Nationwide Football Annual
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The Nationwide Football Annual is a compact football annual which primarily covers football in England and Scotland, but also includes some details for football in Wales, Ireland and the rest of Europe.
Since the first issue it has had several different publishers and different titles, appearing originally from 1887–1946 as the Athletic News Football Annual (initially called the Athletic News Football Supplement and Club Directory, and containing just sixteen pages). This title was subsequently incorporated into the Sunday Chronicle Football Annual from 1946–1956. For the 70th edition the volume was renamed the Empire News and Sunday Chronicle Football Annual (1956–1961), which eventually became the News of the World and Empire News Football Annual (1961–1965); the News of the World Football Annual (1965–2008), and finally the Nationwide Football Annual from 2008 onwards. [citation needed]
It is believed to be the world’s oldest football annual and it has sometimes been described by secondhand booksellers on the World Wide Web as “the Wisden of Football”. [citation needed]
For the 127th edition of the annual in 2013–14, now running to 544 pages, the editor is Stuart Barnes, who has been in the post since the 2000 issue.
Two long-serving previous editors were 'Tityrus' (otherwise J A H Catton, editor of the Athletic News 1900–1924)[1] and Ivan Sharpe (c. 1928–1956). Other editors or joint-editors appearing on the front covers or title pages include David Jack (1956–1958 – he also made later contributions and is not to be confused with the England footballer of the same name); Malcolm Gunn (1958–1966); Frank Butler [2] (1961–1982); Patrick Collins (1967–1977); Harold Mayes (1978); Charles Sampson (1983–1984); Albert Sewell (1983–1997); Bill Bateson (1985–1994) and Eric Brown (1998–1999).[3]
Besides the senior football league and cup contests in England and Scotland, the annuals include final tables from a number of non-league competitions, sometimes with their fixture lists for the coming season. Until 1980 the volumes also generally included short Rugby Union and Rugby League sections. After incorporating the former (Sunday) Empire News Football Annual in 1956, the editors temporarily adopted the fuller title of the Empire News and Sunday Chronicle Two-in-One Football Annual (later the News of the World and Empire News Two-in-One Football Annual). [citation needed]
The book has incorporated a number of illustrations for many years, and since 1948 these have regularly included team photos of a few of the previous season's most successful sides. Since 1985 the annual has also included very brief obituaries ('The Final Whistle') for selected former players and officials dying within the previous twelve months.[3]
Following the withdrawal of News of the World as sponsors, the Nationwide Building Society emerged to provide new sponsorship in 2008.[4]
Facsimile copies of the Athletic News Football Annuals for 1890-91, 1891–92, 1892–93 and 1893-94 were issued by the Association of Football Statisticians during the 1980s.[5]
References
- ^ Brake L & Demoor M, Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland, 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011
- ^ "'News of the World' Football and Sports Annual". Bookfinder.com. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
- ^ a b Verified by checking copies of the original annuals, 1946–2010
- ^ Bill Wilson (23 July 2008). "New life for oldest football book". BBC. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ Verified from copies of the facsimiles