Boxing Day is one of the biggest days traditionally on the football calendar. It is a time of the year when many people are off work and all eyes are on the world’s top football competition, the Premier League.
The holiday period is a busy time for football in England. The Premier League specifically is one of the only major football competitions to play right through the holidays.
There has been a call for the league to stop playing around Christmas and New Year’s. Yet, pausing the league would end a tradition that stretches back over a century. Boxing Day fixtures are part of what makes English football so great.
In 1871, Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) became a national holiday. Football has always been the king of sports in the United Kingdom. In 1958, the first games on Boxing Day were played. It isn’t just the Premier League that plays matches on Boxing Day, as the lower leagues in the UK do too.
However, the first teams to play on Boxing Day were non-league clubs Sheffield FC and Hallam FC. to They are the world's oldest and second oldest football clubs. The teams played the first Rules Derby on Boxing Day 1860.
Boxing Day is a day in which many families get together for the first or second time during the holiday period. The football matches on offer are a focal point for many families on the day.
On Boxing Day 2022, the Premier League specifically will offer matches throughout the day. Many of the fixtures will be televised in the UK and around the world, giving football fans some glorious post-Christmas sports to watch.
Some teams and players enjoy playing on Boxing Day more than others. Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler scored nine times in Boxing Day fixtures. Former Newcastle player Alan Shearer and Tottenham striker Robbie Keane netted eight goals on December 26.
Fowler is one of a handful of players to score a Boxing Day hat trick. He did it against Bolton Wanderers in 2001 while playing for Leeds. Thierry Henry, Kevin Phillips, Dimitar Berbatov, Gareth Bale, and Harry Kane also notched hat-tricks the day after Christmas.
Former Aston Villa and Man City midfielder Gareth Barry appeared in 18 Boxing Day fixtures. No player has appeared in more games on the day.
Liverpool’s James Milner could have pulled closer to Barry’s record. However, the midfielder will sit out this Boxing Day with an injury.