Association Football Trivia Thread

[Liquid]

Quite - though as you say, rouges weren't used in the Cromwell Cup final. I believe it was the decision of the captains to carry on playing until one side scored a goal to win it. [...] I don't think we had the Fair Catch then, but it might have still been a thing.

The ninja edit says that the rouge rule was in effect but because the score was 0 (0) - 0 (0), both captains agreed to play until a goal was scored. I'm also pretty sure Sheffield Rules banned the fair catch rule and thus also gave us heading.

Anyway, Sheffield Rules is BEST rules. And I can't resist bringing Wednesday in as an answer.

It makes me wonder exactly what sort of football Wrexham played during our early years. We were founded in 1864 13 years before, as you say, the rules of modern football were finalised and 12 years before the Football Association of Wales was founded in the town. I do know we were one of the proponents for settling games being 11 a-side at a time when the number of players in a game was still decided on an ad hoc basis; in our embryonic years we played Chester College with 16 a-side, the fire brigade with 15 a-side and some rumoured games with 17 a-side.

We definitely played 'association football' but we might have been too far from the reach of the Sheffield Rules and definitely too far away from Cambridge Rules and other London codes.

The early history of soccer is really fascinating. And internet points are srs bsns.

 

[Famine]

The ninja edit says that the rouge rule was in effect but because the score was 0 (0) - 0 (0), both captains agreed to play until a goal was scored. I'm also pretty sure Sheffield Rules banned the fair catch rule and thus also gave us heading.

I do remember something about the London clubs finding the Northerners' heading hilarious.

It makes me wonder exactly what sort of football Wrexham played during our early years. We were founded in 1864 13 years before, as you say, the rules of modern football were finalised and 12 years before the Football Association of Wales was founded in the town. I do know we were one of the proponents for settling games being 11 a-side at a time when the number of players in a game was still decided on an ad hoc basis; in our embryonic years we played Chester College with 16 a-side, the fire brigade with 15 a-side and some rumoured games with 17 a-side.

We definitely played 'association football' but we might have been too far from the reach of the Sheffield Rules and definitely too far away from Cambridge Rules and other London codes.

Effectively Cambridge Rules only really applied to Cambridge University and some of the feeder schools - Eton, Harrow, etc. It made sense that these became the basis of the FA's rules 20 years later, as the majority of members of the FA were public schools and the Civil Service...

The Sheffield Rules were popular across all of the North and the Midlands, so it may well be that Wrexham played Sheffield Rules. It was the popularity that lead to the effective unification of the codes in 1877.

 

[polysmut]

That's phenomenally unfortunate timing.

On the one hand, yes it is. On the other, there's just been an interesting discussion on the subject that may not have occurred if the "rouge" had come up in another way.

 

[polysmut]

Your turn, S_Bridge.

Name the four FIFA World Cup winning captains whose surnames begin with M.

 

[Liquid]

Not sure if Maradona was actually the captain of Argentina but I'll plump for him and Bobby Moore.

 

[lxmmy]

I can only think of 3: Maradona, Moore, Matthaus.

 

[polysmut]

Not sure if Maradona was actually the captain of Argentina but I'll plump for him and Bobby Moore.

That's two.

I can only think of 3: Maradona, Moore, Matthaus.

& that's the third. (edit: the third to be mentioned here, I didn't mean third chronologically)

One more to get.

 

[Ross]

Paolo Maldini? Not sure if he was still playing when Italy won in 2006?

 

[polysmut]

Paolo Maldini? Not sure if he was still playing when Italy won in 2006?

Italy's captain in 2006 was Fabio Cannavaro who also won FIFA's world player of the year award that year.

 

[Liquid]

I'd guess it might be one of the early captains from the 1930s.

 

[polysmut]

I'd guess it might be one of the early captains from the 1930s.

You'd be on the right track with that.

 

[Liquid]

What is the record win in a British cup final?

Major trophies only

 

[polysmut]

What is the record win in a British cup final?

Major trophies only

I'd be in the realms of pure guesswork with that one.

To clear up the previous question, the missing answer was Giuseppe Meazza, captain of Italy in 1938.
The official name of the San Siro is Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Edit:
Some complete guesses now.

1962 League Cup final? (2 legs?)
1951 Welsh Cup final? (because Liquid)
1932 FA Cup final?
All years were selected fairly randomly.

 

[Liquid]

1962 League Cup final? (2 legs?)
1951 Welsh Cup final? (because Liquid)
1932 FA Cup final?
All years were selected fairly randomly.

The answer was the 1903 Welsh Cup final, where Wrexham beat Aberaman Athletic 8-0. No jokes about 'major cup', please.

Here's a more accessible question. It's themed.

Iceland, Albania and Northern Ireland are making history by qualifying for Euro 2016 as pot five seeds. But they are not the first countries to do so.

Sticking only with Europe for the purposes of this question, which three teams before Iceland and Northern Ireland qualified for tournaments as pot five seeds?

Two were for the Euros, one was for the World Cup.

 

[lxmmy]

Latvia & Yugoslavia for Euro's?

Korea DPR for World Cup?

 

[Liquid]

Latvia & Yugoslavia for Euro's?

Yugoslavia were always a handy team and were never a bottom seed.

Latvia were a pot four team in 2004 qualifying alongside Cyprus, Wales, Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Estonia et al and ahead of the lowest, pot five teams such as Andorra, Malta, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Korea DPR for World Cup?

Sticking only with Europe for the purposes of this question

 

[polysmut]

Albania?

 

[Liquid]

Albania?

I had forgotten that Albania were also on course to qualify as a pot five team but the question is about instances before these 2016 qualifiers.

 

[polysmut]

I had forgotten that Albania were also on course to qualify as a pot five team but the question is about instances before these 2016 qualifiers.

I didn't know that they were on course to do so, it was really just a guess. I'm not up to date with current football.
I'll have my last attempt at this one now as I don't have much of an idea.

Cyprus?
Malta?

 

[Liquid]

Neither Cyprus nor Malta have had EC or WC qualification success.

 

[lxmmy]

Another stab in the dark. Belarus & Lithuania?

 

[Liquid]

No dice.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Bosnia??

 

[Liquid]

Still no.

 

[polysmut]

I've just read the question to my mate & his guess is Hungary?

Edit: & now he's suggesting teams that may qualify through Europe even though that would be questionable geographically.
So, Israel? He suggested others & I've suggested that he joins GTP (He plays Forza so he might join).

 

[Famine]

Here's a more accessible question. It's themed.

Iceland, Albania and Northern Ireland are making history by qualifying for Euro 2016 as pot five seeds. But they are not the first countries to do so.

Sticking only with Europe for the purposes of this question, which three teams before Iceland and Northern Ireland qualified for tournaments as pot five seeds?

Two were for the Euros, one was for the World Cup.

Well... EC qualifying was even less helpful than WC qualifying for a great many years. I'm not sure of how teams were seeded or if pots even existed, but up until even extremely recently it was only 4 teams qualifying for the final after knockout matches.

I reckon you'd need to look at the period from WC 1986 - Euro 1996. In that spell you've got expansion of the finals, the first rise of proper qualifying groups rather than joke three or four-way round robins biased towards the top seeds and a suffusion of post-Communist countries with no ranking points.

I'm liking Slovenia on that basis.

 

[Liquid]

I'm liking Slovenia on that basis.

Right country, wrong time period.

Slovenia qualified for Euro 2000 as a pot five, and absolute lowest pot, team. They bear Ukraine in the plau-offs.
Slovenia also qualified for South Africa 2010 as a pot five team. They breezed Russia aside, of all teams, in the play-offs.

Two points for Indigo. But there is one team left; one team that qualified for the European Championships as a pot five team.

 

[C-ZETA]

Croatia circa 1996? That was their first major tournament.

 

[Akmuq]

Turkey? They made an astronomical rise from mid-90's until the 2002 World Cup, I remember reading about them being minnows before they qualified for Euro 96.

That and I'm struggling to think of other Yugoslav-USSR teams that may have qualified at the time.

 

[Liquid]

Turkey?

Is the right answer. Turkey were dog rough right up until the mid 90s when they inexplicably qualified for Euro 96 as a pot five team and have maintained a strong presence ever since.

@Famine got two right so he asks the next question.