The first teams to wear numbered shirts in the Football League, were Arsenal at
Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea at home to Swansea, both on 28th April 1928.
In 1931, Arsenal were the first team from the capital to win the League Championship.
They were also in 1932, the first team to lose an F.A. Cup final at Wembley after scoring first, funnily enough they
became the first to do the same thing in 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
The first player to score in an F.A. Cup final used an alias. M.P. Betts scored the only goal of the first ever final
for Wanderers against Royal Engineers in 1872, but was actually playing under the name A.H. Chequer. He was a member of
the Harrow Chequers team who had scratched their first round tie to Wanderers.
The first player to score in an F.A. Cup final at Wembley was Davis Jack of Bolton Wanderers in 1923.
The first player to score in an F.A. Cup final at The Millennium Stadium, Cardiff was Freddy Ljungberg of Arsenal in 2001.
The first player to score in successive F.A. Cup finals was Alexander Bonsor of Old Etonians, who scored in the 1875 and 1876 finals
against Royal Engineers and The Wanderers respectively.
Aston Villa, became the first team to win all three major domestic trophies, when they beat Rotherham United 3-2 on aggregate to win the first Football League Cup final in 1961.
They also became the first team to score 1000 Football League goals, reaching the milestone during the 1903/04 season, after only 450 matches.
Gordon of Preston North End scored the first Football League goal on the opening day of the 1888/9 season.
The first Football League hat trick was scored for Burnley against Bolton Wanderers. Walter Tait scored it on 8th September 1888, to help them to a 4-3 win.
The Division One game between Arsenal and Sheffield United on 22 January 1927, was the first ever to be broadcast on the radio. It ended in a 1-1 draw.
The first televised F.A. Cup Final was the 1937 final which saw Sunderland beat Preston North End 3-1.
The first Football League match to be televised live, was a Div 1 game between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers on 9th September 1960.
It was a 1-0 win for Bolton, but was so dull that the plan to show regular Friday night action was scapped.
Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-2 in the first game to be shown on Match of the Day, on 22nd August 1964. Broadcast on the new BBC2 channel, which could only be viewed in
the London area, there were almost as many people at the game as watched it later on T.V.
The first game to be shown on T.V. in colour was Liverpool vs West Ham, on 15th November 1969.
Martin Buchan has the distinction of being the first and so far the only player to captain both English and Scottish F.A. Cup winning sides. Aberdeen in 1970 and Manchester United in 1977.
The first player to be sent off at Wembley was Boris Stankovic of Yugoslavia, who received his marching
orders against Sweden in the 1948 Olympics.
Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner of Liverpool and Leeds Utd respectively hold the dubious honour of being the first players to be sent
off during the 1974 Charity Shield match, they were sent to the dressing room to resume there punch up.
Kevin Moran of Manchester United has the unenviable distinction of being the first player to be sent off in an F.A. Cup final. He was dismissed by referee Peter willis
in the 1985 final against Everton.
The first player to be sent off whilst playing for England was Alan Mullery against Yugoslavia,
on 5th June 1968 during the European Championships. England lost 1-0.
Meanwhile the first to be sent off whilst playing for Wales was Trevor Hockey, during their 3-0 defeat in Poland in 1973.
