On this day in 1913, Danish football star Nils Middelboe became the first non-British player to make an appearance for Chelsea.
Middelboe had won an Olympic silver medal with Denmark at the 1908 games in London, coincidentally losing 2-0 against Great Britain in the final. He later captained his country in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The Danes played Great Britain in the final yet again and lost 4-2 this time.
The following year, Middelboe moved to Chelsea from Kjøbenhavns Boldklub. Initially, he had agreed to join Newcastle United but changed his mind at the last minute. He was appointed captain even before playing a single minute of football for the Blues. So Middelboe, captaining Chelsea, made his debut in the 2-1 victory against Derby County at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool and West Ham appear in colour
On this day in 1969, Match of the Day appeared in Technicolor for the first time to show Liverpool’s 2-0 win over West Ham United at Anfield.
Chris Lawler opened the scoring in the 17th minute before Bobby Graham added another at the hour’s mark to help Liverpool record a comfortable win in front of a raucous crowd.
Liverpool XI: Tommy Lawrence; Chris Lawler, Tommy Smith, Emlyn Hughes, Ron Yeats; Ian Callaghan, Peter Thompson, Ian St John, Steve Peplow (Roger Hunt); Bobby Graham, Geoff Strong
West Ham XI: Bobby Ferguson; Bobby Moore, Alan Stephenson, Bobby Howe, Billy Bonds, Frank Lampard; Ronnie Boyce, Trevor Brooking, Harry Redknapp; Clyde Best, Geoff Hurst
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