billsportsmaps.com

November 3, 2019

2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round map with current league attendances & fixture list. / + The club making its FA Cup 1st Round debut: Maldon & Tiptree FC.

Filed under: 2019-20 FA Cup — admin @ 2:31 pm


2019-20_fa-cup_map_1st-round_map-of-the-80-clubs_w-current-attendances-in-league_fixture-list_post_b_.gif
2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round map with current league attendances & fixture list
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By Bill Turianski on 3 November 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-The competition…FA Cup (en.wikipedia.org).
-BBC’s page on the competition…bbc.com/fa-cup.
-Fixtures, results, etc…Summary – 2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round (soccerway.com).
-FA Cup Factfile…blog: facupfactfile.wordpress.com; twitter.cm/[@facupfactfile].

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Breakdown of the 79 clubs in the 2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round Proper (by Division or Level)…
∙3rd division (EFL League One) – 23 clubs.
∙4th division (EFL League Two) – 24 clubs.
∙5th division (non-League National League) – 15 clubs.
∙6th level – 10 clubs (5 NL-North, 5 NL-South).
∙7th level – 5 clubs (1 Northern Prem, 1 Southern Prem South, 1 Southern Prem Central, 2 Isthmian Prem).
∙8th level – 2 clubs (1 Isthmian North, 1 Isthmian South East).

There are 79 clubs in the 2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round – instead of the usual 80 clubs – due to the demise of Bury FC (ex-3rd division) {see this, from 28 August 2019 at bbc.com/football}. That left a gap in the FA Cup 1st Round. So, it had been decided that during the 1st Round Draw, the last team in the pot would receive a bye to the 2nd Round. That team was West Sussex-based 8th-tier side Chichester City. And Chichester City who are the lowest-placed team still alive in the competition, announced they would donate part of their 36,000 prize to ‘the appropriate organisation involved with the continuation of Bury’. {See this from sport.net via Press Association.} {See this: Chichester City players react to receiving a bye into the second round of the #FACup! (twitter.com/[@NonLeaguePaper]).}

Speaking of Chichester City… I am considering them not to be FA Cup 1st Round first-timers. Because one of the two clubs which merged to form the present day Chichester City (II), in 2000, was Chichester City (I) (1873-2000). And that original Chichester City qualified for the 1960-61 FA Cup 1st Round. And the new Chichester City, which merged with Portfield FC in 2000 to become Chichester City United, retained the league-position AND the records of Chichester City (I). [Chichester City United changed their name back to Chichester City (II) in 2009.] At the present-day Chichester City’s Pichero.com page, in the History section {here in the 14th paragraph there}, it confirms this, by saying, “Following a merger with local rivals Portfield FC in 2000 the club became known as Chichester City United FC, with the previous records of Chichester City FC being retained as the actual club’s history.” Also, see the Chichester City page at Football Club History Database {here}, which says the same thing…that Chichester City (I/1873-2000) and (II/2000-present) are the same club.

Also, some media are considering Darlington FC to be FA Cup 1st Round first-timers, but the re-formed club has been allowed by the football authorities to retain the history of the original Darlington FC. {See this article from TheNonLeaguePaper.com from April 2017; see Darlington FC’s Wikipedia page, which shows records of club back to 1883, here}.

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    Maldon & Tiptree FC (an 8th level club), who, on the 19th of October 2019 qualified for the FA Cup 1st Round, for the first time ever…

Maldon is a town of 14,000 on the Blackwater Estuary in coastal Essex. Maldon is located, by road, 50 miles (80 km) NE of central London. The most famous thing to come out of Maldon is salt: Maldon Sea Salt (est. 1882), which is harvested from the area {see this article at BonAppetit.com}.

Maldon Town FC were formed in 1946; they were amalgamated in 2010. By 2009-10, Maldon Town were playing in the Isthmian League D1 North (in the 8th level of the English football pyramid). In 2009, the chairman of nearby Tiptree United bought Maldon Town. At that point in time, Tiptree Utd were in the 9th-level Essex Senior League. (Tiptree is a town of 9,000, located, by road, 8 miles (12.5 km) north of Maldon.) In the following season (the 2010-11 season), the two clubs combined as Maldon & Tiptree FC. It was billed as not officially being a merger, as Tiptree Utd retained their license. {See this article at the Maldon Standard site.} But Tiptree Utd never fielded a senior team again…so, yeah, it was a merger, when all was said and done. The new and amalgamated club kept the Royal Blue of Maldon Town, and added Tiptree United’s Red (from Tiptree’s red-with-black colours), to make a kit featuring Royal-Blue-and-Red vertically-striped jerseys. They would play at Maldon Town’s ground (the Wallace Binder Ground, which opened in 1994), but would have a nickname derived from Tiptree United’s moniker of ‘the Jam-makers’. That nickname was a reference to the local jam-making industry of Tiptree, and a variation of it was chosen by supporters in a poll. Thus, the ‘Jammers’ of Maldon & Tiptree were born.

Currently [3 November 2019], Maldon & Tiptree are in an 8th-division promotion race, sitting in 2nd place, 2 points behind Bury Town (with 3 games in hand). {Isthmian D1 North table (soccerway.com).} When they clinched qualification for the 2019-20 FA Cup 1st Round, Maldon & Tiptree were averaging 135 per game. (They drew 65 more than that in their next league home match since then, on 2 November). Currently, Maldon & Tiptree are averaging 146 per game, a figure that is 37-per-game below the median average attendance in their league. So Maldon & Tiptree are a rather small club to have qualified for the FA Cup 1st Round, and are in fact the lowest-drawing club in the 1st Round this year. {Isthmian North attendances here (nonleaguematters.co.uk).}

Since their amalgamation in 2010-11, Maldon & Tiptree have remained in the 8th level, staying ten years now in the same league (which is now called the Isthmian North). In their 9 full seasons of existence, Maldon & Tiptree have made it to the play-offs 3 times. But they have faltered each time in the play-offs final, losing there in 2013 to Thamesmead Town [on penalties]; then losing there in 2017 to Thurrock Town; then losing there last season [2019] to Heybridge Swifts [on penalties]. So you could say there were due for a run of good fortune, and that has now happened.

Maldon Town had never made to the FA Cup 1st Round Proper in 63 years of trying. Tiptree United (est. 1933) had likewise had never qualified for the 1st round of the world’s oldest football tournament. But in the late summer and early autumn of 2019, under manager Wayne Brown, this small Essex-based club made a Cup-run that saw them qualify for the FA Cup 1st Round. {See photos, screenshots and captions below.} From the Maldon & Burnham Standard, from 19 October 2019, by Simon Spurgeon, FA Cup history for Brown’s Maldon & Tiptree side (maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/sport).

Maldon & Tiptree got to the First Round this way…Beating Saffron Walden Town (a 9th-level club), away, in the Preliminary Round. Then they beat fellow Isthmian North club Histon, away, in the 1st Qualifying Round. Then they beat 7th-level Isthmian side Wingate & Finchley, at home in front of 149, in the 2nd QR. Then they beat 8th-level Isthmian South Central side Chertsey Town, at home in front of 225, in the 3rd QR. And then Maldon & Tiptree qualified for the FA Cup Proper by beating 8th-level Southern Central side Royston Town, away, by the score of 1-3, in the 4th QR. Goals for Maldon & Tiptree were courtesy of a Royston own-goal early in the first half, followed by a 31st-minute goal from Danny Parish, then a 65th-minute goal from top-scorer Jerome Slew that clinched it. That 3rd goal was the result of some excellent team play {see screenshot and caption below}. {Note, the 3rd goal can be seen at the 7:05 mark of the following video, from Royston Town FC TV, at youtube.com.}

For the FA Cup 1st Round draw, which was actually held at Maldon & Tiptree’s Wallace Binder Ground, Maldon & Tiptree were drawn versus just-promoted 4th-division side Leyton Orient. This is a decent draw for Maldon & Tiptree, as it is a somewhat winnable match, plus their traveling fans will not have a long trip, at all, to reach Orient’s Brisbane Road ground down there in East London.

maldon-and-tiptree-fc_2019-20_fa-cup_1st-round_debut_wallace-binder-ground_i_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Maldon & Tiptree home kit illustration, from en.wikipedia.org/[Maldon & Tiptree F.C.]. Aerial shot of Maldon, Essex, photo by oneblackline at File:Maldon 060309.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org). Maldon’s harbor, photo from visitmaldon.co.uk. Wallace Binder Ground (circa 2015), photo by boycopus at [the now-defunct] panoramio.com via us.soccerway.com/[Maldon & Tiptree FC]. Main Stand at Wallace Binder Ground, photo by local bus driver at flickr.com. Maldon & Tiptree jersey badge [ca. 2019-20], photo from instagram.com/[@beautifulgame15 (here) via instazu.com/profile/beautifulgame15. 3rd goal that clinched Maldon & Tiptree's FA Cup 1st Round qualification (65' goal by Jerome Slew), screenshot from video by Royston Town FC TV at youtube.com. Danny Parish and Jorome Slew, photos from pitchero.com/clubs/maldonandtiptreefc. Maldon & Tiptree Players celebrate with traveling fans, screenshot from video at twitter.com/[@MaldonTiptreeFC]. Manager Wayne Brown, photo from maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk
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Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg;
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg;
-Blank relief map of Greater Manchester, by Nilfanion (using Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater Manchester UK relief location map.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org).

-Soccerway.com, for most avg attendance figures (Football League divisions 3 and 4, and non-League division 5 and non-League level 6): soccerway.com/[EFL L1].
-Non-League Matters.co.uk, for avg attendance figures in the lower non-League levels (levels 7, 8).

October 14, 2019

1927 Major League Baseball: map with crests & uniforms, final standings and stats leaders; champions: New York Yankees./+ Illustrated article, 1927 MLB champions: the New York Yankees, perhaps the greatest team in MLB history.

Filed under: Baseball,Baseball-1927 MLB season,Retro maps — admin @ 7:31 am

mlb_al_nl_1927-map_w-uniforms_logos_standings_stats-leaders_1927-ws-champs_new-york-yankees_post_d_.gif
1927 Major League Baseball: map with crests & uniforms, final standings and stats leaders; champions: New York Yankees
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By Bill Turianski on 14 October 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
Sources:
-Baseball-Reference.com, 1927 AL season; 1927 NL season.
-Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines (uniforms illustrated by Marc Okkonen), exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm.
-US cities’ populations (1920 figures), biggestuscities.com/1920.
-Attendances. Source: baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1927-misc.shtml.
Most logos. Source: SportsLogos.net, sportslogos.net/[MLB logos].

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From 1903 to 1952 (50 seasons), there were no franchise-shifts in Major League Baseball. The 16 MLB teams from this 50-year period played in only 9 American cities…New York City (3 teams), Chicago (2 teams), Philadelphia (2 teams), Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis (2 teams), Boston (2 teams), Pittsburgh, Washington, and Cincinnati.

Below: a chart of 1920s USA city populations, with 1927 MLB teams noted…
1927_mlb_cities_populations_b_.gif.

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    1927 MLB champions: the New York Yankees, perhaps the greatest team in MLB history

Many observers consider the 1927 New York Yankees to be the greatest team ever. The ’27 Yankees featured seven future Hall of Famers: pitchers Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt, infielders Lou Gehrig (1B) and Tony Lazzeri (2B), outfielders Babe Ruth and Earle Combs, and manager Miller Huggins. After losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3 in the 1926 World Series, the 1927 Yankees went 110-44 (.714). Only 4 other teams have won more games than that…the 1906 Chicago Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116, the 1998 Yankees won 114 and the 1954 Cleveland Indians won 111. But the 1906 Cubs and the 1954 Indians and the 2001 Mariners did not win the World Series in those years. Also, the 1998 Yankees, though they did win the World Series that year, played in the era of the modern-day 162-game season [154-game season until 1960/162-game season in American League since 1961; 162-game season in National League since 1962].

The 1927 Yankees won the American League by 19 games, the most to that point in AL history. (Note: the Chicago Cubs won the National League in 1906 by 20 games.)

Let’s look at the numbers. The 1927 Yankees had a .307 BAvg, a .489 slugging percentage, and scored 975 runs, outscoring their opponents by a record 376 runs. That .489 Slugging Pct. the ’27 Yankees had – as a team – was surpassed by only 5 other individual players on all the other teams in the AL that season. Babe Ruth’s record-setting 60 homers, when added to Lou Gehrig’s 47 HR, accounted for over 25% of all HRs in the AL that season! Gehrig had a then-record 173 RBIs, while Ruth had 165 RBIs. Gehrig hit .373, Ruth hit .356. Plus Ruth drew 137 Walks, while Gehrig drew 109. Tony Lazzeri had 18 HR & 102 RBIs & and hit .309. Lead-off hitter Earle Combs hit .352. Standout pitchers were Waite Hoyt (22-7, 2.63 ERA), Herb Pennock (19-8, 3.00 ERA), and Wilcy Moore (19-7, 2.28 ERA, 19 Saves). But the thing is, once you get past the sublime accomplishments of Ruth and Gehrig that year, as well as the excellent seasons of Lazzeri, Combs, Hoyt, Pennock, and Moore, there were a lot a mediocre players on the 1927 Yankees. As Robert Creamer of Sports Illustrated pointed out, “it may cause raised eyebrows to realize that such journeymen as Gazella, Wera, Durst, Thomas, Paschal, Giard, Grabowski, Morehart and Collins made up almost 40% of that great team’s roster.” {-excerpt from the August 26, 1958 issue of Sports Illustrated, here.}

The 1927 Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in 4 games to win the ’27 World Series. It was the 24th World Series, and it was first time that an American League team swept a National League team in the competition. (Note: NL Teams had swept their AL opponents 3 times previously: the Chicago Cubs swept the Detroit Tigers in the 1907 WS; the Boston Braves swept the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 WS; and the New York Giants swept the Yankees in the 1923 WS.)

And then, the 1928 Yankees would go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1928 World Series. That was the first time a team had ever swept back-to-back World Series contests. No other MLB team has accomplished that feat of back-to-back World Series sweeps…but the New York Yankees went on to do it two more times…in 1938 & ’39, and in 1998 & ’99.

And those two Yankee teams, along with, of course, the 1927-28 Yankees, show up on many, if not all, lists of greatest-ever MLB teams…such as:
{Bleacher Report’s Official Rankings of the 50 Greatest Teams in MLB History, by Joel Reuter at BleacherReport.com, from March 2014},
{Tom Verducci’s Top 10 Teams of All Time, by Tom Verducci at si.com},
{Determining the Best Major League Baseball Team Ever From 1902-2005, from Baseball-Almanac.com},
{The Best MLB Teams Of All-Time, According To Elo, by Reuben Fischer-Baum at FiveThirtyEight.com, from May 2016}…
(For the record, the first 3 of the 4 lists above rank the 1927 Yankees as the best MLB team ever; the list at the 538.com ranks the 1927 Yankees the second-best ever, giving the nod to the Joe DiMaggio-led Yankees of 1939.)

Below: the 1927 New York Yankees & Babe Ruth’s record-setting 60 Home Run season…
1927_ny-yankees_ruth_gehrig_combs_lazzeri_ruth-hits-60-hr_yankees-sweep-pirates-in-1927-world-series_f_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – 1927 NY Yankees road jersey script logo, from mitchellandness.com. “Murderers Row”, featuring Gehrig, Ruth, Combes, Lazzeri [colorized photo from 1929], photo unattributed at flickr.com/[Willie Brown]. Babe Ruth, photo unattributed at sabr.org. Ruth crosses the plate and is congratulated by teammate Bob Meusel, after hitting the historic 60th Home Run, photo by NY Daily News at nydailynews.com. New York Daily News front page from Oct. 1 1927 [Babe Ruth hits historic 60th HR), via Baseball by B Smile [twitter.com/@bsmile]. Game 4 of the 1927 World Series, Oct. 6 1927 – NY 4, Pittsburgh 3: photo from the stands at Yankee Stadium…action from the 1st-inning, as Babe Ruth (who later hit a HR in the 5th) has just singled; Earle Combs rounds 3rd to tie the game up 1-1. The Yankees swept the Pirates in 4 games, for their second WS title. This was the first sweep of a National League team by an American League team…photo unattributed at Old Time Baseball Photos twitter.com/[@OTBaseballPhoto].

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1927 MLB stats leaders…
ERA, Wilcy Moore (NYY). Wins, Charlie Root (CHC). WAR for pitchers, Tommy Thomas (CHW). BAvg, Harry Heilmann (DET). HR, Babe Ruth (NYY). RBI, Lou Gehrig (NYY). OPS, Babe Ruth (NYY). WAR, Babe Ruth (1927).

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Photo and Image credits on the map page…
1927 WS champions New York Yankees…
1927 NY Yankees road jersey script logo, from mitchellandness.com. Babe Ruth [photo from 1927], photo from Getty Images via biography.com. Lou Gehrig [photo circa 1927], unattributed at fineartamerica.com. Earle Combs [photo circa 1926], unattributed at ebay.com. Tony Lazzeri [photo circa 1927], from Baseball Hall of Fame via si.com/all-time-yankees-lineup. Waite Hoyt [photo circa 1927], photo from National Baseball Hall of Fame Library via Getty Images via gettyimages.com. Wilcy Moore [colorized photo circa 1929], colorized photo unattributed at pinterest.com. Bob Meusel [photo circa 1927], unattributed at espn.com. Manager, Miller Huggins [photo circa 1924], unattributed at pinterest.com.
1927 WS G4 ticket, from pixels.com.
1927 WS press pin, from may16.hugginsandscott.com.
“Murderers Row”, featuring Gehrig, Ruth, Combes, Lazzeri [colorized photo from 1929], photo unattributed at flickr.com/[Willie Brown].
1927 MLB stats leaders…
Wilcy Moore (NYY) [photo circa 1928], unattributed at pinterest.com. Charlie Root (CHC) [photo circa 1927], unattributed at sabr.org. Harry Heilmann (DET) [photo from 1927], unattributed at quora.com. Tommy Thomas (CHW) [photo circa 1927], photo by Sporting News and Rogers Photo Archive via Getty Images via gettyimages.co.uk. Babe Ruth (NYY) [photo circa 1927], McMahon Archive at amazon.com. Lou Gehrig (NYY) [photo circa 1928], unattributed at mondoudinese.it. Babe Ruth (NYY) [photo circa 1927], from Bettman-Corbis/Getty Images via si.com.
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Colorized photo of Philadelphia Athletics 1925-27 elephant-logo jersey, photo unattributed and colorized by Natalia Valiukevich/mediadrumworld.com via dailymail.co.uk/article.

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Thanks to all at the following links…
Sources:
-Baseball-Reference.com, 1927 AL season; 1927 NL season.
-Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines (uniforms illustrated by Marc Okkonen), exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm.
-US cities’ populations (1920 figures), biggestuscities.com/1920.
-Attendances. Source: baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1927-misc.shtml.
Most logos. Source: SportsLogos.net, sportslogos.net/[MLB logos].

September 26, 2019

2019-20 National League [Non-League/5th division England (including Wales)]: map with 2019-crowds-&-finishes chart./+ A brief profile of the current league-leaders: Bromley FC.

Filed under: 2019-20 English Football,Eng-5th level — admin @ 7:38 am

2019-20_national-league_aka-conference_map_w-2019-attendances_post_b_.gif
2019-20 National League [Non-League/5th division England (including Wales)]: map with 2019-crowds-&-finishes chart
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By Bill Turianski 26 September 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-2019-20 National League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Official site…thenationalleague.org.uk.
-Table, fixtures, results, attendance, stats…SUMMARY – National League [2019-20] (us.soccerway.com).
-5th division/National League page at BBC.com…bbc.com/sport/football/national-league.

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A brief re-cap of the 2018-19 5th division…
Promoted, automatically, to the 4th division (of the Football League)…
-Leyton Orient (who won the league by 3 points over Solihull Moors [Leyton Orient thus returned to the Football League after an absence of 2 seasons]).

Promoted, via the play-offs, to the 4th division (of the Football League)…
-Salford City (who finished in 4th place, 4 points behind the leaders, then won the play-offs by beating Eastleigh in the semifinals and then beating AFC Fylde 3-0 in the final at Wembley).

Clubs relegated out of the Football League (4th division), into the 5th division (National League)…
Notts County, Yeovil Town.

Clubs promoted from the 6th level to the 5th division…
Promoted, automatically, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Stockport County (who won the NL-N by 1 point over Chorley).
-2018-19 National League South: Torquay United (who won the NL-S by 10 points over Woking).

Promoted, via the play-offs, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Chorley (beating Spennymoor Town, in the final, 1-1/aet/4-3 on penalties).
-2018-19 National League South: Woking (beating Welling Utd, in the final, 1-0).

Clubs relegated out of the 5th division, into the 6th level…
Braintree Town, Gateshead, Havant & Waterlooville, Maidstone United.

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    The 5th division’s 1st-place team, as of 26 September 2019 (with 13 games played)

…link for league table: us.soccerway.com/[National League].
Bromley FC.
Bromley FC are from Bromley, Greater London, located in southeast London, 9 miles from central London. The 5 wards that comprise the town of Bromley have a population of around 71,000 {2011 figure}. Before the institution of Greater London, in 1965, the town of Bromley was part of the county of Kent. And to this day, Bromley has the appearance of the leafy home counties, rather than the big city. Here is a goundhopping article on Bromley FC from 2018, by Shaun E. Smith at the 100 Grounds Club site, 100groundsclub.blogspot.com/2018/04/hayes-lane

Bromley FC have traditionally worn White jerseys and Black pants, but they currently wear All-White with Gold-&-Black trim. Bromley have two nicknames: the Ravens, and the Lilywhites. Bromley were formed in 1892. They briefly played in the Southern League before falling out in 1896. Bromley spent the next 12 seasons in 3 different leagues, the London League, the Kent League, and the Spartan League. In 1908, Bromley joined the Isthmian League, and were champions in their first season there; they repeated as Isthmian champions in 1909-10. Then in the following season of 1910–11, Bromley won the FA Amateur Cup, beating Bishop Auckland 1–0 in the final. Bromley returned to the Kent League for a few seasons before the War (from 1911 to 1914). After WW I, in 1919, Bromley returned to the Athenian League. Bromley were Athenian League champions for the first time in 1922-23. In 1937–38, Bromley reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, beating King’s Lynn in the first round, before falling to Scarborough in the 2nd round. Also in 1937-38, Bromley were FA Amateur Cup winners for the second time, beating Erith & Belvedere 1–0. In September 1938, Bromley moved into their current ground, Hayes Lane.

In 1948-49, Bromley achieved a non-League Double: they were Athenian League Champions (for the 2nd time), and were FA Amateur Cup winners (Bromley beat Romford and were FA Amateur Cup winners for the 3rd time). Then 2 seasons later, in 1950-51, Bromley were Athenian League Champions for the 3rd time. And looking for new challenges, in 1952-53 Bromley re-joined the Isthmian League (after a 42-year absence). In their second season back in the Isthmian League, Bromley were champions (in 1952-53). Bromley won their fourth Isthmian championship in 1960-61.

The club then began a long period without winning titles (or qualifying for the FA Cup), and suffered relegation to the Isthmian Division Two in 1975. Bromley made it to the FA Cup first round for the first time in 21 years, in 1976-77, but lost to Swindon Town 7-0. Bromley regained Isthmian Premier status in 1980, only to be relegated to the Isthmian D1 in 1984. They bounced back up two years later in 1986. In 1988, Bromley came close to their first Isthmian Premier title since 1961, finishing in 2nd place. But two seasons after that, Bromley confirmed their yo-yo status by being relegated for the 2nd time in 6 years. Bromley bounced straight back to the Isthmian Premier in 1991; they remained there for 8 seasons, being relegated once again in 1999.

Non-League re-organisation in 2002-03 saw Bromley moved to the Isthmian Division One South; two seasons later Bromley won promotion to the Isthmian Premier yet again. Two years later, Bromley were runners-up in the Isthmian (in 2006-07). And then in the following year of 2006-07, Bromley won promotion to the Conference South (which had been established 3 years earlier). Bromley achieved this by beating AFC Wimbledon 1-0 in the semifinals and then beating Billericay Town on penalties in the ’07 Isthmian play-off final. 2006-07 had also seen Bromley reach the FA Cup 1st round again. (As for recently, in the last 10 seasons (2009-10 to 2018-19), Bromley have qualified for the FA Cup 1st round 6 times: in 2009–10, in 2011–12, in 2012–13, in 2014–15, in 2017-18, and in 2018-19, but they were beaten on each occasion.)

2014-15 turned out to be a very good season for Bromley: they were Conference South champions, beating Boreham Wood by 2 points. As Bromley were moving towards their first significant title in over 50 years, their crowds started increasing…In 2011-12, Bromley drew just 483 per game (finishing in 17th place). In 2012-13, Bromley drew 509 per game (finishing in 15th place). In 2013-14, Bromley drew 669 per game (improving 12 places, to 3rd place and the play-offs). And then in their Conference South championship season of 2014-15, Bromley drew 1,082 per game. Which is an amazing feat when you consider that, 3 seasons earlier, they were drawing less than half of that (599 less per game just three years earlier). Since 14/15, Bromley have been drawing over 1 thousand per game, and Bromley drew 1.4 K in 2018-19, when they finished in 11th in the National League.

Now in their 5th season of 5th division football, Bromley have become contenders. They had been drawing 1.4 K (as they averaged last season) for ‘regular’ home games early this season. Then a couple ex-Football League clubs came to town, and their crowds at Hayes Lane swelled…Bromley drew 2.2 K when they hosted Chesterfield, winning 2-1 [on 7 Sept]. Then a fortnight later, Bromley hosted the biggest non-League club currently – Notts County – and beat the Magpies 2-1 in front of 3.1 K. By this time, Bromley were in first place, albeit by just one point over Woking and Halifax. And then on Tuesday the 24th of September, Bromley hosted third-placed Woking, at Hayes Lane, and won 1-0, on a goal by their top-scorer, Michael Cheek, in the 38th minute (see photo below). And Bromley drew a solid 2,358. After 13 games, Bromley remain unbeaten, and lead the National League by 4 points {link for league table: us.soccerway.com/[National League]}.

Bromley FC: 1st place in the 2019-20 National League, after a quarter of the season has been played…
bromley-fc_hayes-lane_1st-place-in-5th-div-sept-2019_michael-cheek_d_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot of Hayes Lane, screenshot of satellite image from bing.com/maps. View from the terraces at Hayes Lane, photo by WB Tukker at extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Photo from behind goal with Main Stand in background, photo by Richard Tester at instagram.com/richardtester via pictame.com. Michael Cheek (and fans behind goal) celebrate goal v Woking [24th of Sept 2019], image by Bromley FC at twitter.com/[@bromleyfc].
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-Thanks to all at the following…
-Football Club History Database, fchd.info/BROMLEY.
-National League (English football) (en.wikipedia.org).
-2019-20 National League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Thanks to Nilfanion…Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org). Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
Attendance figures…
-Non-League Matters.
-European Football Statistics.

September 9, 2019

The 6th division in England: 2019-20 [Non-League] National League North & National League South (2 separate 22-team leagues, at the same level) – map, with 18/19-attendances-&-finishes chart./+Brief profiles of the two leagues’ leaders as of 9 Sept. 2019: King’s Lynn Town FC, and Wealdstone FC.

Filed under: 2019-20 English Football,Eng-6th level — admin @ 11:20 am

2019-20_national-leagues-north-and-south_the-6th-level_2-leagues-44-teams_map_w-2019-attendances-and-finishes_post_c_.gif
The 6th division in England: 2019-20 National League North & National League South (2 separate 22-team leagues, at the same level) – map, with 18/19-attendances-&-finishes chart
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By Bill Turianski on 9 September 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

    6th division England:
    2019-20 National League North & National League South     (2 separate 22-team leagues, at the same level)

The 6th level in English football is where the regionalised leagues begin. Above is the 5th division, the National League, which is the highest level of non-League football and the only non-League level that is nationalised. The 6th level has two leagues: the National League North and the National League South. Below that is the 7th level, which used to be comprised of 3 leagues, but since 2018-19 there are now 4 leagues in the 7th level. (The new league in the 7th level was the the result of splitting the Southern League into two leagues: the Southern League – Central and the Southern League – South.)

A brief history of the 5th and 6th tiers in England…
1979-80: 5th level of English football instituted with the Alliance Premier League: the 5th level and the highest level of non-League football in England (and Wales).
1986-87: Promotion/Relegation established between the 5th level and the 4th Division of the Football League.
2004-05: The 6th level of football instituted, with the creation of 2 regional leagues below the 5th level: the Conference North & the Conference South (22 teams in each league).
2015-16: names of the three leagues changed to…5th level: National League / 6th level: National League North & National League South.

…

A brief re-cap of the 2018-19 6th level…
Promoted, automatically, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Stockport County (who won the NL-N by 1 point over Chorley).
-2018-19 National League South: Torquay United (who won the NL-S by 10 points over Woking).

Promoted, via the play-offs, to the 5th division (the National League)…
-2018-19 National League North: Chorley (beating Spennymoor Town, in the final, 1-1/aet/4-3 on penalties).
-2018-19 National League South: Woking (beating Welling Utd, in the final, 1-0).

Clubs promoted to the 6th level…
-Clubs promoted to National League North:
Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier Division: Farsley Celtic.
Promoted from Southern League Premier Division Central: Kettering Town, King’s Lynn Town.

-Clubs promoted to National League South:
Promoted from Isthmian League Premier Division: Dorking Wanderers, Tonbridge Angels.
Promoted from Southern League Premier Division South: Weymouth.

Clubs relegated out of the 5th division into the 6th level…
Braintree Town, Gateshead, Havant & Waterlooville, Maidstone United.

Clubs relegated out of the 6th level into the 7th level…
-2018-19 National League North: Ashton Utd, FC United of Manchester, Nuneaton Borough.
-2018-19 National League South: Truro City, East Thurrock Utd, Weston super-Mare.

…

    The 6th division’s two 1st-place teams, as of 9 September 2019 (with 9-or-10 games played)…

-2019-20 National League North… Link for league table…soccerway.com/[2019-20 National League North].
1st place: the just-promoted King’s Lynn Town.
King’s Lynn Town are from King’s Lynn, Norfolk (population 44,000), on Norfolk’s north coast, within the marshy lowland estuary called the Wash. The town of King’s Lynn is situated, by road, about 32 miles (52 km) west of Norwich. King’s Lynn Town wear Pale-Blue-jerseys-with-Yellow pants, and have the nickname of the Linnets. The club plays at the Walks Stadium, as did their predecessor-club. The club was established in 2010, as the Phoenix-club of King’s Lynn FC (1879-2009).

For their debut season 10 years ago, King’s Lynn Town were placed in the 9th level, in the United Counties League; they then won 2 promotions in 3 seasons…They won promotion to the 8th level in their second season (2011-12). And then they won promotion to the Northern Premier the following season of 2011-12. But then King’s Lynn Town languished for 7 seasons in the 7th tier. Midway through that spell, the club was transferred to the Southern League (in 2015-16). When the 7th level expanded from 3 to 4 leagues in 2017-18, King’s Lynn Town were placed in the Southern Premier-Central. The club finally won promotion to the 6th tier as a super-play-offs winner in 2019, beating Stratford Town and Alvechurch, en route to a 3-2 victory over Warrrington Town in the 7th-level’s super play-off final. So now King’s Lynn Town have made it to the 6th division, which was the highest point that the original club had achieved (back in 2008-09). The new club, who drew 712 per game last season, are now averaging 1.1 K per game, which is just about exactly the same as what the old club was drawing, right before they imploded eleven years ago. {Attendance figures for non-League from over 10 years ago are hard to find, but my first map on this subject, from way back in October 2008, shows that the late lamented King’s Lynn FC were the 24th-best-drawing non-League club as of October 2008…click on the following to see that map…http://billsportsmaps.com/?p=1666.}
kings-lynn-town-fc_promoted-2019_the-walks_norfolk_b_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Aerial shot [satellite image], screenshot from bing.com/maps. Main Stand, photo by Owen Pavey at footballgroundguide.com/king-lynn-town-the-walks.

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2019-20 National League South… Link for league table…soccerway.com/[2019-20 National League South].
1st place: Wealdstone.
Wealdstone FC are from Ruislip, which is in NW Greater London (and was formerly situated in Middlesex). Wealdstone wear Royal-Blue-with-White, and have two nicknames: the Stones, and the Royals. Wealdstone were a founding member of the the 5th division in 1979-80 [as part of the first season of the Alliance Premier League, which was the precursor to the Conference National and then the National League]. The clubs’ greatest moment came in 1984-85, when Wealdstone not only won the Alliance Premier, but also won the FA Trophy: thus becoming the first club to ever win the non-League Double (see photos and caption below). The only problem was that Wealdstone were a couple years ahead of their time, because at that point, there was no automatic promotion – yet – between the 5th division and the Football League. That was instituted a mere two years later, in 1986-87. So Wealdstone, failing to grab the attention of the old-boys-club which kept vast amounts of worthy, title-winning non-League clubs out of the Football League for decades, remained in non-League football. (In the 29 seasons from when the Football League Fourth Division was formed, in 1958-59, to 1985-86 [which was the last season in the Football League with no automatic relegation out of the League], only three clubs got voted out of the Football League.)

And then, three years later, Wealdstone got relegated out of the 5th division, in 1987-88. Then it got worse: financial problems, in 1991, saw them lose their Lower Mead ground. Wealdstone were homeless for 17 years, first renting at Watford’s Vicarage Road, then in 1993 Wealdstone were renting at Yeading FC’s ground. Then in 1995 Wealdstone were renting at Edgeware FC’s ground. Then in 2005, Wealdstone were renting at Northwood FC’s ground. Finally, in 2008-09, Wealdstone acquired Ruislip Sports and Social club, and moved into Ruislip Manor’s Grosvenor Vale ground. Five seasons later, in 2013-14, Wealdstone won the Isthmian Premier, by 11 points over Kingstonian. Since being in the 6th tier (Conference South/National League-South), that is to say, since 2014-15, Wealdstone have finished in 12th, then in 11th, then in 8th, then in 13th, and last season, in 7th. Last season Wealdstone drew 882 per game; this season they are drawing 901 per game as of early September 2019. And if they keep up their solid form, Wealdstone will certainly be drawing well over one thousand per game, come April 2020.
wealdstone-fc_promoted-2019_grosvenor-vale_ruislip-nw-london_wealdstone-1st-team-to-win-a-non-league-double-1985_b_.gif
Photo and Image credits above – Photo from the 11th of May 1985: 1984-85 Alliance Premier champions Wealdstone celebrating their 1985 FA Trophy win over Boston United (2-1), earning them them first ever non-League Double (5th division title & cup-win): photo unattributed at mylondon.news/sport. Photo of enamel pin of Wealdstone’s historic non-League Double of 1985: from wfcmegastore.co.uk. Aerial shot of Grosvenor Vale: screenshot of satellite image from bing.com/maps. Interior shot of Grosvenor Vale: photo by Ryan at groundhoppingwithryan.blogspot.com/2017/07/wealdstone-fc-grosvenor-vale.
___
Thanks to all at the links below…
-Thanks to the contributors at National League (English football) (en.wikipedia.org).
-Thanks to Nilfanion at Wikipedia…Blank map of UK historic counties, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:United Kingdom police areas map.svg (commons.wikimedia.org). Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg. Blank relief map of Greater Manchester, by Nilfanion (using Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater Manchester UK relief location map.jpg (commons.wikimedia.org).

Photos/Images of kit badges…
[Curzon Ashton 17/18 jersey badge], twitter.com/[@curzonashton].
[Chester 17/18 jersey badge], chesterfc.com/all-ticket.
[Spennymoor 14/15 jersey badge], oldfootballshirts.com.
[Billericay], billericaytownfc.co.uk/product/2017-18-home-shirt-2.
[Chippenham], pitchero.com/clubs/chippenhamtown.
[Dulwich Hamlet], pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet/.
[Eastbourne (script on badge)], ebfc.co.uk/news.

-Thanks to the Non-League Matters site for non-League attendance figures, nonleaguematters.co.uk.

August 22, 2019

England (including Wales) – map of all football clubs drawing above 1 K per game (2018-19 attendance figures): 133 clubs, including 41 non-League clubs.

Filed under: >Eng-144 highest draws,2018-19 English football,England — admin @ 12:11 pm

england_map_2018-19_attendance_all-133-clubs-drawing-over-1k-per-game_post_b_.gif
England (including Wales) – map of all football clubs drawing above 1 K per game: 133 clubs, including 41 non-League clubs (2018-19)
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…
By Bill Turianski on 22 August 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Sources…
-Article on defining the largest cities in the UK.. Where are the largest cities in Britain? (citymetric.com).
-List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom (en.wikipedia.org).
-Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England (en.wikipedia.org).
Attendance figures…
-worldfootball.net. (Average attendances last season from the 1st division through 4th division.)
-nonleaguematters.co.uk. (Average attendances last season of all non-League clubs, ie from 5th division down.)

The map…
(Note: in bold-17-to-36-point-type, on the map, are listed the 9 largest cities within England {all English cities with more than .6 million inhabitants/see first link above}…Greater London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol. Also, in 12-to-15-point-type, on the map, are listed the 83 Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England. Also, in 14-point-all-cap-bold-type, are listed prominent British regional names such as: the East Midlands, the West Midlands, East Anglia, the West Country, and the Lake District; as well as North Wales and South Wales.)

The expanded list on the right side of the map shows 7 things…
A) Attendance Rank.
B) 2019 Divisional status (aka level), with promotion or relegation (if applicable) listed.
C) Home domestic league Average Attendance from 2018-19.
D) Seasons that the Club has played in the 1st division (there have been 121 seasons of English 1st division seasons [counting 2019-20]).
E) English titles won (with last title noted).
F) FA Cup titles won (with last Cup-win noted).
G) League Cup titles won (with last cup-win noted).

The map shows all clubs in the English football system which drew above 1,000 per game in 2018-19 (home domestic league matches).
Also, there is an inset-map for all the clubs from Greater London-plus-the-immediate surrounding area [GREATER LONDON (17 Clubs from Greater London + 3 from surrounding areas of the Home Counties).] At the foot of the map-page are shown the crests of the top-50-drawing English-and-Welsh clubs, arranged L-R with their crests sized, to reflect their drawing-power. (The top 50 drawing clubs in the English league system in 2018-19 ended up being all the clubs which drew above 9.8 K per game.)

There were 8 clubs which drew above 40 thousand per game…
-Manchester United (who finished in 6th place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 74.4 K per game).

-Arsenal (who finished in 5th place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 59.9 K per game).

-West Ham United (who finished in 10th place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 58.3 K per game).

-Tottenham Hotspur (who finished in 4th place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 54.2 K per game).

-Liverpool (who finished in 2nd place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 52.9 K per game).

-Manchester City (who finished in 1st place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 54.1 K per game).

-Newcastle United (who finished in 13th place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 51.1 K per game).

-Chelsea (who finished in 3rd place in the 2018-19 Premier League, drawing 40.3 K per game).

And, in 2018-19, there were 32 clubs in the English league system which drew above 20.0 K per game. The 20-thousand-drawing clubs includes the 8 highest-drawing clubs listed above, plus the 24 clubs listed below…
-Everton (1), 38.7 K.
-Aston Villa (2-up-to-1), 36.0 K.
-Leeds United AFC (2), 34.0 K.
-Sunderland AFC (3), 32.1 K.
-Leicester City (1), 31.8 K.
-Cardiff City (1-down-to-2), 31.4 K.
-Wolverhampton Wanderers (1), 31.0 K.
-Brighton & Hove Albion (1), 30.4 K.
-Southampton (1), 30.1 K.
-Nottingham Forest (2), 28.1 K.
-Derby County (2), 26.8 K.
-Sheffield United (2-up-to-1), 26.1 K.
-Norwich City (2-up-to-1), 26.1 K.
-Crystal Palace (1), 25.4 K.
-Stoke City (2), 25.2 K.
-Sheffield Wednesday (2), 24.4 K.
-Fulham (1-down-to-2), 24.3 K.
-West Bromwich Albion (2), 24.1 K.
-Middlesbrough (2), 23.2 K.
-Huddersfield Town AFC (1-down-to-2), 23.2 K.
-Birmingham City (2), 22.4 K.
-Bristol City (2), 21.0 K.
-Burnley (1), 20.5 K.
-Watford (1), 20.0 K.

…

The list goes to 1,000 per game (133 clubs), but I also included, on the list and on the map, all clubs which drew in the 900s…of which there were only 3 clubs: Chelmsford City (6), Bomsgrove Sporting (8-up-to-7), Worthing (7). So that made it 136 teams on the map. Here are all the clubs which just missed out being on the map: that is, all the clubs which drew in the 800s…7 clubs: Wealdstone (6), St Albans City (6), Gateshead (5-down-to-6), Kettering Town (7-up-to-6), Spennymoor Town (6), Blyth Spartans (6), Nuneaton Borough (6-down-to-7).

…

Here is the breakdown, by division (aka level), of…All the clubs in the English football pyramid which drew over 1 K per game in 2018-19 (133 clubs).
1 – Premier League: all 20 clubs.

2 – EFL Championship: all 24 clubs.

3 – EFL League One: all 24 clubs.

4 – EFL League Two: all 24 clubs.

5 – [non-League] National League: 21 of the 24 clubs…The exceptions being Gateshead (who were demoted for financial irregularities, drawing 0.8 K per game), Boreham Wood (who remained in the 5th division drawing 0.7 K per game [an all-time-club record]), and Braintree Town (who were relegated straight back to the 6th division, drawing 0.6 K per game), .

6 – [non-League] 2 regional leagues, National leagues North & South: 18 of the 44 clubs in the 6th level drew above 1.0 K per game (12 in NL-N, 6 in NL-S).
Those eighteen 6th-level clubs which (impressively) drew over 1.0 K were…
-Stockport County (who were promoted to the 5th division, drawing 3.9 K per game).
-Torquay United (who were promoted to the 5th division, drawing 2.5 K per game).
-York City (who drew 2.5 K per game).
-Hereford (who drew 2.3 K per game).
-FC United of Manchester (who were relegated to the 7th level, drawing 1.9 K per game).
-Woking (who were promoted to the 5th division, drawing 1.8 K per game).
-Dulwich Hamlet (who drew 1.8 K per game).
-Chester (who drew 1.8 K per game).
-Kidderminster Harriers (who drew 1.6 K per game).
-Chorley (who were promoted to the 5th division, drawing 1.4 K per game).
-Darlington (who drew 1.3 K per game).
-AFC Telford United (who drew 1.3 K per game).
-Altrincham (who drew 1.2 K per game).
-Dartford (who drew 1.1 K per game).
-Boston United (who drew 1.0 K per game).
-Bath City (who drew 1.0 K per game).
-Billericay Town (who drew 1.0 K per game).
-Southport (who drew 1.0 K per game).

7 – [non-League] 4 regional leagues, Northern Premier/Southern Central/Southern South/Isthmian: 3 of the 88 clubs…
The three 7th-level clubs which (very impressively) drew above 1 K per game were:
-South Shields (who finished in 2nd place in the Northern Premier (losing out in the play-offs), and drawing 1.5 K per game).
-Scarborough (who finished in 8th place in the Northern Premier, drawing 1.5 K per game).
-Weymouth (who finished in 1st place in the Southern League Premier-South [winning promotion to the National League-South], and drawing 1.0 K per game).

…

Here is the current/2019-20 breakdown of the top 50-drawing clubs from last season (ie, all the clubs in the English football pyramid which drew over 9.8 K per game in 2018-19)…
-All 20 clubs in the [current] 2019-20 Premier League.
-23 of the 24 clubs in the [current] 2019-20 EFL Championship, the exception being the just-promoted Luton Town (note: Luton Town are currently drawing above 9.8 K now, and will probably be in the top-50-drawing clubs for the 19/20 season: they are playing to very close to full-capacity (98%-capacity) at their 10.2 K-capacity Kenilworth Road ground).
-4 of the 24 clubs in the [current] 2019-20 EFL League One…Portsmouth, the just-relegated Ipswich Town, the just-relegated Bolton Wanderers, and the just-relegated Rotherham United.
-One of the 24 clubs in the [current] 2019-20 EFL League Two…the just-relegated Bradford City.
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Thanks to all at the links below…
-Blank map of English Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Counties, by Nilfanion, at File:English metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties 2010.svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Blank relief map of Greater London, by Nilfanion (using UK Ordnance Survey data), at File:Greater London UK relief location map.jpg.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system#Promotion_and_relegation_rules_for_the_top_eight_levels.
Attendance…
-worldfootball.net (1st division through 4th division).
-nonleaguematters.co.uk (all non-League from 5th division down).

August 6, 2019

Germany: 2019-20 map showing Club Membership sizes (top 3 levels: Bundesliga, 2-Bundesliga, 3-Liga/56 teams) (figures from January 2019).

Filed under: Germany — admin @ 7:20 am

germany_2019-20_club-membership-size_map_post_b_.gif
Germany: map showing club membership sizes (top 3 levels/56 teams) (figures from January 2019)
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By Bill Turianski on 6 August 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-World Football.net site (for Club Membership totals, which can be found at each club’s Profile page there)…worldfootball.net/bundesliga.
-2019–20 Bundesliga (en.wikipedia.org).
-Official site of Bundesliga (English)…bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga.
-English-speaking Bundesliga blog…bundesligafanatic.com.
-Summary – 2019-20 Bundesliga: fixtures, tables, results, stats, etc…us.soccerway.com.

The map…
The total amount of dues-paying members of each of the 2019-20 German 1st, 2nd and 3rd division clubs are shown by the circles – large or small – which are centered on each club’s location. The larger the circle, the larger the club membership size. I simply doubled the club-membership-amount and used that figure for the square-pixel-size of the club’s circle. I had to stop at ~12-sq-pixels, though, or the 6-sq-pixel location-dots for each of the small clubs would have obscured their club-membership-circles. However, all 56 clubs on the map have their club crest shown in about the same size…approximately 50-by-50 pixel-size (ie, disc-shaped crests are 52-square-pixels; while the more block-shape crests are a few pixels less, and attenuated crests like ‘Gladbach’s and Werder’s are a few pixels more). It got a little tight in the densely-populated and fussball-centric Rhine-Ruhr region of western Germany, but I was just able to fit in all the clubs, from the top 3 divisions, there.

But when it came to the planet-Jupiter-like size of Bayern Munich’s club-membership circle, as well as the planet-Neptune-like size of both Schalke’s and Dortmund’s club-membership circles, I had to accommodate for that. So, the rather big circles for the 3 German mega-clubs with the largest number of members are placed partially outside the map, so as to not obscure aspects within the map.

The membership totals for each club are listed in the chart at the far right, along with 2019-20 divisional levels, with any promotions or relegations noted. (Note: Germany uses Roman numerals for divisions [Levels]… I=Bundesliga, II=2.Bundesliga, III=3.Liga.) Also listed in the chart are three more things…2018-19 home league average attendances, Seasons played in the 1st division (counting 2019-20, there will have been 57 seasons of Bundesliga), and German titles (with last title noted). All 2019-20 Bundesliga clubs, as well as all the clubs with more than 10,000 dues-paying members (27 clubs), are shown on the map via a thin horizontal band which notes their membership-size.

The 50+1 rule in German football.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org…‘The 50+1 rule (German: 50+1-Regel) is an informal term used to refer to a clause in the regulations of the Deutsche Fußball-Liga. The clause states that, in order to obtain a license to compete in the Bundesliga, a club must hold a majority of its own voting rights. The rule is designed to ensure that the club’s members retain overall control, protecting clubs from the influence of external investors.’ {End of excerpt.}
Exceptions have been made for ex-company-teams with more than 20 years of financial support…Bayer Leverkusen (funded by Bayer [pharmeceuticals]), and VfL Wolsburg (funded by Volkswagen [motor vehicles]), as well as Hoffenheim (funded by SAP [a computer firm run by longtime Hoffenheim supporter Dietmar Hopp]). Nevertheless, there is now the whole charade of RB Leipzg, which does have (a few) club members, but that membership is exclusive. The average fan cannot join Rasenballsport (Lawnballsport) Leipzig, as a club member. RB Leipzig, which is owned by Red Bull [energy drink purveyors], have been a Bundesliga club for 4 seasons now, and are good enough to qualify for the Champions League, and are popular enough to draw over 38-K-per-game. Yet RB Leipzig have less than 1,000 club-members. That is because club-membership in RB Leipzig is open only to select corporate cronies, for a vast sum. Thus making a mockery of the 50+1 rule.

…

Football club membership in Germany usually entails benefits like discounts and first dibs on tickets, discounts on merchandise, and a free subscription to the club newsletter (or magazine), and usually (but not in every case) it gives a club-member voting rights, and plus sometimes even more free stuff {see 2 sentences below}. And in some cases (like with the biggest clubs), you can’t buy tickets without being a member, like with Bayern Munich and also, I think, with Dortmund (it’s confusing). Yearly dues are usually in the €25 to €60 range for adults.

I looked at all the big clubs’ websites for info on all this, and I decided to use the example of Borussia Mönchengladbach, because this Rhine-Ruhr-based club near the Dutch border had the most straightforward online pitch, and they offer plenty of “stuff”…
https://mitglied.borussia.de/index.html [Become a club member (aka FohlenClub)/English translation]…
Membership in Borussia Mönchengladbach gets you: A selection from 3 gifts: Fan scarf with slogan; or a 10-Euro-donation to Borussia foundation; or a knit cap with slogan. Right of first refusal on day tickets. Discounted season tickets. 10%-off at FoalShop. Invitation to exclusive member events. 8 issues of the club-magazine, which is called FoalenEcho – The Magazine. Discount for Fanproject (community outreach) membership. Participation in the annual General Meeting (with voting rights). Free admission to the Borussia Mönchengladbach Women’s team, and to the Youth-teams. Member card. Price: Under-18s: €40, Adults: €60 (which is $67 USD)…

Sounds like a decent deal to me, and it seems that more than 85 thousand Mönchengladbach fans would agree.

…

German clubs with the largest Membership sizes, and clubs with the highest ratio of Members-versus-Crowd-size…
As mentioned further above, the 3 German clubs with the largest amount of dues-paying members are: Bavarian giants Bayern Munich (290,000 club-members), and two clubs 16 miles (22 km) apart in the Rhine-Ruhr: FC Schalke 09 (155,400 club-members), and Borussia Dortmund (155,000 club-members).

The fourth, and only other German club with more than 100-K in club-membership, is FC Köln of Cologne. FC Köln, who were just promoted back to the Bundesliga, have 102,000 members. After that, there are 4 other German clubs with over 50-K in club-membership…Hamburg (who are still stuck in the 2nd division) have 85.5 K club-members; the aforementioned Borussia Mönchengladbach, have 85.1 K club-members; the just-relegated VfB Stuttgart have 65.5 K club-members; and Eintracht Frankfurt have 59 K club-members.

Some medium-large clubs that are Bundesliga mainstays, have slightly less actual dues-paying members than their average attendance (70 to 90% ratio). Like Werder Bremen (36.5-K-in-membership / 40.2 K avg attendance: 90% ratio), and Hertha Berlin (36-K-in-membership / 49.2 K avg attendance: 73% ratio), and Wolfsburg (20.1-K-in-membership / 24.4 K avg attendance: 82% ratio). And note that two of these three (Wolsburg and Werder), the ones with ratios close to 100%, have won German titles in the last 15 years.

Some German clubs, though not exactly Bundesliga mainstays, draw above-or-near-to 40 K per game, yet have only have dues-paying membership in the 20-to-25-K-range (ie, nearer to a ~50% ratio). Falling into this category are: current-Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf, as well as the just-relegated sides Hannover 96, and FC Nürnberg.

As of mid-2019, within the top 3 levels of German football, there are 9 clubs that have more dues-paying members than their 2018-19 average attendance (ie, a +100% ratio). This category comprises the top 7 highest-drawing clubs in Germany last season, plus Bayer Leverkusen (the 19th highest-drawing German club), plus the currently-3rd-division side 1860 Munich (who are the 27th highest-drawing German club).
The list below includes A) Club-membership Rank; B) Club-membership total / 2018-19 Avg Attendance; C) Percent-capacity; D) Level.
1) Bayern Munich: 290 K club-members / 75 K avg attendance (100%-capacity) [1st div].
2) Schalke: 155.4 K club-members / 60.9 K avg attendance (98%-capacity) [1st div].
3) Dortmund: 155 K club-members / 80.8 K avg attendance (99%-capacity) [1st div].
4) FC Köln: 102 K club-members / 49.5 K avg attendance (99%-capacity) [2nd div in 18/19; promoted to 1st div for 19/20].
5) Hamburg: 85.5 K club-members / 48.8 K avg attendance (86%-capacity) [2nd div].
6) Mönchengladbach: 85.1 K club-members / 49.6 K avg attendance (92%-capacity) [1st div].
7) Stuttgart: 65.5 K club-members / 55.5 K avg attendance (90%-capacity) [1st div in 18/19; relegated to 2nd div for 19/20].
8) Eintracht Frankfurt: 59 K club-members / 49.7 K avg attendance (95%-capacity) [1st div].
11) Bayer Leverkusen: 28.3 K members / 27.9 K avg attendance (93%-capacity) [1st div].
15) 1860 Munich: 22.4 K club-members / 14.9 K avg attendance (70%-capacity) [3rd div].

And finally…One club that is not a large club by any means, yet are rather well-supported in terms of club-membership-size-versus-average-crowd-size, bears mentioning. That is the newly-promoted FC Union Berlin, a club that hails from the former East Germany. FC Union Berlin play at a 22-K-capacity stadium in the eastern part of Berlin, which is called Stadion An der Alten Försterei (Stadium at the old forester’s house). In 2013, this stadium was re-built and expanded with the labor of, and funds from, the club’s supporters. FC Union will play in the Bundesliga for the first time in 2019-20. FC Union have 20,000 dues paying members, and they averaged 21,200 per game last season in 2-Bundesliga, when they finished in 3rd place, and then won the Relegation Play-offs over VfB Stuttgart, 2-2 aggregate and on the away goals rule. It was the first time the 2nd-division team won the Bundesliga Relegation Play-off in 7 years.
___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Blank map of Germany, by NordNordWest at File:Germany location map.svg.
-World Football.net site (for Club Membership totals, which can be found in each club’s Profile page there)…worldfootball.net/bundesliga.
-E-F-S site, european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
-2019–20 Bundesliga (en.wikipedia.org).
-2019-20 2. Bundesliga (en.wikipedia.org).
-2019-20 3. Liga (en.wikipedia.org).

July 19, 2019

2019 Copa Libertadores: map of Final Stages (16 teams).

Filed under: Copa Libertadores — admin @ 1:26 pm

http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/conmebol_copa-libertadores_2019_location-map_final-stage_16-teams_post_b_.gif
2019 Copa Libertadores: map of Final Stages (16 teams)
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By Bill Turianski on 19 July 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Links…
-2019 Copa Libertadores/Final Stages (en.wikipedia.org).
-Summary – CONMEBOL Libertadores – Final Stages [2019] (soccerway.com).

Following the Group Stage of March-through-May, the Copa Libertadores Final Stages begin on the 23rd of July, with the field whittled down from 32 to 16. Not surprisingly, the lion’s share of those teams still alive are from the two South American fútbol powers of Brazil (6 teams) and Argentina (4 teams). The Brazilian sides to advance are (in order of seeding): Palmeiras (#1 seed), Cruzeiro (#2 seed), Internacional (#3 seed), Flamengo (#7 seed), Grêmio (#12 seed), and Athletico Paranaense (#14 seed). The Argentinian sides to advance are: Boca Juniors (#6 seed), the Cup-Holder, River Plate (#10 seed), San Lorenzo (#13 seed), and Godoy Cruz (#15 seed).

What is surprising is that three of the remaining 16 teams still alive in the tournament are from Paraguay…all of whom won their groups to advance: Cerro Porteño (#4 seed), Libertad (#5 seed), and three-time Libertadores champions Olimpia (#8 seed). Also somewhat surprising is the advancement of two teams from Ecuador: LDU Quito (#11 seed), and Emelec (#16 seed). But, actually it should not be that much of a shock to see two Ecuadorian clubs survive the Libertadors group stage, seeing as how only 3 seasons ago [2016], a small and unheralded club from Ecuador, Independiente del Valle of Greater Quito, managed to make it all the way to the Finals (losing to Atlético Nacional of Colombia 2-1 aggregate).

To round out the final 16, there is one more side…Club Nacional [of Uruguay] (#9 seed). So, there are no Colombian teams or Chilean teams in the final 16 of the Libertadotes this year, which is surprising.

___
Thanks to all at the links below…
-Globe-map of South America by Luan at File:South America (orthographic projection).svg (en.wikipedia.org/[South America]).
-Blank map of South America by Anbans 585 at File:CONMEBOL laea location map without rivers.svg (en.wikipedia.org/[2018 Copa Libertadores]).
-2019 Copa Libertadores (en.wikipedia.org).
-Copa Libertadores 1960-2017 Club Histories (rsssf.com).
-Libertadores titles list {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Libertadores#Performances_by_club}.

Thanks to James Nalton at World Football Index.com for tweets & re-tweets {WFi}.

July 3, 2019

Spain: football clubs of Madrid – map of all clubs in the top 3 divisions of Spanish football that are located in the Community of Madrid (11 clubs plus 3 B-teams, including 4 La Liga clubs).

Filed under: Spain — admin @ 10:28 am

madrid_futbol-clubs_2019-map_all-12-clubs_in-top-3-divisions_4-la-liga_3-segunda_5-segunda-b_post_k_.gif
Madrid clubs (11 clubs plus 3 B-teams)
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By Bill Turianski on 3 July 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-2019-20 La Liga (en.wikipedia.org).
-2019–20 Segunda División (en.wikipedia.org).
-Segunda División B de España 2019-20 (es.wikipedia.org).
-How the challenge of building a club’s identity in Madrid’s satellite towns could alter Spanish football forever (from March 2019, by Mark Sochon at thesefootballtimes.com.

The map shows all clubs from the Community of Madrid that are currently [2019-20] playing in the top 3 levels of Spanish football. (There are 17 autonomous communities of Spain, one of which is the Community of Madrid {see this, Autonomous communities of Spain (en.wikipedia.org)}.) A small chart to the right of the map includes each club’s, or B-team’s, 2018-19 home league average attendances, as well as Seasons-in-the-1st-division. (Note: ‘n/a’ on the chart means ‘not applicable’ – and it refers to the fact that in Spain, although B-teams [reserve teams] are allowed to play in the Spanish league system, the B-teams are only allowed to win promotion to the 2nd division, and are banned from winning promotion to La Liga, and are not allowed to be in the same or higher level as the parent-club.)

There are 11 clubs from Madrid/Greater Madrid that are currently in the top 3 levels. Plus there are also 3 B-teams in the 3rd tier…Real Madrid Castilla [B], Atlético Madrid B, and the just-promoted Getafe B. So that makes it 14 teams in total from Madrid/Greater Madrid that are playing in the top 3 levels.

There are 4 Madrid/Greater Madrid-based clubs playing in La Liga (the 1st division), although last season [2018-19], the Spanish top flight had a record 5 clubs from Madrid/Greater Madrid. But that changed with the relegation of Rayo Vallecano, in May 2019.

The mini-profiles below include: Colours, 2018-19 avg. attendance (and change from 2017-18), Venue/location, Seasons-in-1st-Div, Titles-or-best-finish…
The 4 Madrid/Greater Madrid-based clubs in La Liga…
-Real Madrid. Colours: All-White with random trim colours. Crowds: 60.5 K per game (down -8.5%). Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (cap: 81.0 K), in the pricey Chamartín district that is located just north of Madrid city centre. Real Madrid are a founding member of La Liga and have never been relegated (89 seasons counting 2019-20). Real Madrid have won a record 33 Spanish titles (last in 2017), and a record 13 UEFA Champions League titles (last in 2018).
-Atlético Madrid. Colours: Red-&-White vertical-stripes with Blue pants. Crowds: 56.0 K (up +1.1%). Venue: Estadio Metropolitano (cap: 67.8 K), located in the eastern part of Madrid, in the Rosas neighbourhood in the San Blas-Canillejas district. Previously (up to August 2017), Atlético Madrid played at Vicente Calderón Stadium, which was located in southern Madrid (its location is shown on the map). The club has played in 83 of the 89 seasons of La Liga. Atlético Madrid have won 10 Spanish titles (last in 2014), which is 3rd-most.
-Getafe CF. Colours: Light-Royal-Blue. Crowds: 10.8 K (up +5.4%). Venue: Coliseum Alfonso Pérez (cap: 17.3 K), located just south of the City of Madrid (right on the border), in the city of Getafe, which is a suburb of Madrid. Getafe have many former Atletico Madrid supporters. They have had success in Europe (beating Tottenham en route to the 2008-09 UEFA Cup Quartefinals). Getafe will be playing their 15th season of La Liga in 2019-20. Their best finish was last season, where they finished in 5th, just missing out on the UEFA Champions League.
-CD Leganés. Colours: Blue-&-White vertical-stripes and White pants. Crowds: 9.9 K (up +4.0%). Venue: Buturque (cap: 12.4 K), located in the city of Leganés, which is just south of the City of Madrid, and just west of Getafe. Leganés will be playing in only their 4th season of La Liga in 2019-20. Their best finish was last season, in 13th place.

The 3 Madrid/Greater Madrid-based clubs in the 2nd level (Segunda División)…
-Rayo Vallecano (who were just relegated from La Liga). Colours: White-with-Red-diagonal-sash. Crowds: 11.8 K (up +25.5%). Venue: Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas (cap: 14.8 K), located just east of Madrid city centre, in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas (in the Madrid district of Puente de Vallecas). Rayo Vallecano have played in 18 seasons of La Liga, but were relegated straight back to the 2nd division in May 2019. Rayo’s best finish was 8th place in La Liga, in 2012-13.
-AD Alcorcón. Colours: Yellow with Dark Blue trim. Crowds: 2.1 K (down -1.5%). Venue: Estadio Municipal de Santo Domingo, located in the city of Alcorcón, south-west of Madrid. Counting 2019-20, Alcorcón have played 10 straight seasons of 2nd-division football; their best-ever finish was 4th place in the 2011–12 Segunda División.
-CF Fuenlabrada (who were just promoted from the 3rd tier). Colours: all-Royal-Blue. Crowds: 1.4 K (down -7.0%). Venue: Estadio Fernando Torres (cap: 7.5 K), located in the city of Fuenlabrada, which is south-west of central Madrid. Fuenlabrada are making their 2nd division debut in 2019-20.

The 4 Madrid/Greater Madrid-based clubs, plus the 3 B-teams [making 7 teams in total), in the 3rd level (the 80-team Segunda B)...
-CF Rayo Majadahonda (who were just relegated from the 2nd division). Colours: White jerseys with Red trim and Blue pants. Crowds: 3.3 K (up +2.8 K-per-game). Venue: The club plays in a 3.5-K-capacity stadium at the training ground and academy of Atlético Madrid (see below), located 16 km (10 mi) north-west of central Madrid, in the city of Majadahonda. Rayo Majadahonda were promoted to the 2nd division for the first time ever in 2017-18, but they went straight back down to the 3rd tier in May 2019. In the interim, though, the club more than sextupled their average attendance, going from 0.5 K to 3.3 K.
-Real Madrid Castilla (B-team). Crowds: 1.0 K (up +0.1 K per game). Venue: Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium, in Valdebebas, Madrid, located a couple kilometers north-east of the Bernebeu. Real Madrid Castilla have played 33 seasons of 2nd division football, but have been stuck in the 3rd tier since 2014; their best-ever finish was in 1983-84, when they finished in 1st place in the 2nd division, and Real Madrid Castilla would have been promoted to La Liga had they not been a B-team.
-San Sebastián de los Reyes [aka Sanse; aka SS Reyes]. Colours: All White with Red trim. Crowds: 0.7 K (~no change from 17/18). Venue: Estadio Municipal Nuevo Matapiñonera (cap: 2.0 K), which features artificial turf and is located in the town of San Sebastián de los Reyes, 20 km (10 mi) north-east of central Madrid. SS Reyes’ best finish was as a 6th place finisher in Group 1 of the Segunda B [3rd tier]: this happened 3 times (1994-95, 1999-2000, 2006-07).
-Atlético Madrid B. Crowds: 0.5 K (down -0.06 K). Venue: the Atlético Madrid B-team plays at Estadio Cerro del Espino (cap: 3.5 K), at the training ground and academy of Atlético Madrid, located 16 km (10 mi) north-west of central Madrid, in the city of Majadahonda. Atlético Madrid B have been playing in the 3rd tier consecutively since 2000-01; they have played 11 seasons of 2nd division football: their best finish was in 2nd place in the 2nd division in 1998-99, so, like Real Madrid Castilla in 1984, Atlético Madrid B would have won promotion to La Liga in 1999 had they not been a reserve team.
-CF Internacional (aka Inter de Madrid). Colours: Red-&-Black horizontal-stripes with Black pants. Crowds: 0.4 K (change v. 17/18 unavailable because 4th division attendances are not reported in Spain). Venue: the tiny Polideportivo Municipal (cap: 1.0 K), located in the town of Boadilla del Monte, which is just west of central Madrid. Inter de Madrid won promotion to the 3rd tier for the first time ever two seasons ago [2017-18], so their best finish was last season: 14th place in the 3rd tier in the 20-team Group 1 of the 80-team Segunda B.
-Las Rozas CF (who were just promoted from the 4th tier). Colours: Blue jerseys and White pants. Crowds: attendance unavailable because 4th division attendances are not reported in Spain. Venue: Dehesa de Navalcarbón (cap: 3.0 K), located in the town of Las Rozas, which is 18 km (11 mi) north-west of central Madrid. Las Rozas won promotion back to the 3rd tier in 2018-19; their best finish was in Group 1 of the Segunda B (the 80-team 3rd tier) in 2004-05.
-Getafe B (who were just promoted from the 4th tier). Crowds: attendance unavailable because 4th division attendances are not reported in Spain. Venue: Getafe B play at the club’s training ground, Ciudad Deportiva Getafe CF, which is adjacent to the senior team’s stadium, in the northern part of the city of Getafe (which borders the southern edge of the City of Madrid). Getafe B won promotion back to the 3rd tier in 2018-19, after 3 seasons in the 4th tier; their best finish was in 2010-11, at 7th place in Group 1 of the Segunda B (the 80-team 3rd tier).
___
Thanks to all at the following links…
-Globe-map of Spain by TUBS at File:Spain on the globe (Europe centered).svg (commons.wikimedia.org).
-Map of Spain showing the Community of Madrid, by TUBS at File:Comunidad de Madrid in Spain (plus Canarias).svg (en.wikipedia.org).
-Blank map of the Community of Madrid by Miguillen at File:Spain Madrid location map.svg(en.wikipedia.org).
-Attendance figures from worldfootball.net.

June 15, 2019

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): 2019 location map (first season/7 teams).

Filed under: Can PL,Canada — admin @ 2:57 pm

can-pl_canadian-premier-league_2019-location-map_post_b_.gif
Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): 2019 location map (first season/7 teams)
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By Bill Turianski on 15 June 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Links…
-Can PL official site (canpl.ca).
-Canadian Premier League (en.wikipedia.org).
-Fixtures, results, tables, etc…soccerway.com/national/canada/canadian-premier-league/2019/regular-season.

The map…The map shows the locations and home jersey-badges of the 7 Can PL teams, as well as the 4 other pro Canadian soccer teams (3 teams from MLS, and one team from the USL-Championship). At the top of the map page, photos from each of the 7 Can PL teams’ venues are shown.

Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL): a member of CONCACAF; est. 2019.
The Canadian Premier League (aka Can PL) is being referred to as a startup league. And it is starting small, with just 7 modestly-budgeted teams, to avoid a quick and costly crash-and-burn. There are plans for expansion for the second season (in 2020; see possible expansion plans further below). There will be no expensive signings of over-the-hill marquee players (like in MLS), and for the most part, the venues are small and sensible. True, there are two large, plus-20-K-capacity Canadian Football League venues (for the Hamilton and Winnipeg teams), but otherwise, the Can PL stadiums are all under 7-K-capacity…for now. The plan is for the venues to increase their capacities, as the teams’ fan bases enlarge.

The league has been created to give Canadian soccer fans a league of their own, and to give Canadian soccer players more opportunities, and to give the Canadian national team more competitive players. It is that simple. Seven roster spots per team are allocated to non-Canadian players. There are two 14-game mini-tournaments (Spring and Autumn), with the winner of each tournament facing off in the Final, in late October.

The 7 charter members of the Can PL are…(going from western-most to eastern-most teams):
Pacific FC (Victoria, BC),
Cavalry FC (Calgary, AB),
FC Edmonton (Edmonton, AB),
Valour FC (Winnipeg, MB),
Forge FC (Hamilton, ON),
York 9 FC (northern Toronto [York region], ON),
HFX Wanderers (Halifax, NS).

Canadian Premier League expansion for 2020 and beyond might include teams from the following regions…
-New Brunswick (probably Moncton)
-Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, or maybe Regina)
-Quebec (Quebec City, or maybe Sherbrooke in southern Quebec)
-Mississauga, ON (a suburb southwest of Toronto)
-Ottawa, ON, in the form of the pro team the Ottawa Fury FC (est. 2014, and currently playing in the USL-Championship [USA-2nd "level"].

There are some signs that of solid fan interest. The HFX Wanderers of Halifax, Nova Scotia, are playing to 95-percent-capacity, averaging 5,944 per game (after 3 home games). HFX played to a sold-out crowd of 6,200 in their first home match, then drew 5,387 in their second home match (which was on a weeknight), then had a standing-room-only crowd of 6,244 in their third home game.
-Meanwhile, the first-ever Can PL game [Forge FC 1-1 York FC, on April 27 2019], at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, ON had an attendance of 17.6 K. Since then, Forge FC have averaged a very decent 6.2 K in their next 4 home games (5.8 K v Pacific FC [Wed. May 8], 5.9 K v Cavalry FC [Sun. May 12], 6.0 K v FC Edmonton [Wed. May 29], 7.1 K v Valour FC [Sat. June 15]).
-Valour FC of Winnipeg had 9.6 K in their home opener, but drew just 4.7 K in their 3rd home game (albeit on a weeknight)

But there are also a few worrying signs….
-York 9 FC played to full capacity in their home opener, but then drew 30% less in their second home game. York 9 FC play at York University in the York region of northern Toronto, at a small 4.2-K-capacity stadium that features a fan-unfriendly running track. For their second home game on the 15th of June, York 9 FC only drew 2.9 K. York 9 are one of two Can PL teams that must compete for fans with a local Major Soccer League team (the other being Pacfic FC, of Vancouver Island). And York 9 FC’s ticket prices are pretty high, and are not really a good value compared to Toronto FC ticket prices: they start at $49 (Canadian). {See this from reddit.com…York 9 ticket prices now start at $49 (minus supporters section) after the bleacher side closure. That’s simply too high for non supporters section seating. Seriously concerning}.

-Besides HFX Wanderers and York 9 FC, the only other team that is drawing above 70-percent-capacity is FC Edmonton, who are averaging 3.7 K in their 5.1-K-capacity venue. (FC Edmonton has been existence since 2011, and had played 8 seasons in NASL (II), and were on hiatus last year [2018], after NASL (II) went bust.)

-Calgary’s Cavalry FC had traffic problems in their opener that resulted in hundreds of fans never even making it into the stadium (see this, Cavalry soccer club scrambles to improve fans’ access to Spruce Meadows). And then Cavalry FC only had 2.0 K attendance in their second home game.

But on the field [as of 15 June], Calgary’s Cavalry FC are in 1st place, at 6-0. Hamilton’s Forge FC, who scored two late goals to beat Valour FC on June 15th, are in 2nd place.

___
Photo credits on map page…
Forge FC home jersey crest, photo from macron.com/forge-fc-2019-20. West Hills Stadium (Victoria, BC), photo by Canadian Premier League at canpl.ca/article. Spruce Meadows (Calgary), photo from CPL Argentina at twitter.com/[@CPLArgentina]. Clarke Stadium (Edmonton), photo from edmonton.ca. IG Field (aka Investors Group Field) (Winnipeg), photo from smseng.com. Tim Hortons Field (Hamilton, ON), photo from modernelevator.com. York Lions Stadium (Toronto), screenshot from video at youtube.com/[CanPL Central]. Wanderers Grounds (Halifax, NS), twitter.com/[@hfxwanderersfc].

-Blank map of North America by Lokal_profil at File:BlankMap-USA-states-Canada-provinces, HI closer.svg.
-Can PL attendances from soccerway.com.

May 29, 2019

1926 Major League Baseball: map with crests & uniforms, final standings and stats leaders; champions: St. Louis Cardinals.

Filed under: Baseball,Baseball-1926 MLB season,Retro maps — admin @ 8:27 pm

mlb_al_nl_1926-map_w-uniforms_logos_standings_stats-leaders_1926-ws-champs_st-louis-cardinals_post_f_.gif
1926 Major League Baseball: map with crests & uniforms, final standings and stats leaders; champions: St. Louis Cardinals
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By Bill Turianski on 29 May 2019; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.

Sources:
-Baseball-Reference.com, 1926 AL season; 1926 NL season.
-SportsLogos.net.
-Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines (uniforms illustrated by Marc Okkonen), exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/[Dressed to The Nines database].
-US cities’ populations (1920 figures), biggestuscities.com/1920.
-Attendances. Source: baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1926-misc.shtml.

Links…
-An article on the St. Louis Cardinals circa 1926 to 1934…1926-34: The St. Louis Cardinals Were as Dominant as the Great Yankees Teams (by Harold Friend at bleacherreport.com).
-An article on Rogers Hornsby, who has the 2nd-best all-time Batting Average in MLB history (at .358, which is second only to Ty Cobb’s .367 BAvg)…Rogers Hornsby (by C. Paul Rogers III at sabr.org). {Excerpts: ‘Any conversation about the greatest hitter in baseball history must include Rogers Hornsby…’ …‘Although the assessment seems rather harsh given the competition, Bill James has characterized Hornsby as perhaps the biggest “horse’s ass” in baseball history, ahead of even Ty Cobb’.}
-An article on Grover Cleveland Alexander…Alexander provides ultimate relief for Cardinals in 1926 World Series (by Craig Muder at baseballhall.org).

-Here is a link to my map-and-post of 1925 MLB: 1925 Major League Baseball: Map with logos & uniforms. Including final standings, top players, and attendance + 1925 World Series winners: Pittsburgh Pirates. That post (from April 2019) also contains descriptions of the map template used there (and here), as well as a city-by-city look at Major League attendance from the 1920s.

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From 1903 to 1952 (50 seasons), there were no franchise-shifts in Major League Baseball. The 16 MLB teams from this 50-year period played in only 9 American cities…New York City (3 teams), Chicago (2 teams), Philadelphia (2 teams), Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis (2 teams), Boston (2 teams), Pittsburgh, Washington, and Cincinnati.

Below: a chart of 1920s USA city populations, with 1926 MLB teams noted…
1926_mlb_cities_populations_top-25-USA-city-populations-1920_h_.gif

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In 1926, led by player/manager Rogers Hornsby, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the New York Yankees in 7 games, to win their first World Series title. The Cardinals have won the second-most World Series titles, 11 (their last being in 2011). Those eleven World Series titles won by St. Louis are second only to the 27 titles won by the New York Yankees.

1926 MLB stats leaders…
ERA: Lefty Grove (Philadelphia Athletics).
Wins: George Uhle (Cleveland Indians).
BAvg: Heinie Manush (Detroit Tigers).
HR: Babe Ruth (New York Yankees).
RBI: Babe Ruth (New York Yankees).
OPS: Babe Ruth (New York Yankees).
WAR: Babe Ruth.(New York Yankees)
WAR for pitchers: George Uhle (Cleveland Indians).
___
Photo and Image credits on the map page…
1926 WS champions St Louis Cardinals (banner)…
Shoulder-patch crest, from hofmwholesale.com. 1926 STL cap, from dugout-memories.com. 1926 STL WS ring, from pinterest.com. 1926 WS [Sportsman's Park] program, from baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1926.
Rogers Hornsby [photo circa 1926], unattributed at rogershornsby.com. Rogers Hornsby [1961 Golden Press card] from amazon.com. Les Bell [photo from 1926], gettyimages.com. Bob O’Farrell [photo circa 1926], unattributed at sabr.org. Ray Blades [photo circa 1930], photo by Sporting News and Rogers Photo Archive via gettyimages.com. Jim Bottomley [photo circa 1925], unattributed at baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/bottomley-jim. Bill Sherdel [photo from 1929], photo by Sporting News and Rogers Photo Archive via gettyimages.com.

1926 MLB stats leaders…
Lefty Grove (PHA) [photo from 1925], photo by Charles M Conlon via sports.mearsonlineauctions.com. George Uhle (CLE) [photo from 1926], photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via gettyimages.ca. George Uhle (CLE) [photo from 1927], photo by Sporting News and Rogers Photo Archive via gettyimages.co.uk. Heinie Manush (DET) [photo circa 1924], unattributed at findagrave.com. Babe Ruth (NYY) [photo circa 1925], unattributed at pinterest.com. Babe Ruth (NYY) [colorized photo circa 1926], unattributed/colorized by Jecinici via reddit.com/r/yankees.

-Colorized photo of Philadelphia Athletics 1925-27 elephant-logo jersey, photo unattributed and colorized by Natalia Valiukevich/mediadrumworld.com via dailymail.co.uk/article.
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Thanks to all at the links below,
-University of Texas at Austin online archive (Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection), legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states.html.
-Baseball-Reference.com, 1925 AL season; 1925 NL season.
-Major League Baseball (en.wikipedia.org).
-SportsLogos.net.
-Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines (uniforms illustrated by Marc Okkonen), exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm.
-MLB.cm/shop.
-US cities’ populations (1920 figures), biggestuscities.com/1920.

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