Every league table on Earth traces back to a gas lamp on a Birmingham corner.
THE DESK — NOTES & REMARKS
Sixth entry in the FOUNDED series. Companion films: Man United, Liverpool, Man City, Dortmund, Newcastle, AC Milan, and Inter, all live on the channel.
THE LOWDOWN — THE FULL HISTORY
THE CHAPEL
1874: four young men from a chapel cricket team decide rugby is too rough, and start a football club instead. That club is Aston Villa.
THE INVENTION
Fourteen years later, in 1888, Villa director William McGregor writes the letter that invents the Football League itself — the format every league on Earth still uses.
THE DOUBLE
The 1897 double, league and cup in the same season, stood unmatched for over sixty years.
THE THROUGH-LINE
The chapel. The gas lamp. The letter. How the giants of world football actually began.
MORE FROM FOUNDED
THE TERRACES — DISCUSSION
The argument also lives in the YouTube comments ↗.