This week’s object is this quirky late 19th century umbrella stand.
The cast iron stand says the word “FOOTBALLER” at the top and features a figure of a footballer in his kit holding on to a goalpost.
The object’s exact history might be a mystery, but its purpose and what it depicts can represent the history between rain and football. As a sport, football has never really been deterred by rain, and in many big matches the rain has even added to the atmosphere and made the occasion even more iconic. In fact, rain has even become a celebrated companion to English football, as football fans usually think of a cold and rainy night in Stoke thanks to Andy Gray.
What are some famous rainy English matches?
The 1924 FA Cup final, the second to take place at Wembley Stadium, is known as the “Rainy Day Final”. Newcastle United and Aston Villa were the teams facing each other that day, and the rain meant that fans were using their match programmes as makeshift umbrellas. As a result, there are very few programmes in good condition left today, and so the value of one is the highest of any Wembley final (over £6000!).
In our Football Heritage Collection, there is a ticket from the game, which took place on 26th April 1924. The occasion, which was attended by over 91,000 fans, was the first ever all-ticket FA Cup final, which makes this ticket very special.
On 25th August 1956, Preston North End played Chelsea at a waterlogged Stamford Bridge. England and Preston North End legend, Sir Tom Finney famously controlled the ball and beat two Chelsea defenders whilst sliding through a puddle. A picture of this taken by photographer John Horton became the 1956 Sports Photograph of the Year and it is now known as the ‘Finney Splash’. The moment was also turned into a sculpture which sits outside PNE’s ground, Deepdale.
This moment remains the most iconic meeting of rain and football, and shows the skill and genius of an English footballing legend.
What about rain in football matches internationally?
Although the match was between two English teams, the 2008 Champions League Final took place in Moscow, Russia on 21st May. Manchester United and Chelsea went head to head for a game that was very much enhanced by the rain. Where Manchester goes, rain follows, and the night was a perfect dream for the team.
This viral clip from a 2013 Kazakhstan League match shows the clever way in which the players managed to take a corner in ankle-deep water!
Umbrellas keep us dry in the rain, but what about when it’s not raining water? On 26th February 2023, a Turkish Süper Lig game between Beşiktaş and Antalyaspor was stopped at 4 minutes and 17 seconds and fans threw teddy bears on the pitch. The pause was to pay respect the 50,000 lives lost in the deadly earthquakes that began at 04:17 on 6th February in Turkey and Syria.
The reason for this teddy bear rain was so that they could be donated to the children that survived the disaster.
All in all, as well as being nice to look at, the decorative umbrella stand reminds us of many iconic rainy football matches, as evidenced by the examples above.