Blast from the past
Swansea City 1 Watford 3
6th February 1983
Football League Division One
View attachment Luther Blissett.jpg
Football on a Sunday comes to Wales
It seems strange to think now that there was a time when football was not played on a Sunday. The Swans game with Watford in February 1983 was the first league game in Wales to be played on a Sunday and only the second time a top flight game had been played on a Sunday (the first being a game nine years earlier between Stoke and Chelsea at the Victoria ground)
But it wasn’t always the case. In fact, there was a time when football was illegal on a Sunday. Back in those days, Britain was under the laws of the Sunday Observance Act 1780. The Act prohibited admission to a building on a Sunday for payment. In fact, the Act stated:
‘any house, room, or other place opened for public entertainment or amusement, or for public debating on any subject whatsoever, on a Sunday, and to which persons shall be admitted, or for public debating on any subject whatsoever, on a Sunday, and to which persons shall be admitted by payment of money or by tickets sold for money, shall be deemed a disorderly house or place.’
The fine for breaking the law was £200. When you consider the Act was passed in 1780, this amount would have been far higher in 1974.
January 1974 saw some FA Cup ties played on a Sunday, and later that month was the first recorded League match taking place on a Sunday. Britain was under industrial strife at the time. In late 1973 there was an energy crisis caused by Arab members of OPEC. They were refusing to send oil to western nations who had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War that year.
The situation was exacerbated when miners seized their opportunity to bring the country to its knees and went on strike at the beginning of 1974. As supplies were low, many clubs looked to alter their kick-off times so they didn’t need to use floodlights. The idea of playing on Sundays was then suggested as earlier kick-off times for other days had not been popular.
The Swans came to be league trailblazers in 1983 when Watford agreed to a 24 hour postponement of the game to avoid a clash with the rugby international the day before between Wales and England (the game ended 13-13)
As John Toshack noted in his programme notes for the game, this match had special significance for both clubs as well as him personally. Just five years earlier Toshack had made his managerial bow at the Vetch in a 3-3 draw with Watford with both sides in the fourth division and here they were five years later competing in a first division encounter (Watford ended the day 3rd with the Swans 19th)
The Swans went ahead in the match when former Everton striker Bob Latchford netted on 27 minutes but it was a false dawn for the Swans when Watford scored three times in the second half. Luther Blissett scored the first on 56 minutes whilst John Barnes punished a poor back pass to give the visitors the lead on 81 minutes. Blissett added a third right at the end to secured the points for the visitors.
The Watford side of course included Welsh international Kenny Jackett who would go onto manage the Swans almost leading them to back to back promotions in 2005 and 2006
SWANS: Davies, Robinson, Marustik, Charles, Stevenson, Rajkovic, Curtis, James, Gale, Kennedy, Latchford Sub: Stanley (for Charles 64)
WATFORD: Sherwood, Rice, Rostron, Taylorm Sims, Bolton, Callaghan, Blissett, Barnes, Jackett, Lohman Sub: Jobson
Referee: Neville Ashley (Cheshire) Attendance, 14,461
Sources:
The Pink Un -
We’re closed on Sundays: How football on a Sunday began in England
Old Watford -
Swansea 1 Watford 3
