Suffolk Senior Cup. After playing in the Norfolk & Suffolk League from 1899 and the South East Anglian League between 1903 and 1906, they joined the Southern Amateur League in 1907 and, with results improving became champions in the 1921–22 season; the club won the league a further three times, in 1929–30, 1932–33 and 1933–34, before becoming founder members of the Eastern Counties Football League at the end of the 1934–35 season. A year the club turned professional and joined the Southern League, which they won in its first season and finished third in the next. Ipswich were elected to The Football League on 30 May 1938, played in Division Three until the end of the 1953–54 season, when they won the title and promotion to Division Two.
The club were relegated back to Division Three the following year at the end of a poor season, but made better progress after Scott Duncan was replaced as team manager by Alf Ramsey in August 1955. The club won the Division Three title again in 1956–57, returned to the higher division; this time, Ipswich established themselves in Division Two, as the division champions, won promotion to the top level of English football, Division One, in 1960–61. In the top flight for the first time, Ipswich became Champions of the Football League at the first attempt in 1961–62; as English league champions, they qualified for the 1962–63 European Cup, defeating Maltese side Floriana 14–1 on aggregate before losing to A. C. Milan. Ramsey left the club in April 1963 to take charge of the England national team. Ramsey was replaced by Jackie Milburn. Two years after winning the league title, Ipswich slipped down to the Second Division in 1964, conceding 121 league goals in 42 games – one of the worst-ever defensive records in English senior football.
Milburn quit after just one full season and was replaced by Bill McGarry in 1964. The club remained in the Second Division for four years until McGarry guided Ipswich to promotion along with his assistant Sammy Chung in the 1967–68 season, winning the division by a single point ahead of Queens Park Rangers. McGarry left to manage Wolves and was replaced by Bobby Robson in January 1969. Robson led Ipswich to several seasons in top flight European football; the successful period began in 1973 when the club won the Texaco Cup and finished fourth in the league, qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time. In the 1974–75 season they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time, losing to West Ham United after a replay, finished 3rd in the league. By the late 1970s, Robson had built a strong side with talent in every department, introducing the Dutch pair Arnold Mühren and Frans Thijssen to add flair to a team that featured British internationals including John Wark, Terry Butcher and Paul Mariner, although the Ipswich squad lacked the depth of established big clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United.
Ipswich featured in the top five of the league and in the UEFA Cup. At their peak in the 1979–80 season, they beat Manchester United 6–0 in a league game at Portman Road, a game where United goalkeeper Gary Bailey saved three penalties; the defeat cost United two points – the margin which separated them and champions Liverpool. Major success came in 1978 when Ipswich beat Arsenal at Wembley Stadium to win their only FA Cup trophy; the triumph was followed by a UEFA Cup victory in 1981 with a 5–4 victory over AZ Alkmaar in the two-legged final. The run to the final included a 4–1 win at St Etienne, captained at the time by Michel Platini.. The club finished as league runners-up in 1981 and 1982. Robson's success with Ipswich had attracted the attention of many bigger clubs, he had been linked with the Manchester United job when Dave Sexton was sacked in May 1981, but the job went to Ron Atkinson instead, it was the Football Association who lured Robson away from Portman Road a year when he accepted their offer to manage the England national team in July 1982.
His successor at Ipswich was his assistant manager Bobby Ferguson. Under Ferguson, Town finished mid-table twice, but worsening performances meant that they began to struggle in the top division; the recent construction of an expensive
