A tribute to The Football Yearbook
After a couple of years, I have finally completed my collection of Football Yearbooks. As you can see in the photo above, I have stored all fifty editions in a bookcase. They don’t quite look right and will soon be put up on shelving.
The first edition came out in 1970 and offered fans over half a million football stats and facts. Rothmans tobacconists sponsored the first edition and did so up to the Yearbook for the 2002/03 season, the 33rd edition of the Yearbook.
The Yearbook dwarfed the News of the World Football Annual, another football yearbook that has been going since the late 1800’s.
The News of the World Annual was half the size of the Football in size and also only had 400 pages compared to the Rothman’s 992.
In the first edition of the Rothman’s Football Yearbook, there was a list of quotes from people within the game in 1970. One of them was Alan Hardaker, then Secretary of the Football Association who said this of the Yearbook:
‘I look forward to reading the Rothmans Football Yearbook and hope that it will be very successful’
I don’t think Hardaker (or anyone for that matter!) would ever have imagined quite how successful the Yearbook was going to become.
The blue covered Yearbook became almost a football bible, the go-to for all facts and trivia of the beautiful game.
The Editorial Note makes interesting reading as it lays out its aim to become the most comprehensive football guide in publication:
‘Association Football has long needed an authoritative and fully comprehensive reference book. So it is particularly pleasing to be able to say with confidence that the Rothmans Football Yearbook answers that need.’
The Yearbook could be found in every football managers office across the country. Statistics-mad football commentator John Motson used the Yearbooks for his research, saying that it was “the basis of my work since 1971” and likened it to ‘the internet between covers’.
The Yearbook has nearly ceased to exist a few times over it’s illustrious half-century existence. The first time was when Rothmans had to pull out from sponsoring the Yearbook in 2003.
Luckily for football enthusiasts the world over, Sky Sports took on the role and remained the sponsors until 2018.
In March 2018, the news came that shocked football enthusiasts everywhere. Sky Sports were going to stop their sponsorship at the end of the 2017/18 season and a new sponsor would need to be found.
It looked for a few weeks that the Yearbook would stop two seasons before the 50th edition. Fans took to Social Media to voice their concerns and plead for someone to step forward and take over from Sky Sports.
Fortunately, The Sun newspaper stepped up and became the sponsors of the Yearbook. John Motson announced his relief that the book would continue:
“I am thrilled to bits to hear this news. It’s been my bible for the past 48 years and I was gutted when I heard it might not be published next season”.
This season marked the 50th edition of the Yearbook. There are 1056 pages that make up the edition and it cost £25. That’s quite a lot compared to the first edition back in 1970 that set readers back 18 shillings!
With the internet giving all the information needed within a couple of clicks of a mouse, there is still a demand for the Yearbook. Fans look forward to the time of the season when it is published and with any luck, this will continue for many years to come!
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