Football
The city is home to two of the oldest professional football teams in the world: Aston Villa (1874) and Birmingham City (1875). Nearby West Bromwich Albion's ground The Hawthorns used to be divided by the Birmingham/Smethwick border, but was moved completely into the latter by a minor rationalisation of local government borders in the 1960s and is now in Sandwell. In addition, Birmingham features several non-league teams including Romulus and Sutton Coldfield Town.
Aston in Birmingham is notable for being the location for the first football league, which was invented by William McGregor on March 22, 1885. Aston Villa Football Club were among the founding clubs of the Premier League in 1992.
Birmingham City Ladies compete at the top level of English women's football, the FA WSL.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Birmingham
Famous quotes containing the word football:
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)