10 Things You Need to Know About the GAA Football Championship

· Did you know that the first ever All Ireland Football Final was played in 1887, and it was actually played by clubs representing their counties in an open draw, knockout format? A Limerick Club called Commercials defeated Young Irelanders of County Louth by 1-04 to 0-3. Only eight teams featured in the inaugural All Ireland Football Championship, hard to believe today.

· The winning trophy for the present day All Ireland Champions is called the Sam Maguire Cup, named after the famous Corkman, and the cup has been presented to winning captains since 1928, and was replicated in design in 1987. It is similar in design to the Ardagh Chalice.

· Nowadays, all 32 counties from the island of Ireland usually enter a team into their respective Provincial Tournament (with the exception in recent years of Kilkenny footballers). Two further teams that represent the Irish diaspora in London and New York also ompete in the All Ireland Championships.

· The GAA Senior Football Championship was originally a knock out tournament - and the four Provincial Tournaments were played between counties to decide the winning county. The four winners from each province then compete against each other in All Ireland Semi Finals for a place in the All Ireland Final.

· The Year 2001 saw changes made to the GAA Football Championships for the first time - beaten teams in the Provincial Championships were allowed back into "qualifier rounds" - in a back door method of qualification. This effectively means that a team defeated in their Province can re-enter the All Ireland Championship through the qualifier stage - and end up still getting to the final providing they win their games! In fact, the very first year of its inception saw Galway coming from the qualifier route to win the All Ireland Championship. In recent years (2005 and 2006) both Tyrone and Kerry have re-entered from the Qualifier stage and won the GAA Football Championship.

· 19 different counties have won the Football Championship - with Kerry leading the roll of honour with 35 titles won, Dublin with 22, Galway with 9 and then Meath with 7. The current holders of the Sam Maguire are Tyrone, who secured their third ever title in September 2008, scuppering Kerry's bid for three titles in a row in the process.

· This Sunday, the 17th of May sees the ball thrown in for the start of the 2009 GAA Football Championship. In Ulster, Fermanagh (who have never actually won the Ulster Title but who came ever so close in 2008) play Down (aristocrats of the game who however have gone into decline in the past 15 years), in the first round of the Ulster Championship. In Leinster, Carlow take on Louth. The first big games to look out for are both in the Ulster Championship, with Derry taking on Monaghan on May 24th, and All Ireland Champions Tyrone taking on Ulster Title holders Armagh on May 31st.

· The big games in the 2009 Football Championship are all going to be covered by Irish television (either RTE2 or TV3) so if you don't have a ticket, don't despair, either watch at home or head to a hostelry of your choice and watch the action unfold.

· The All Ireland Final takes place at Croke Park, the wonderful home of the GAA. The Football Championship decider takes place usually on the third Sunday every September.

· Ulster Bank, Toyota and Vodafone will sponsor the 2009 GAA Football Championships. This lucrative sponsorship is proof of the huge appeal of the GAA even in these recessionary times, and come the big games at Croke Park, Clones, Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney and Pearse Stadium Galway, the crowds will throng to see players give their all in a game that is professional in all but name.

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The First Championship - The History Of Liverpool Football Club

After winning the Lancashire League in the first year of existence, Liverpool FC was elected to the Football League Second Division for the 1893-1894 season.

As was the case with the previous season, Liverpool FC was extremely successful in their second season as well, and won the Second Division by a good margin, suffering no defeats in the process. As a result they were promoted to the the highest level of English football at the time - the first division!

As you would expect, Liverpool FC didn't just go on to win the league in their first season, but started a building up period with the aim to win the league, as well as the domestic cup competition. The first seed of success was sown in 1896, when Liverpool FC signed Tom Watson to manage the team.

Tom Watson was the manager of Sunderland AFC, and had a proven track record, since he had guided Sunderland AFC to the title 3 times in 4 seasons, and remains their most successful manager to this day.

Over the next 5 years he built a strong squad around players like Alex Raisbeck, Bill Perkins, Billy Dunlop, Jack Cox and Sam Raybould. The Liverpool FC team that started the 1900-1901 was considered to be their strongest team yet.

To give you an idea of the time this took place, this was when handlebar mustaches were in high fashion, the players travelled to the away games by train and/or horse and carriage, Queen Victorias reign was coming to an end and goats would be grazing on the grass-covered terraces of Anfield during the week.

The season got off to a perfect start with a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers, in front of a crowd of 20,000 at Anfield, followed by a 2-1 win away at Stoke City, before West Bromwich Albion had to suffer a 5-0 defeat by the Anfield outfit.

Fourth game of the season was the first so called Merseyside Derby, an away game against Everton FC at Goodison park. Liverpool FC came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw, ending their 100 percent record. Things went worse the next week, when their unbeaten run was brought to an end by title favorites Sunderland AFC, who came away from Anfield with a 2-1 win.

Manager Tom Watson wasn't most pleased to lose out to his former club, but in the end he and Liverpool FC would have the last laugh.

Liverpool FC would have to go through testing times first though, and by the turn of the year even the most optimistic supporter wouldn't have believed the team would go on to win the league that year. Further damage was added to the campaign and their confidence through further defeats, and by mid-February Liverpool FC found themselves in 8th spot in the league table.

With nine points difference to the top team of the league, Nottingham Forest, things looked bleak. However, Liverpool FC turned things around in what was to become a trademark of the clubs title winning teams, so before the last game of the season against an already relegated West Bromwich Albion site, they were level with Sunderland AFC in the title race.

West Bromwich Albion was no pushover though, fighting for honour and pride. Liverpool FC was fortunate to be in the lead by one goal to nil at half time. After a hard fought second half, Liverpool FC managed to hang on to their lead, and as a draw would have sufficed their first league title was a reality.

Coming back on the train from the midlands, the newly crowned champions were met by a large crowd at the central station, and team captain Alex Raisbeck was carried shoulder high through the streets to the tune of 'The Conquering Hero'.

On returning to Anfield, the League Championship trophy was proudly placed in the trophy cabinet for the first time. It wasn't to be the last time this happened though.

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