:''For the rugby league competition, see
Charity Shield (rugby league)
'The Football Association Community Shield' (formerly 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. If a team wins
The Double (both the Premiership and the FA Cup), then the Double winner plays the Premier League runner-up. The match is contested at the beginning of the following season, and has traditionally been played at
Wembley Stadium, although for the past few seasons it has been played at the
Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, while Wembley has been being rebuilt. The newly built Wembley held the
2007 final for the first time since
2000.
While still an honour in the English game, the Community Shield's status is far lower than that of the
Premier League,
FA Cup or
League Cup. It is widely considered to be a minor trophy, and is usually not spoken of as an honour at all. Community Shield games are almost always treated as friendlies by both sides in the modern era; this was best illustrated when
Roy Keane famously failed to break a smile when lifting the trophy for
Manchester United in
2003. 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.
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 Shield was first played for in
1908-09, replacing the
Sheriff of London Charity Shield that had been introduced in
1898-99 (though the Sheriff of London Charity Shield did reappear later on two separate occasions alongside the Charity Shield). It continued the professionals versus amateurs basis of the earlier cup (the gentlemen and players tradition). The
most recent Community Shield was played on
5 August 2007, at
Wembley Stadium between Manchester United and
Chelsea with Manchester United winning 3-0 on penalties after the match ended 1-1.
History
The first match was between
Manchester United (
Football League First Division champions) and
Queens Park Rangers (
Southern League champions). It was the only game to go to a replay with United winning the rematch; both games were played at
Stamford Bridge. The competition was not highly regarded, the games were informal, end-of-season clashes with both teams often assembled just for the game.
The competition format changed over time - initially a match between the Football League and Southern League champions, in 1913 the Shield was instead contested between Amateurs and Professionals XIs. The Shield was contested between the Football League and FA Cup winners for the first time in 1921, but 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
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 then and to this day having never 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 monies 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 was 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.
Manchester United defeated
Chelsea in a 3-0 penalty shoot-out at the new
Wembley on 05 August 2007.
Records and trivia
★ The most successful teams in the competition are
Manchester United (12 outright wins, 4 shared),
Arsenal (11 outright wins, 1 shared),
Liverpool (10 outright wins, 5 shared) and
Everton (8 outright wins, 1 shared).
★ The most successful player in the competition is
Ryan Giggs with 6 outright wins (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007 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)
★ 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.
Winners
By year
By number of wins (clubs only)
| Team | Wins (shared titles) | Years (
★ title was shared) |
|---|
| Manchester United | 16(4) | 1908, 1911, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1965
★ , 1967
★ , 1977
★ , 1983, 1990
★ , 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007 |
| Liverpool | 15(5) | 1964
★ , 1965
★ , 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977
★ , 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986
★ , 1988, 1989, 1990
★ , 2001, 2006 |
| Arsenal | 12(1) | 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1991
★ , 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004 |
| Everton | 9(1) | 1928, 1932, 1963, 1970, 1984, 1985, 1986
★ , 1987, 1995 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 7(3) | 1921, 1951, 1961, 1962, 1967
★ , 1981
★ , 1991
★ |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 4(3) | 1949
★ , 1954
★ , 1959, 1960
★ |
| Chelsea | 3 | 1955, 2000, 2005 |
| Manchester City | 3 | 1937, 1968, 1972 |
| Leeds United | 2 | 1969, 1992 |
| Burnley | 2(1) | 1960
★ , 1973 |
| Portsmouth | 2(1) | 1939, 1949
★ |
| West Bromwich Albion | 2(1) | 1920, 1954
★ |
| Blackburn Rovers | 1 | 1912 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 1 | 1958 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1 | 1910 |
| Cardiff City | 1 | 1927 |
| Derby County | 1 | 1975 |
| Huddersfield Town | 1 | 1922 |
| Leicester City | 1 | 1971 |
| Newcastle United | 1 | 1909 |
| Nottingham Forest | 1 | 1978 |
| Ipswich Town | 1 | 1935 |
| Sunderland | 1 | 1936 |
| Aston Villa | 1(1) | 1981
★ |
| West Ham United | 1(1) | 1964
★ |
References
1. TheFA.com - Where The Money Goes
Media coverage
The
FA Community Shield match gets broadcast live on
Sky Sports with highlights on
BBC One on their
Match of the Day programme.
External links
★
FA website - History of the Charity Shield
★
RSSSF archive of results
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
