FA Community Shield

For the English competition, see Rugby League Charity Shield (Great Britain)

For the Australian competition, see Rugby League Charity Shield (Australia)

Chelsea tifo being carried through Wembley Stadium before the 2007 match

The Football Association Community Shield (formerly and colloquially known as the Charity Shield) is an English association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of the FA Premier League and the winners of the FA Cup. It is equivalent to the Super Cups found in many countries. The Shield was first played for in 1908-09, replacing the Sheriff of London Charity Shield that had been introduced in 1898-99.

The match is contested at the beginning of the following season, and has traditionally been played at Wembley Stadium, although it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales while Wembley was being rebuilt. The newly built Wembley held the 2007 final for the first time since 2000. If a team wins The Double (both the Premiership and the FA Cup), then the Double winner plays the Premier League runner-up.

The Shield plays a major role for the FA in its efforts to raise funds for various charities throughout England. The sources for the funds include the net profits from admission tickets and sales of match day programmes. Parts of the fund are distributed to clubs who participated in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, who are then in turn asked to nominate a charity or community-based organisation which will receive the clubs' share of the fund. The remainder of the funds will then be donated to The FA Charity Partners.^[1]

The most recent Community Shield was played on August 10, 2008, at Wembley Stadium between Manchester United and Portsmouth. This was the first time since 1996 that a team outside of the Big Four competed in the competition. Manchester United won 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in regular time.

History

The Community Shield evolved from the Sheriff of London Charity Shield that had been introduced in 1898-99 as a professionals versus amateurs cup (the gentlemen and players tradition).^[2] The Football Association Charity Shield, as it was known at the time, was designed to replace the Sheriff of London Charity Shield after the leading amateur clubs fell out with the FA.^[3] The new format was to have the Football League First Division champions play the Southern League champions, and the first match was in 1908 between Manchester United (the First Division champions) and Queens Park Rangers (the Southern League champions). The match was drawn 1–1, so the game was replayed when Manchester United won 4–0. This is the only Charity Shield game to go to a replay. Both games were played at Stamford Bridge.^[4]

The competition format varied over the years: in 1913 the Shield was contested between Amateurs and Professionals XIs, while in 1921 the Shield was contested between the Football League and FA Cup winners for the first time. The format continued to vary in the 1920s, usually along the lines of Amateurs v. Professionals, including one year (1927) where the Professionals were represented by the FA Cup holders Cardiff City and the Amateurs by the Corinthians.

In 1930 the Football League winner v. FA Cup winner returned, and with a few exceptions, this format has remained to the present day. Notable exceptions include the 1950 Shield, which involved the England World Cup team against an FA team that had toured Canada that summer, and the 1961 Shield, when Tottenham Hotspur became the first team of the 20th century to win the Double. As they won both trophies, they instead faced a Football Association XI.

By then, the date of the game had been moved to the start of the season, from 1959 onwards. The question of which two teams should contest the Shield should one team win both the FA Cup and League continued to linger. In 1971, Arsenal became the second team to win the Double since the Shield's foundation, but owing to their commitments in the European Cup they could not take part. Leicester City were invited as Division Two champions to play FA Cup runners-up Liverpool instead and went on to win the trophy, despite having not won either the League or the FA Cup.

In 1974 the then FA secretary, Ted Croker, created the current format with the match always being played at Wembley Stadium and the money raised at the gate going to charity. The first game at Wembley was notable for the sendings off of Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner for fighting, shown that night on BBC television. Both were fined £500, with Keegan being banned for three games and Bremner eight. Croker also declared that should a team win the Double then they will play the league runners-up in the Charity Shield, an arrangement that continues to this day.

The game is decided on the day with penalty shoot-out if the scores are level, though between 1949 and 1993 the Shield was usually shared if the game was drawn; West Ham United and Aston Villa are the only two clubs to have the distinction of sharing Community Shield titles with other clubs without winning one outright.

With the formation of a new top league, the FA Premier League, the Shield became a match between the Premier League and FA Cup winners from the 1993 competition onwards. In 2002, the competition was renamed the Community Shield; a small scandal surrounding questionable distribution of money raised for charities by the match led to a renaming of the match as part of a reform of the competition. Arsenal were the first winners of the Community Shield with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool.

The 2006 Community Shield game, where Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2-1, was the first not to be contested by either Arsenal or Manchester United since 1995, when Everton beat Blackburn 1-0.

Status

While still an honour in the English game, the Community Shield's status is lower than that of the Premier League, FA Cup or League Cup. It is widely considered to be a minor trophy and Community Shield games may not be as hotly contested as other trophy finals. Also of note is that no winning team in the modern era has opted to hold an end of season open-top bus parade after winning only the Community Shield, despite it being the custom in England after a club has won a trophy. Among followers of football, the Community Shield is often most attractive as a spectacle in that it offers a first glimpse of the newly-signed players for each team. Prior to the 2008 FA Community Shield, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson aptly summarized his opinion for the competition: "It's always a game we never quite use of a do or die thing, we use it as a barometer for fitness".^[5]

Records

• The most successful teams in the competition are Manchester United (13 outright wins, 4 shared), Liverpool (10 outright wins, 5 shared), Arsenal (11 outright wins, 1 shared) and Everton (8 outright wins, 1 shared).
• Everton hold the record for most consecutive wins (4) from 1984-1987; however, the 1986 was shared with Liverpool. Manchester United hold the record for most consecutive losses (4) from 1998-2001. During this period Manchester United also held the record for most consecutive games played (6) from 1996-2001 in which they won 2.
• The most successful player in the competition is Ryan Giggs with 7 outright wins (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008 with Manchester United). Ray Clemence has 6 medals; 4 outright (1974, 1976, 1979, 1980 with Liverpool) and 2 shared (1977 with Liverpool and 1981 with Tottenham Hotspur)
• Ryan Giggs also holds the record of the most Shield appearances, with 12 to his name so far.
• The highest scoring game was Manchester United's 8-4 win against Swindon Town in 1911.
• Tottenham goalkeeper Pat Jennings scored against Manchester United in the 1967 Charity Shield.
• Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion are the only clubs to win just the Shield, never the FA Cup or the League; Leicester won as Second Division champion (see above) and Brighton as Southern League champions.

Winners

By year

By number of wins (clubs only)

Venues

• Stamford Bridge 1908–1911, 1923, 1927, 1930, 1950, 1955, 1970
• White Hart Lane 1912, 1920, 1921, 1925, 1951, 1961
• The Den 1913, 1929
• Old Trafford 1922, 1928, 1952, 1957, 1965, 1967
• Highbury 1924, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1949, 1953
• Maine Road 1926, 1937, 1956, 1968, 1973
• Villa Park 1931, 1972
• St James' Park 1932
• Goodison Park 1933, 1963, 1966
• Roker Park 1936
• Molineux 1954, 1959
• Burnden Park 1958
• Turf Moor 1960
• Portman Road 1962
• Anfield 1964
• Elland Road 1969
• Filbert Street 1971
• Wembley Stadium 1974–2000
• Millennium Stadium 2001–2006
• Wembley Stadium 2007–

References

Media coverage

The FA Community Shield match was usually broadcasted live on Sky Sports with highlights on BBC. However, starting with the 2008/09 Season, the FA Community Shield match was shown live on Setanta Sports 1 with highlights shown on ITV1. In Australia the FA Community Shield is broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia.

External links

• FA website - History of the Charity Shield
• RSSSF archive of results

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