In the 1970’s on Saturday
afternoons I felt grown up writing down all the football scores for my dad if
he was out. He needed the scores from all four divisions as he doggedly did the
Football Pools every week for years. He also did Spot-The-Ball too but I can’t
recall any significant wins. It didn’t occur to me that someone invented the
football league but someone did back in the Victorian days. It was William
McGregor and was also the chairman of Aston Villa football club. Here I am
stood by his grave following a thirty minute search through the long churchyard
behind St. Mary’s in Handsworth in Birmingham.
Not much is known of his early life. After moving
from Perthshire to Birmingham he set up a draper’s shop. Nuts about football he
became involved with local football club Aston Villa. He served the club for
over 20 years in various capacities including president, director and chairman.
The football league came about from his vexation: Villa matches were often
cancelled so he organised a meeting with England's leading clubs. This spawned the
creation of the Football League that gave clubs a guaranteed fixture list. This
lifted football from an amateur pastime to a professional business.
William was married to Jessie and they had a son
and a daughter. He kept his drapers shop for all his working life, closing it
to attend football matches and opening it later to sell football kits. He was a
committed Christian and worshipped for forty years at the Congregational church
in Aston. He didn’t drink alcohol and supported the Temperance movement.
In May 1910 he was taken ill and later confined
to a nursing home. A year later his condition worsened and he died age 65 in December
1911. He’s still remembered as the "father of The Football League"
and I was glad to read the Aston Villa Supporter’s Trust had raised £1,000 to
clean his headstone. There’s even a bronze statue outside Villa’s stadium (on
the Trinity Road Stand if you want to see it.)
Looking at the pigeons in the sun…
There’s even a statue of him…
Here he is…
He founded Aston Villa Football
Club. Impressive club…
The headstone has been cleaned up…