Everton v Newcastle United (1903)

Liverpool
1903-09-19
Silent
2m

None of the goals but plenty of action in a 4-1 home win to Everton.

A film of the same fixture in the previous season featured more crowds than football, but this example offers great prolonged views of play. The film makes clear that however much the game may have evolved over the years, its essence is timeless. 'The Football Field' appearing in a large advert was for one of many provincial weekly football papers that were essential for following the game.

Edwardian Football

The beautiful game, Edwardian style, in some of the earliest ever film of League, international and amateur football

For Blackburn-based filmmakers Mitchell & Kenyon, the attraction of football was at least as much the swelling crowds - who they hoped to lure to paid screenings - as the game itself. With only a few hundred feet of film on hand and far less mobile cameras than today's, their cameramen could only hope to sample the action on the pitch; catching a goal was a rare bonus.

The crowds' passion and energy are almost spectacle enough, but these films also survive as priceless football history - preserving, among other trophies, the earliest known footage of Manchester Utd and probably the first 'international' games captured on film.