“Dude, did you watch the Chelsea-Liverpool game yesterday? Was awesome!” screamed out a friend of mine in the college hallway yesterday and within seconds, there were a gazillion random people discussing football! It’s truly amazing how every third person is a crazy EPL fanatic today! Football, today, is a conversation starter, an excuse to kill time, a burning passion and a major part of life! The EPL, as we all know, stands for English Premier League and is an English professional league for association football clubs.
On the 15th of August, 1992, the Premier League came into existence. The main reason for the establishment of the Premier League was to avoid unnecessary chaos in the football stadium among the aggressive football fans. Apparently, in 1980, the English football had to experience hooliganism and uncivilized behaviour, which led to death of 39 fans in Heysel Stadium, Belgium, only because the English teams were banned from Europe. Crazy!History repeated itself in a magnified form in 1989, where 96 fans died and around 150 people were injured during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. There was absolutely no control among the fans! In order to have a systematic, organised and healthy competition, Lord Justice Taylor suggested that there must be structured football grounds and eventually, an all-seater stadia was introduced.On the 17th of July, 1991 the Founder Members Agreement was signed and they decided to have their own set of principles and rules, regarding the game as well as the sponsorship and broadcasting arrangements, independent from the Football League and FA. On Feb 20th, 1992 the first division clubs resigned from the Football League and within 3 months, the Premier League was born!
Television is an important aspect of football for people all over the world to enjoy the game. Sky TV was assigned the television rights. The Premier League has been promoted as “The Greatest Show On Earth” and Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus, Fox Sports and ESPN are doing a wonderful job by telecasting the game live all over the planet!Initially, in 1992, there were only 11 non-British/Irish players in the Premier League, which shot to 250 by 2007. When it all started, there were 22 clubs, but in order to achieve excellence and perfectionism at international level, it was reduced to 20.The 20 clubs and their corresponding ranks, according to 2009-10 are:Arsenal-3Ashton Villa-6Birmingham City-9Blackburn Rovers-10Blackpool-6Bolton Wanderers-14Chelsea-1Everton-8Fulham-12Liverpool-7Manchester City-5Manchester United-2Newcastle United-1Stoke City-11Sunderland-13Tottenham Hotspur-4West Bromwich Albion-2West Ham United-17Wigan Athletic-16Wolverhampton Wanderers-15
The sponsor plays a very important role in the Premier League. From 1993 to 2001, the sponsorship was taken care by Carling; hence the Premier League was called FA Carling Premiership which changed to Barclaycard Premiership in 2001 with respect to Barclaycard. Finally in 2004, Barclays Bank took over and hence, the EPL was renamed Barclays Premier League. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 matches each, altogether 380 matches in the season, driving the footy fans crazy for over 10 months!
Each team has a manager who handles the day to day running of the team; training of the players, team selection and player acquisition. Selection of a manager depends solely on the owner of the club and the fans. A manager needs to own a UEFA Pro License if he wishes to manage the team on a permanent basis.Not only does the winning team receive an award, but there are lots of other awards in the EPL like the Manager of the month, the Player of the month, the Manager of the year, the Golden Boot and the Golden Glove awards.There is no team or individual salary cap in the Premier League. As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League. Since the first Premier League season in 1992–93, 14 different players from 10 different clubs have won or shared the top scorers title. In 1994-95, former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer was in the top spot for most Premier League goals with 260. He has been the top scorer thrice!
Thierry Henry won his third consecutive and fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005–06 season, totally nailing Shearer’s record.
Other multiple winners include Michael Owen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Didier Drogba who have won two titles each. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season (34) – for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively. Cole’s record came in the 1993–94 season, while Shearer’s came in 1994–95, both of which were 42-game seasons. Shearer’s mark of 31 goals from a 38-game season in 1995–96 was equalled in the 2007–08 season by Cristiano Ronaldo. Five goals is the record individual scoring total for a player in a single Premier League game held by four players; Andy Cole, Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov. Only Ryan Giggs of Manchester United has scored in all 19 Premier League seasons.Manchester United happens to be the first team to have scored 1,000 goals in the league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 4–1 defeat by Middlesbrough in the 2005–06 season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are the only other teams to have reached the 1,000-goal mark.
One of the major drawbacks of the Premier League is the discovery of the so-called “Big Four” clubs. In 1994-95 Blackburn Rovers lifted the trophy. But since then only three clubs have won the Premier League title – Manchester United (nine of the club’s eleven titles), Arsenal and Chelsea (three times each). In addition, Manchester United have not stepped outside the top three ever the Premier League came into existence! From the 1996–97 season onwards, fortunately or unfortunately, the “Big Four” (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) have dominated the top four spots, not giving others a chance to be a part of the awesome foursome.
Currently, in the 2010-11 Premier League, Man Utd has managed its way up the charts with a smashing 54 points, follwed by Arsenal with 50 and surprisingly, Man City is on 3rd position with 49 points! Last year’s champions Chelsea are on position 4 with 44 points; Chelsea fans buckle up, ’cause the game has already begun!So, to sum it up, football can be considered as God and the EPL is a religion that worships football! Stay tuned to watch the next set of matches on 12th Feb, 2011! Until then, kick it hard!