DBasia.news – When Christmas Day rolls around, many people celebrate it by going out together and holding events at home under the Christmas tree and opening gifts.
“Jingle bells, jingle bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride, In a one-horse open sleigh, Jingle bells, jingle bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride, In a one -horse open sleigh.”
The atmosphere of Christmas is different in every country, especially in England with the snow and cold atmosphere of the British capital, London. The day feels perfect with the fact that the Premier League is still rolling. Even though this year (2022) is different.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup event which was played in November-December made the atmosphere of Boxing Day this year different. Even though there was a pause in the World Cup, the league still continues.
There’s no winter break, at least for Brits, with such a huge football culture, the Premier League is premium (luxury) entertainment.
However, for some people, especially the non-English coaches who coached there, Boxing Day has experienced a clash of cultures with them, as Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola once said.
“We have to adapt to the calendar, maybe we have to play games on December 26, 28, 30, only a few days apart,” Guardiola said as reported by the Manchester Evening News.
“This time, we have three or four days off. We will train on December 25 in the afternoon before the trip to Leicester (City). We have to train before the game, we have to.”
“Usually we train from 15.00 or 16.00, but we will start at 17.00 so that the players have an hour more time with their families at home,” he added.
Guardiola is not the only one. Jurgen Klopp, who has coached Liverpool since 2015, still can’t stop thinking about Boxing Day. Looking at it from a player’s fitness point of view, this busy period and Boxing Day have the risk of making players tired and prone to injury.
“We didn’t train, we recovered and had sessions where we tried to form the team. Boxing Day was an amazing match, but the 26th and 28th were anything but possible. It’s a joke they still do it. 29? Fine,” said Klopp.
“It’s really dangerous for the players, it’s not right. Everyone expects us to win, it’s really challenging but tonight I didn’t care.”
It is normal for coaches to complain because the busy schedule (festive periods) in December can make players tired and prone to injury, they can also be exhausted when entering the second half of the season.
The problem is, boxing day is a part of history which cannot be simply dismissed in England. In 2021 Boxing Day still exist in the midst of the corona virus pandemic, so will this year even though Qatar’s 2022 World Cup has just ended. So what is the history of Boxing Day and its relation to English football?
Three Different Versions of the History of Boxing Day
Literally, boxing day should be considered a day of boxing or, more extreme, a day to beat people up. No, it’s nothing like that. If you follow history or its origins, boxing day is a glorious day, when aristocrats appreciate the hard work and efforts of hard workers.
Without knowing the origin of boxing day, it’s easy to say it is a holiday or a red day (in Indonesian terms). In fact, there are three different versions of what boxing day means, which falls the day after Christmas, in England and the British Commonwealth of Nations, such as Australia and New Zealand.
The first version, it is said that there is debate regarding the term boxing day, which arose from the church in the Middle Ages, when parishioners (travelers, wanderers) collected money in a box to then give it to the poor. They will open it the day after Christmas to pay homage to St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Then the second is still associated with St. Stephen. Boxing day can also be interpreted as St. Stephen’s Day. St. Stephen became the first Christian martyr for his beliefs and he was martyred, stoned to death shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It happened in the era of the Roman empire.
Then the last with a version that is easier to understand. Boxing day was popular in the 19th century when Queen Victoria was still in power in Great Britain. Initially, boxing day was celebrated for lower caste people who had served their masters, even worked at Christmas.
They were given the day off after Christmas and also received neatly wrapped gifts. However, as time went on, boxing day was no longer reserved for lower caste people, but all elements of society and ethnicity in England.
What is the current form of British government services? The answer is easy, it doesn’t prohibit Premier League matches from taking place the day after Christmas. Families can enjoy their holidays by coming to the stadium, watching matches on television while enjoying special Christmas feasts.
Premier League Merges with Boxing Day Tradition
Once upon a time aristocrats rewarded their hard working servants on Christmas, with no day off, with the following day off and rewarded them with gifts. Now, all castes or races, regardless of age, gender and many other things, are entertained with the Premier League.
The Premier League is called the world’s best league for a reason. Apart from presenting fierce competition when all the teams are able to beat each other, the matches that are still taking place at festive periods are also entertainment for them, the fans, who are enjoying their holidays.
Learning from British historical records, the first boxing day match took place on December 26, 1860, which brought together the two oldest English clubs, Hallam FC against Sheffield FC at Sandygate Road. Since then, it has become easier for fans to refer to the Premier League game after Christmas as boxing day.
The fight that took place on boxing day was no joke. Quite a lot of exciting matches occurred on boxing day. An example is when Manchester United struggled to win 4-3 against Newcastle United in the 2012-13 season, which incidentally was the last season Sir Alex Ferguson handled the team.
Then the eight-goal drama between Chelsea and Aston Villa which ended in a 4-4 draw in the 2007-08 season, or when young Thierry Henry scored his first hat-trick when Arsenal won 6-1 over Leicester City in the 2000-01 season.
It is these exciting matches that will be missed if Boxing Day is completely abolished, even though the consequences are that players are prone to injury due to fatigue.