First up, silly, patronising film by British Pathe showing England training for the 1970 World Cup.
A wonderful Duncan Edwards tribute by Matt Busby and Wilf McGuinness.
Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion. In 1898.
West Ham v Manchester United – in 1912. (Update: now removed from the site. This is a great shame, as this clip is one of few from the period that gives the viewer any idea of how “good” the football of the time was. How good was that? well, it backed up Herbert Chapman’s aside about “the old football, with all its precision and deliberate accuracy”; not that you can see what that amounts to, as the clip is now gone, obviously).
Wales v Ireland in 1906.
England v Scotland in 1907.
The earliest slow-motion football film I’ve yet found – from the Uruguay World Cup in 1930. Apologies for the sound track.
If anyone has a link to the fabled colour film of the 1957 Villa v United FA Cup Final, please could they put it in the comments?
If you click on the West Ham vs Man U link, you can then click through to 1950 USA vs England and see a Latin American crowd apparently cheering The Gringos. Gosh.
I nearly added that film to the list – the bedlam and fireworks surrounding a match involving Matthews and Ramsey as players is in beautiful dichotomy with what we normally associate with the England team of the day.
Thanks for the Duncan Edwards link. All too brief.