They were there when it all began and are still blazing a claret and blue trail 134 years later. Richard Whitehead selects 50 men and moments in the life story of Aston Villa.
33 Founding the Football League
True fact – football would be dead now if it were not for the Villa. The game would have gone the way of other fleetingly popular pastimes like shove ha’penny or hopscotch if a Villa man had not taken a hand. William McGregor, a Scot on the Villa committee, could see that, while fans still flocked to FA Cup games, they were becoming tired of the friendlies that filled the majority of Saturdays. McGregor thought it would be better if the leading clubs met each other regularly on a home and away basis and the Football League, formed in 1888, was his brilliant brainchild. Like so many ideas born in Victorian Britain, it was copied all over the world and still forms the bedrock of the game. And it’s all thanks to the Villa.
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