8 September 1888: First Football League matches played

After messing about with friendlies, 'Tests' and cup matches for the last couple of decades, football got serious today in 1888, with the start of the world's first football league.

Preston North End, 1889 © Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images
Preston: the “Invincibles”
(Image credit: Preston North End, 1889 © Bob Thomas/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

For the first couple of decades after 1863, when the game was first codified, football was an amateur game, played by foppish toffs in public schools, with a penchant for calling the game “soccer” to distinguish it from “rugger”.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.