As friends and families settle down on Christmas Day for a traditional turkey dinner following a season of joy, one thing may seem to be missing.
In the USA, it has been something of a tradition for sports to be played as the NBA and NFL are among the leagues still playing on December 25th.
The Premier League, and football as a whole in England, will not be played on Christmas Day though, with the usual day for festive football changing.
Instead, December 26th has become the usual day for festivities, with the Boxing Day schedule usually marking the time of year.
So with that said, here’s a look at why football matches stopped being played on Christmas Day, including the last time Arsenal played on the big day.
The reason Premier League fixtures aren’t played on Christmas Day
League games on Christmas Day never used to be such a rarity, with the first set coming in 1889 in the old First Division.
This became a regular occurrence until 1957, when the final set of fixtures on December 25th were played and haven’t been picked as a matchday soon.
Christmas Day games were first played to help with the fixture schedule over weekends, though the invention of floodlights has allowed for matches to be played during midweek nights.
Add to that the fact that football is such a spectator sport in the United Kingdom, it isn’t easy to get fans to matches on Christmas Day.
Public transport is closed on the day, with a national holiday handed to service workers, which only complicates supporters travelling to the game.
In all, it made planning for games over Christmas Day complicated, underlined by the 67 years without a league match scheduled for then.
It’s unclear if the Premier League could one day change that, though it seems unlikely to happen in the near future.
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When was Arsenal’s last game on Christmas Day?
While the final set of matches in England played on Christmas Day was in 1957, Arsenal played their final Christmas Day game one year prior in 1956,
The Gunners made a trip across London for a derby against rivals Chelsea, with both teams looking to cap off an ideal festive period.
It ended in a 1-1 stalemate though, with neither side able to take maximum points and bragging rights in the First Division.
In the years that followed, Arsenal have called players in to train on Christmas Day, preparing for their usual scheduled clashes on Boxing Day.
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