When you settle down over the Christmas period to watch wall-to-wall football in glorious high definition and surround sound, chances are it won't look anything like this.

The oldest piece of football footage in existence has been unearthed, offering a brief but fascinating glimpse into the nature of the game in the late 19th century.

The 45-second clip from 1898 isn't exactly crystal clear and it appears to show a meaningless passage of play. Oh, and good luck identifying any of the players involved.

The grainy, 45-second clip shows a passage of play from Blackburn vs West Brom in 1898

The clip is the oldest footage of a football match in existence and was filmed by Arthur Cheetham

But nonetheless, the footage of the First Division match between Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion, played at Ewood Park on September 24, 1898, is a gem of a find.

It was discovered in the archives of the North West Film Archive, which is part of Manchester Metropolitan University and is shown here for the first time.

Some things haven't changed over the intervening 116 years - Blackburn still play in blue and white halves, while Albion are in stripes.

But pretty much everything else has. Ewood Park only held 12,000 in those days and the one visible stand is dwarfed by the terraced houses behind. The referee is in black but dressed from head to toe rather than the short-sleeves and shorts of today.

Blackburn won the match 4-1, with goals from Daniel Hurst, John Moreland and two from Thomas Jackson. West Brom's scorer was Ben Garfield.

The clip was recorded by Welsh film pioneer Arthur Cheetham and the film used to record it on was over 40ft long.

Blackburn won the First Division fixture 4-1 in front of 12,000 fans at Ewood Park

The West Brom goalkeeper takes a breather as the play unfolds in the opposition half

Mr Cheetham was a bit of a celebrity, making over 30 short films of Welsh life at the time.

His Ewood Park film was noted at the time by the Rhyl Record and Advertiser newspaper.

They wrote on September 24, 1898: 'We understand that Mr. Cheetham has during the past week been making a new Camera for taking Animated Photographs, which will be capable of running off 1,000ft of film at once.

'He has arranged to take a picture of the League Match, Blackburn Rovers versus West Bromwich Albion, at Blackburn on Saturday next, having obtained special permission of the club.'

The footage was found in the North West Film Archive, which is part of Manchester Metropolitan University

Among those playing that day was West Brom's Billy Bassett, a right winger who was quick and agile with his tiny 5ft 5in frame.

He scored 61 goals in 261 League appearances for the club and later, as director, helped save them from folding because of financial problems.

More than 100,000 people lined the streets of West Bromwich for his funeral procession in 1937.

Blackburn had their own stalwart named Bob Crompton, who was dubbed by some as 'the greatest Rover of them all'.

He made 529 club appearances at full back and also played 41 times for England, holding the record for the most number of caps until Billy Wright surpassed him in 1952.

Compton also managed the club between 1926 and 1930, helping them to win the FA Cup in 1928.

More information can be found at www.footballaddicts.com, the Swedish app developer and makers of free-to-use football apps Forza Football and Forza 90.

Bob Crompton, pictured in his England kit, was a Blackburn stalwart who later managed the club