English Football

If we talk about football, everybody will say yes that it is an unlimited topic to talk about. It is especially for football lovers. It does not matter whoever the subjects are. From adults to children, male or female, they will enjoyably discuss it if they want. Football is a thing that really brings people exit from weariness. With football, people will forget their problems for a while. Eventually, football can make people crazy. When a person has a favourite team, he or she can be a fanatic one that supports his or her favourite team faithfully. Alright, this article is going to talk much about English football that contains many interesting things like its association, competition, tournament, teams, hooligans, etc.

English FA or football association is one of well-managed football organizations confessed by FIFA as the highest federation in the world. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest football association ever. The FA is responsible to oversee all aspects of the game of football in England, both professional and amateur. It also handles the management of England national team. Men’s, women’s and youth national football team are the responsibility of The FA. All of England’s professional football clubs are members of the FA. The clubs compete in some competitions and tournaments under the FA such as FA Cup as the oldest tournament of the world and English Premier League.

The highest competition in United Kingdom is named as Premier League. It is a hugely popular league around this world. Many people love the competition that is well-known as EPL or English Premier League. In EPL, every match played serves very good spectacle. All teams show special spirit of Britain teams which are very fast and attractive when striking. That is why the matches often result many goals and of course football lovers like it.

At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled that would bring more money into the game overall. It means that if the league form was changed with the new one, the competition would be much better financially for the clubs members. Automatically, on 27 May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company working out of an office at the Football Association's then headquarters in Lancaster Gate. There was no change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained on the same terms as between the old First and Second Divisions. Premier league has right to send four teams to compete in UEFA Champions league.

In English Premier League, there are four teams famously called “The Big Four”. These teams are Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea. The name Big Four is used because of their achievements, history, players, and the most important one is their domination in the league. During five years from last six years, they had been sealing big four by turns. From those clubs, maybe it is only Liverpool which is disturbed by other team in the fight of fourth place in season 2009-10. The team which has successfully kicked them from big four is Tottenham Hotspur.

When football observers discuss which the most successful team in England is, it will not be far from Manchester United. The team that is also familiar with name Red Devils has won 18 league titles, 11 FA cups, 4 League Cups, 3 Champions League trophies, and many other trophies. As the result, the tem that was formed in 1878 with Old Trafford as the home ground has so many fans throughout this planet. Sir Alex Ferguson is the main figure that has brought United to their succession.

Beside Manchester United, there is Liverpool which has won many trophies. But, since they suffer achievement derivation, the teams considered as the real challengers of title race are Chelsea and Arsenal. Presently, under the hegemony of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea suddenly becomes the new giant team in England.

On the other hand, although for a while suffering debt swelling after the movement to the new stadium, Arsenal are really considered as the serious challenger for Chelsea and United in EPL campaign. It is because of their progress in these last five years. Though getting no titles, they have been able to stay in top four of EPL and even for some times they have reached semi final and one final of UEFA Champions League. The most meritorious person to Arsenal’s achievement so far is Arsene Wenger. He came to this club in 1996 and has won 3 league titles, 4 FA cups, and other cups like Community Shield.

In addition to those facts above, there is still a phenomenon in English football. It is the football national team itself. England national team is a power of world football that is one of seven national teams to have won the FIFA World Cup, which they did in 1966 when they hosted the finals. They defeated West Germany 4–2 in extra time in the final. Since then their best performance at a World Cup was reaching the semi finals in 1990, where they lost to West Germany on penalties. They then just reached the semi finals of the UEFA European Championship in 1968 and 1996. Now, England national team is still considered as a great team which has many superstars.

Well, this essay truly is still lack of information about English. But, there are still some good values that people can acquire from it. It is such as the management of clubs in England, the achievements of the teams including the managers and the players, the tournaments and competitions format, and many more.

By : Yohanes Purwo Prabowo (081214135)

References

English Premier League. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League

FA Cup. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FA_Cup

Football League Cup. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_League_Cup

Arsenal FC. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_F.C.

Manchester United FC. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_F.C.

England National Football Team. Wikipedia. Retreived May 24, 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_national_football_team