WHEN FOOTBALL WAS STILL PART AND PARCEL OF CHRISTMAS IN BRIGG & DISTRICT

Brigg Town Football Club is taking a break over Christmas 2018, meaning there are no Balcan Lincolnshire League Premier games for Zebras' followers to enjoy over the festive period. Christmas fixtures are also few and far between for local teams at Scunthorpe & District level this year.
However, a newspaper cutting sent to Brigg Blog by Barnetby United FC official Lee Fielden recalls when football matches on CHRISTMAS DAY were part and parcel of the local sporting scene, and drew big crowds.
Lee has highlighted a local derby played at Barnetby on Christmas Day 1937 - in the West Wold League.
More than THREE HUNDRED spectators watched The Albion beat Wrawby 4-3.
The match report suggests that both teams were below strength, perhaps due to family pressure being applied on some players while others may have been at work.
But you don't have to go back very far to recall when sporting fixtures were still a regular feature of Christmas.
Brigg Town FC generally drew a sizeable crowd for Boxing Day games at The Hawthorns when they were playing higher up the football pyramid.
For many years from the 1950s through to the early 1980s, the Brigg Branch of the Grimsby Town Supporters' Club ran Boxing Day bus trips from our town and surrounding villages to take fans to watch the Mariners' Christmas fixture.
Into the late 1950s, the Football League still had Christmas Day matches, some of which involved Scunthorpe United, Grimsby Town and Lincoln City.
Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, there was an annual Boxing Day morning friendly hockey match played at Brigg Recreation Ground.
We also recall that Christmas cricket matches used to be a feature in Broughton.
Market Rasen Racecourse continues to stage Boxing Day meetings - attended by many people from Brigg and district.
Our picture shows Brigg Town FC supporter Johnny North watching the Boxing Day 2012 match at The Hawthorns against Kings Lynn.
This was when the Zebras were in the EvoStick Northern Premier League Division One South. The visitors brought plenty of support for this Wednesday afternoon clash.