It may surprise you to learn that Salford have played on nearly 40 Christmas days, and some of those matches were a big deal. But how did they come about? And how did the away fans even get to the ground? Why not settle in with a mince pie and a snowball, and I’ll tell you all about it.

A trip down memory lane here as I republish something I wrote around the same time in 2021. It’s a little strange given where the club is now, and we were still being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Salford had a disappointing campaign, the short-lived Richard Marshall era, finishing second bottom in Super League. We were looking forward to the new season with the ‘S’ heritage range of clothing being released and even a Salford Red Devils branded bottle of Loch Lomand malt whisky.

Please bear in mind that Salford’s match stats have been worked on since this article was originally wrote and that the totals shown below may be inaccurate as a result. I will update it some day.

An audio version of this article is also available to listen to below:

The emergence of the Christmas Day fixture

‘Merry’ is quite the word you’d use to describe Salford’s record on Christmas Day. Between 1899 and 1958 Salford played 39 proper matches, yet only won eight of them. All but one of these matches were played against Broughton Rangers or Wigan.

But how did the Christmas Day fixture come about?

Put simply, Christmas Day was not as sacrosanct as it is today. Before, say, the 1960s, it wasn’t much different to a weekend day right now. You could wake up to your morning post on your mat and two bottles of milk on your doorstep. You could catch a bus to the cinema to watch the latest blockbuster, go out for something to eat and then wash it down with a couple of pints in the local. This meant more people would be working.

It’s not that Christmas Day wasn’t a day of worship, or wasn’t a day of rest; it was and had been for centuries. Christmas Day was still a day off, or a shorter day at least. But it was a day-off to go out and do things rather than hunker down in the cosy surroundings of the homestead.

‘Cosy’ doesn’t come close to describing many working-class homes in Victorian and early-twentieth-century life. A rare day away from work was hardly an excuse for staying inside a cramped, damp and cold house – a day off was a reason to get away from it. For the workers, an urban Christmas took place outside on the streets.

It was social and legislative change towards the end of the nineteenth century that saw Christmas Day emerge as a fixture in the sporting calendar. As such, going to the match became part of Christmas tradition. And as football and rugby clubs incorprated and became increasing commercial, club owners targeted the holidays in the hope of attracting bumper gates.

Boxing Day was given holiday status in law during the 1870s, opening up a Chiristmas period rather than just a day, and providing a greater opportunity for working people to attend a match; perhaps the only window for some to catch a game all year. As with Easter, this is where the tradition of playing several matches during the festive period began. When Christmas Day fell on a Thursday, it was not uncommon for clubs to play on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

In 1947, Salford played on three consecutive days over Christmas: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the 27th. Christmas Day saw defeat at Wigan before Salford bounced back to win the following two home matches against Oldham and Liverpool Stanley respectively.

In 1921–22, Salford played Broughton Rangers on Christmas Eve, Swinton on Boxing Day, Hunslet on the 27th, Widnes on New Year’s Eve, and Swinton again on January 2nd.

The following year Salford played Barrow away on December 23rd, hosted Broughton Rangers on Christmas Day, played Swinton on Boxing Day, then travelled to Bradford Northern on the 30th before returning to play Swinton again on New Year’s Day. Salford lost all five matches.

But how many people actually went to these games and what was the atmosphere like? Like always, it depended on the attractiveness of the fixtures and the weather. In 1949, for example, an estimated 3.5 million people took to the terraces to watch the Football League’s Christmas fixture list. Match reports paint a picture of crowds singing carols together before kick-off as they passed round cigars and hip-flasks. Public transport ran a good service, so getting to and from matches was only limited to one’s disposable income.

Christmas Day Rival № 1 – Broughton Rangers

It’s fair to say that the rivalry between Salford and Broughton Rangers and the nature of it has been lost over time. We see Swinton as our main rival locally, but for a period, matches against Broughton Rangers were equally as spicy.

The intensity was cranked up during the 1901–02 season when both clubs contested the Challenge Cup Final and finished first and second in the Championship. Though it was the Rangers that scooped the double, the seed for a regular Christmas Day derby, and hopes for a big gate, was planted.

The first Yuletide encounter against Broughton Rangers was at The Willows in 1901, a 3–0 loss. The much anticipated rematch at Wheater’s Field in 1902 resulted in a nil–nil draw.

Bradford followed in 1903 – Bradford as in Park Avenue and not Northern – before a series of 16 Christmas Day fixtures played against Broughton Rangers between 1905 and 1930. One last festive hurrah took place at The Willows in 1945.

Broughton Rangers certainly had the upper hand early in these contests before Salford took the last five in the second half of the 1920s. Admittedly, this was when the Rangers were slipping as a force in League.

Played: 19 (12 at home, 7 away), Won: 7, Drawn: 2, Lost: 10

Christmas Day Rival № 2 – Wigan

Salford’s first Christmas Day fixtures were against Wigan in 1899 & 1900. The two (then) towns were well connected by public transport, so it makes sense that the first Christmas Day fixtures were at either’s ground.

For perhaps the same reasons as the institution of the Broughton Rangers Christmas Day derby, Salford versus Wigan emerged as a heavyweight draw in 1930s with the Messi and Ronaldo of rugby league, Gus Risman and Jim Sullivan, starring for their respective clubs.

Though seemingly unfair, it is likely that the attraction and legacy of Salford’s great side under Lance Todd saw 16 of the 17 Christmas Day fixtures between 1931 and 1958 being played at Central Park. This goes some way to explaining why Salford only won one of them.

In 1933, Salford arrived in Wigan as defending champions and were topped the table again with 14 wins from their opening 16 matches. The two defeats Salford suffered were in no small part due to weakened sides as their best players were away on international duty. However, on this Christmas Day, Wigan that took the spoils. Kicking off at 2.30pm, the Riversiders won the encounter 15–9. Both sides would eventually meet in the Championship final at the season’s climax with Wigan taking the title despite Salford finishing 11 points clear as league leaders.

The 1934 Christmas Day fixture saw Wigan entering the game as table-toppers themselves and ending as eventual victors once more, winning by 18 points to 6. Salford’s scrum half Emlyn Jenkins was injured early doors, effectively reducing the side to 12 players, later followed by Barney Hudson’s dismissal leaving the visitors with 11 fit men.

Such factors undoutbably contributed to the build-up of the 1936 Christmas Day fixture, which saw an attendance of 24,200. This was the occasion of Salford’s one and only victory in the run. An exciting tussle resulted in Salford, who would later go on to take the Championship, winning 17–10.

By the time of the 1940 Christmas Day fixture, the Wartime Emergency League was in force and saw many clubs fielding guest players where their own were stationed too far away from base to play for them. Gus Risman, who had been guesting for Leeds, was expected to return home for this match, but according to contemporary newspaper reports, he refused to play after Salford would not match the appearance fee he was receiving at Headingley.

Salford’s post-war slump saw the club lose all their further Christmas Day fixtures until their last in 1958. A couple of fifty point shellackings within the run sees Salford’s mean Christmas Day score against Wigan rest at 7–19.

Played: 19 (2 at home, 17 away), Won: 1 , Lost: 18

The disappearance of the Christmas Day fixture

Social attitudes to Christmas Day changed during the 1950s. Living standards had improved and gifts had become more affordable. The influx of television sets into the home saw fewer people seeking the need for entertainment outside them. Men felt an increasing obligation to stay at home, perhaps feeling guilt that the biggest losers in the Christmas Day fixture phenomenon were women, who were more than likely to be tied to the kitchen cooking Christmas dinner.

In the midst of this change, those people who had usually worked on Christmas Day sought to stay at home too. Crucially, this included the drivers of public transport and sportmen themselves. The mass installation of floodlights can be viewed as the final straw for the Christmas Day fixture as they negated the need for clubs to cram-in fixtures during holidays to take advantage of natural light.

Christmas Day fixtures in rugby league lingered on for a while longer before fizzling out in 1971. The 1968 Hull Christmas Day derby, for example, is notable for being the match where the Australian immortal Artie Beetson broke his leg.

Scottish football carried on the tradition until 1976 and Northern Ireland still hosts the Steels of Sons cup final every Christmas Day (where Christmas Day doesn’t fall on a Sunday).

The tradition of the festive fixture didn’t die out completely, but rather shifted away from Christmas Day to Boxing Day for the remainder of winter play.