Blackpool's last Christmas Day game was in 1965 when the team defeated local rivals Blackburn Rovers in a 4-2 win at Bloomfield Road and the first League Christmas Day game was at home to Newcastle United in 1897 when the visitors won 3-2. But in 1901 there was an enormous amount of travelling to be done. On Christmas Day it was off to Woolwich Arsenal for a League game which ended in a 0-0 draw and then, rather surprisingly in view of what was to follow, the team travelled down to the Sussex coast for a friendly with Brighton and Hove Albion on Boxing Day.
After a win in Brighton the travelling started again for it was off to far-flung Middlesborough for a 28 December fixture. That game ended in a 2-1 defeat which, considering that the team had spent most of the intervening time since the Brighton game travelling, was tantamount to a moral victory! January the first saw a home fixture with Burslem Port Vale, won 1-0, before the festive season ended with a 4 January trip to the west country where Bristol City beat the travel-weary Seasiders 3-0.
And in 1932 when the cry was "It's Jolly Old Christmas" the response was "But Not For Footballers" and when it was said "There May Be Turkey", it was "But Not Much" for the Blackpool footballers; their holidays were to be spent "a-roaming"! It was said that "one of these days a Blackpool professional footballer will spend Christmas Day at his own hearth" but that was to be only in his dreams, "when primrose visions visit his slumbers"!
In 1932 it was pointed out that in the seven years since 1925 Blackpool players had done their fair share of festive travelling and that when Christmas was declared as "The Fireside Festival", the Blackpool footballer said "Oh, yeah" and then said "good bye" to his wife. In that 1925 season Blackpool played Chelsea on Christmas Day morning (0-0) and within an hour of the final whistle the team took the train to London, dining en route on a dinner that had been "strictly prescribed by the laws which govern the footballers' Spartan diet" on the eve of a game - this time against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (3-2).
A year later the Blackpool players greeted Christmas morning at Cleethorpes and played Grimsby Town in the afternoon (1-2). They then travelled through the night to Manchester and on Boxing Day met Grimsby again at Bloomfield Road (6-2). Come 1927 and the fireside Christmas dream very nearly came true. There was a game at Fulham on Christmas Eve (2-2) and then, with Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, a free day. But the team had travelled back from London on the Saturday night so they were not able to celebrate as well as they wished and then after a home encounter with Reading (3-1) it was on the train to Berkshire for the return game on 27 December (0-1) and lo and behold Christmas had gone once again!
Cleethorpes was a popular resort for the Blackpool team of the late 1920s for Christmas Day 1928 found them once again in the east coast resort prior to an afternoon game with Grimsby Town (4-1) and once again it was on the train to Manchester ready for the return fixture on Boxing Day (1-1). The Chelsea odyssey of 1925 was repeated in 1929 (1-1 and 0-4) before in 1930 it was off to the capital again for a game at Arsenal on 27 December (1-7). But this time it was not quite so straightforward as that game followed a Christmas Day match at Bloomfield Road against Sheffield United (2-1), a night staying in a Manchester hotel prior to the return with Sheffield United at Bramall Lane (1-5) on Boxing Day before the entourage left for the metropolis. And back in Blackpool on 28 December too!
In 1931 it was Chelsea at home again on Christmas Day (2-4) and then once more off to Stamford Bridge, which was rapidly becoming synonymous with Christmas as far as the Blackpool footballers were concerned. Turkey was served on the train for the players and plum pudding also; it was apparently served to the footballers in error but too late to be changed and Blackpool paid the price as the Boxing Day encounter was lost 4-1. Unfortunately the diet could not be offered as an excuse because the Chelsea players were travelling on the same train and they too had a Christmas meal served in error!
And that brought the players up to 1932 when Christmas once again fell on a Sunday and a home game with Newcastle United on Christmas Eve made it seem as though the team would be able to spend a leisurely Christmas Day at home.
But there was no such luck for the Boxing Day game was at Derby County and a quick look at the railway timetable revealed that there was no train which would get them to Derby in time on Boxing Day for a three o'clock kick-off. And so plans were made to board a train for Buxton immediately after the Newcastle United game on Christmas Eve; the players would then spend Christmas Day ensconced in a Peak District hotel. The plan was to travel on to Derby on the Monday morning for the afternoon game, catch a train to Preston immediately afterwards and then go by coach back to Blackpool at noon on Tuesday for the Tuesday afternoon return with Derby County.
The busy 1932 schedule was duly completed with a defeat, 0-4, a draw, 1-1, and a win 4-1 and the final word was spare a thought for the Blackpool footballer and offer "a toast of sympathy for him"! It appears that the 2011 schedule is very little different from days of yore - it may even be a trifle less demanding.