“I was browsing results from the (Fifa-recognised) Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) Cup and found that the host nation usually submits A and B teams for the tournament,” muses Gareth Bell-Jones. “In 1999 the Rwanda B team won the tournament, and in 2000 the Uganda A and B teams met in the final with Uganda A winning 2-0 to take their eighth title. Are there other instances where a B team has won an official tournament, or of A and B teams meeting in official competition?”



Why, yes there have been such examples, Gareth. If you’ve got time, we recommend that you read the always excellent RSSSF’s article on the subject of remarkable reserve teams (including a lengthy list of B teams that would have been promoted were their affiliated A team not already in the higher division), but if you haven’t, because we love you, we’ll give you some of the highlights.

In the 1957-58 Czech second division (eastern group), Spartak Kosice B finished second and won promotion, while Spartak Kosice A finished bottom and were relegated. Of course it’s perfectly possible that they actually just swapped names to psyche out the opposition, but for now we’ll take them at their word. Still, the following season they did change their name to Jednota, and of course the A team played in Division One while the Bs were consigned to Division Three.

In 1933, the Costa Rican side Alajuela Junior were admitted to the national championship, finishing above their big brothers Alajuelense for three seasons in a row. In the fourth, the Juniors were relegated and never heard from again. Several B teams have advanced further than their more senior colleagues in assorted cup competitions, and a few have actually beaten the A team on the way, including but not limited to: Sparta Prague B in the quarter-final of the 1970-71 Czech Cup; KR-b in the quarter-final of the 1968 Icelandic Cup, going on to lose in the final; and Slovan Bratislava in the 2007 Slovakian Cup.

Additionally, Real Madrid’s reserves, known as Castilla, played Real Madrid firsts in the final of the 1980 Copa del Rey, which was detailed in a previous edition of the Knowledge, here.

And there’s more. Ron Cruz writes in to tell us: “Between 1974 and 2008 the German Cup allowed the entry of reserve teams. Thus, it was possible for a club’s first-team squad to face their reserve team. Indeed, it happened on three occasions with the senior players always getting the best of the amateurs. No reserve side ever won the DFB Pokal but in 1993 Hertha Berlin’s amateurs reached the final in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium but lost to the same club that earlier knocked out the senior team, Bayer Leverkusen, by the same 1-0 scoreline.”

Liam McGuigan has more. “The current holders of the Liberian Cup happen to be Barrack Young Controllers’ reserve side, who play at the second level,” he tells us. “Four of their five ties en route, including the final, went to penalties, and they topped it off with a Super Cup win against the league champions Nimba United. The first team lost in the first round to NPA Anchors, who the reserves promptly eliminated in the second round. They had also won the tournament in 2012. In the 2013 CAF Confederations Cup (the African equivalent of the Europa League), they beat Sierra Leone’s FC Johansen in the preliminary round before losing 2-1 on aggregate to Tanzanian side Azam. In this year’s tournament, they entered straight into the first round, losing 3-2 to Kawkab Marrakech.”

Bright lights, small city

“The discussion on multiple international grounds in one country got me thinking,” writes David Hopkins. “My team (Derby County) has hosted England internationals at three different grounds (The Racecourse Ground and The Baseball Ground in the distant past, plus Pride Park in the early 2000s). My question is whether any town or city smaller than Derby (250,000 residents) has hosted internationals in more different venues?”

There are, we suspect, a number of answers to this question that scant records of the venues in some countries might prove difficult to track down, but our readers have been goodly enough to help us out with a few.

“Wales international matches have been held at three different venues in Swansea,” writes Geraint Criddle, “namely the Vetch (17 times), the Liberty Stadium (seven times) and St Helens (once). The population of the city and county of Swansea being 241,300 (2014), it just about knocks Derby off its perch.”

Robbie Fowler scoring for England against Mexico at Pride Park, Derby, back in 2000. Photograph: David Davies/PA

“A bit of a cheat,” admits Ian McKinney, “but Belfast has hosted international football in at least seven and possibly eight different venues over the years. I say a cheat as Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland, however, most of the venues were used prior to partition, at which point the IFA team competed as Ireland and selected players on an all-Ireland basis. With a population between 1882 and 1891 of 208,000–255,000 I think it could be said that Belfast meets the lower than Derby population criteria during this time, and as at the time it was not the capital city, meets the (implied) provincial backwater criteria. Between 1882 and 1891, Ireland played at: Knock Ground Bloomfield, Ulster Cricket Ground, Oldpark Avenue, and Balmoral Showgrounds. I haven’t been able to find evidence to confirm but I think they also played at Grosvenor Park and Solitude Park in that time. Subsequently, Windsor Park and Celtic Park have also been used in Belfast and Ireland also played home internationals at other grounds outside Belfast. Windsor Park is the only one of these grounds still in existence and of course is now the National Football Stadium for the foreseeable future.”

Sean DeLoughry chips in: “Ireland’s second city, Cork, with a population of 119,230 (2011 census) is about to trump Derby. Having previously hosted Hungary at The Mardyke in 1939 (a 2-2 draw) and Spain at Flower Lodge in 1985 (a 0-0 draw) will host Belarus at Cork City’s modest 7,500 capacity Turner’s Cross on 31 May.”

And finally, Michael Haughey writes: “Blackburn Rovers have hosted full England football internationals at three of their homes. Alexandra Meadows, still the home of East Lancashire Cricket Club, was used for a match against Wales on 26 February, 1881. Rovers then moved to Leamington Road which saw a draw with Wales in 1885 and a defeat to Scotland in 1887. After moving to Ewood Park in 1890 Blackburn hosted two more internationals – England v Scotland in 1891 and England v Wales in 1924. Blackburn also hosted the England women’s team twice in 2005 for the women’s European Championships. A smaller town than Derby by some way, the borough of Blackburn and Darwen at the 2011 census had a population of 147,489. Blackburn itself was 106,537.”

Any more for any more? Email knowledge@theguardian.com.

Unbeaten runs II

Last week we discussed the longest unbeaten runs football has offered the world, perhaps then rather naïvely wondering if you, our semi-tame hivemind, could make any other suggestions. Of course you could …

“This doesn’t top Celtic’s 62-game run,” points out Ione Campsie, “but it does put it in the shade due to the quality of the opposition. Maybe I’m biased … Basically you’ve missed Rangers’ unbeaten 44-game run between August and March 1992-93, which encompassed league, League Cup, Scottish Cup and, crucially, the first ever Champions League, which included two play-off victories against the English champions, Leeds United. The run did come to an end with a defeat against Celtic at Parkhead, but I don’t recall Rangers fans were too troubled by this rare defeat. Rangers were then a far superior team than their old rivals and went on to secure the treble that season with a Scottish Cup final victory over Aberdeen, again at Celtic Park. The celebrations by match-winner Mark Hateley in front of the Rangers fans gathered in ‘The Jungle’ were particularly sweet and memorable. If you can amend your list accordingly you will be serving history well.”

“Union St Gilloise (Brussels) went from 8 January 1933 to 10 February 1935,” writes Steve McGiffen, “taking in 60 matches without defeat in the Belgian first division. The club still exist (unlike most Belgian football clubs from the 30s) and now play in Division Two. They’re still more fun to watch than any other Brussels club, and very popular with foreign residents, of which I was one for 12 years a decade ago. They have a club song ‘L’Union qui Sourrit’, a lovely little ground and splendidly eccentric fans.”

Finally, we got in touch with Gibraltar’s finest, Lincoln Red Imps, to ask about their legendary unbeaten run. “I think the one you are referring to,” says Mick McElwee, current club secretary and former first-team manager, “was our unbeaten league record which ran from April 2009–September 2014, covered 88 league matches and five consecutive unbeaten-in-the-league seasons. Including the cup matches there are two significant unbeaten runs which I can identify: 41 matches March 2007–April 2009; 53 matches May 2010–May 2012.”

Not bad at all.

Brotherly shove: an update

In March the Knowledge investigated whether a player has ever been dismissed for a challenge on a sibling …

Perhaps because he’s a regular reader and wanted to chip in, we can offer an update on that question courtesy of Wrexham’s Connor Jennings. Wrexham had already had a player sent off, and Jennings was already on a yellow card when his brother James, of Forest Green, dispossessed him and launched a counterattack. The counter was brought to an abrupt halt as Connor dragged his sibling to the ground, rather unwisely doing so a few yards in front of the referee, who issued the second yellow. As you can see here.

“Connor was nibbling away at the ref. I think the referee’s missus only gives him more grief than Connor was giving him today,” japed Wrexham manager and light sexism’s Gary Mills afterwards.

Knowledge archive

“Over a few beers last week, a friend regaled me with a tale that included the rather random fact that John Hartson once stole a sheep, but I have no means to check the veracity of the story,” wrote a bemused Phil Sedgewood in 2007. “Say it ain’t so.”

Sadly, Phil, it isn’t just defenders, scales and Eyal Berkovic who were given a fright during the Welshman’s career, but also our woolly four-legged friends. “I was at Luton and two of my Swansea mates, Jason Wright and Kevin Davis, came up for some fun,” Hartson told the Sunday People in an interview. “We got absolutely lashed and, at about three in the morning, we found the minibus that was to take us back to my place. On the way, we stopped beside a field and stole a sheep that was minding her own business, threw her in the back of the van and then drove on home for a sleep.

“There was understandable pandemonium in the morning. I had a hangover and I’d completely forgotten about the sheep, which was roaming around the back garden in a state of some distress. We bundled her back in the van and dropped her off in the first field we found with sheep in it. Somehow we got away with it.”

Can you help?

“While watching a game at Celtic Park recently from the back of the North Stand,” writes Kevyn Whitelaw, “I was enjoying the Glasgow skyline, visible due to the Main (South) Stand at Celtic Park being considerably lower than the other three stands, I noticed I could see both Ibrox Park, home of The Rangers, as well as Hampden, home of the Scotland national team as well as Queens Park FC. Also visible is Shawfield, the old home of Clyde FC and now a greyhound stadium. This got me thinking: is there a stadium in the world from which you can see more than two other football stadiums?”

“Romelu Lukaku scored a goal against Portugal, heading in a cross from his little brother Jordan. Is this the first time this has happened with two siblings in an international match?” asks Stijn.

“I’ve got a question regarding the old adage ‘never change a winning team’,” states Julian Unkel. “When Borussia Dortmund won the 1957 German football championship final 4-1 against Hamburger SV (until 1963, the championship was decided in play-off format), they did so with the exact same starting XI that had won the championship the previous year. Are there any other instances of the same starting XI winning the same title in two consecutive years?”

“Connor Washington scored for Northern Ireland in their friendly recently … and it was the first time he had ever set foot in the country,” emails Ian Bendelow. “My question is: has a player ever represented a country – and even scored – without ever going there?”



“On Monday afternoon (4 April), Wexford Youths midfielder Chris Kenny scored for the Irish Defence Forces in a 2-1 win in a representative games against the Irish Universities,” notes Sean DeLoughry. “On Monday evening he came off the bench to score the winner for Wexford Youths against fellow League of Ireland Premier Division side Longford Town in the Leinster Senior Cup. Has anyone managed to score in two games in the one day at a higher level?”

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