OTD: Your Daily Dose of Soccer History

17 Laws Guy
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Soccer
  • Updated Daily

After a great run, OTD on 13 Sep 2026 migrated to Substack. You'll get the same structure there - and more! See you at https://substack.com/@17lawsguy

  1. Sep 12

    Thirty-Five. And Thirty-Six

    OTD E0316 — 12 Sep 1885: Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35–0 in the Scottish Cup — after their referee thought it was 37. Eighteen miles away, Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36–0. We trace the Scottish Cup’s birth, John Petrie’s 13 goals, Tom O’Kane’sboastful telegram and 18-mile run, the Bon Accord cricket-team myth, the clubs’ later fates and football’s other impossible scorelines. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  2. Sep 11

    The Kid Who Became Italy’s First Superstar

    OTD E0315 — 11 Sep 1927: Seventeen-year-old Giuseppe Meazza makes his Inter first-team debut in Como’s Coppa Alessandro Volta and scores twice. We trace the Milan street kid rejected for being too small, Árpád Weisz, the birth of Serie A, two World Cups and Meazza’s enormous celebrity — plus the extraordinary same-day coincidence of Como’s physics congress, Niels Bohr, the Bohr family’s football past and quantum mechanics. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  3. Sep 10

    Jock Stein’s Last Match

    OTD E0314 — 10 Sep 1985: Wales and Scotland meet at Ninian Park with Mexico 1986 hanging on one result. Mark Hughes scores, Jim Leighton loses a contact lens, Jock Stein makes one final inspired substitution and Davie Cooper equalizes from the spot. Then, moments before full-time, Stein collapses. We trace Wales’ years of qualifying heartbreak, Stein’s journey from the coal mines to Lisbon, Alex Ferguson’s inheritance, and a night when Scotland’s World Cup lifeline became national mourning. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  4. Sep 9

    The Old Lady in Serie B

    OTD E0313 — 09 Sep 2006: Juventus begin the most improbable league season in their history — away at Rimini, in Serie B, starting on minus 17 points after Calciopoli. We trace Italian football’s scandal history from Totonero to Moggi’s intercepted calls, the World Cup-winning squad torn apart by relegation, the stars who stayed, Rimini’s ten-man equalizer, Juve’s immediate return — and how two stripped Scudetti later turned the club’s famous gold stars into an argument about who gets to count history. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  5. Sep 8

    The Day Football Got a Season

    OTD E0312 — 08 Sep 1888: Five matches. Twenty-three goals. One invention that changes football forever. We reconstruct the first Saturday of the Football League — Kenny Davenport’s newly rediscovered first goal, Gershom Cox’s first own goal, Bolton blowing a 3–0 lead, Preston beginning their Invincible season and Everton playing at Anfield — then trace William McGregor, rival leagues, promotion and relegation, and how one Victorian fixture list became football’s global operating system. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  6. Sep 7

    The First Merdeka

    OTD E0311 — 07 Sep 1957: A Hong Kong League XI beats South Vietnam 3–1 to win the first Merdeka Tournament, just one week after Malaya declares independence in the same Kuala Lumpur stadium. We trace Tunku Abdul Rahman, the rise of organized Asian football, eight invited teams, Eastern’s extraordinary touring side, the chaotic 1957 tournament — and how an independence celebration became Asia’s oldest international invitational football tournament. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  7. Sep 6

    The Scorpion Kick

    OTD E0310 — 06 Sep 1995: René “El Loco” Higuita turns a harmless Jamie Redknapp ball into football immortality with the Scorpion Kick at Wembley. We trace the Colombian’s extraordinary journey from Medellín to Libertadores glory, Roger Milla’s 1990 punishment, prison and comeback, then place Higuita among goalkeeping’s great originals — Grobbelaar, Schmeichel, Campos, Chilavert, Ceni and Dudek — and ask how yesterday’s madman helped anticipate today’s ball-playing goalkeeper. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

  8. Sep 5

    The Prince of Goalkeepers

    OTD E0309 — 05 Sep 1931: Rangers and Celtic are drawing 0–0 at Ibrox when 22-year-old Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper John Thomson dives at the feet of Rangers striker Sam English. English’s knee catches Thomson’s head. The collision is entirely accidental — but Thomson dies later that night. We trace the remarkable young goalkeeper’s rise, the Old Firm world around him, the devastating effect on English, the tens of thousands who mourned Thomson, and football’s long journey from an era without substitutes or concussion protocols to the very different response to Petr Čech’s frighteningly similar skull injury in 2006. Ideas: otd@17lawsguy.com

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After a great run, OTD on 13 Sep 2026 migrated to Substack. You'll get the same structure there - and more! See you at https://substack.com/@17lawsguy

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