The English Game Trivia | 25 facts about the mini-series

The English Game is a British historical sports drama miniseries developed by Netflix about the origins of modern association football in England.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. The English Game is a British historical sports drama television miniseries.
2. It was developed by Julian Fellowes for Netflix.
3. It is about the origins of modern association football in England.
4. It is a six-part series.
5. It was released on 20 March 2020.
6. It’s a Netflix original series.
7. In April 2018, it was announced Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes would write and executive produce his first Netflix series.
8. Birgitte Stærmose and Tim Fywell are directing, Rory Aitken, Eleanor Moran and Ben Pugh of 42 are executive producing.
9. Ben Vanstone is co-executive producing.
10. The cast was announced in May 2019.
11. Production began in England, mostly in the North.
12. The epilogue reads: “In 1885 the FA changed their rules to allow professional players. An amateur team never won the FA Cup again. Arthur Kinnaird became President of the FA, serving 33 years until his death in 1923. Fergus Suter and Jimmy Love are recognised as pioneers of the modern game, which now has over four billion fans across the world
13. After the first couple of episodes the exact dates of events is not explicitly mentioned, though it is suggested that the entire series takes place over just over one season, with Suter winning the cup with Blackburn the year after he joined Darwen.
14. In fact Suter did not win the FA Cup until his sixth season in Lancashire.
15. At the time, Blackburn had two teams: Blackburn Olympic and Blackburn Rovers.
16. The English Game appears to merge the two sides, with the club only ever referred to as “Blackburn Football Club” or just “Blackburn” and shown playing in maroon shirts – both Blackburn Olympic and Blackburn Rovers instead played in a combination of blue and white.
17. The maroon colour may have been chosen to differentiate Blackburn from the Old Etonians, who are always shown wearing Eton blue shirts. Blackburn Olympic were the first club of working-class background to win the FA Cup, triumphing in the 1882–83 season.
18. Of the two teams, Suter in fact joined Blackburn Rovers,^[9] with whom he lost the 1882 FA Cup Final 2–1 against the Old Etonians before winning the cup three times in succession later in the decade.
19. The matches depicted in the show most closely resemble Blackburn Olympic’s 1883 victory.
20. Old Etonians’ and Blackburn Olympics’ matches in the quarter-finals, semis and the final are all referenced accurately except for Old Etonians’ quarter-final where they in fact played Hendon.
21. Darwen are shown as being eliminated from the competition by Derby St Luke’s but the Derby club did not actually participate in the FA Cup until the 1884–85 season, and the two sides never met in a competitive fixture.
22. The first episode depicts Darwen playing just one replay against the Old Etonians in the 1878–79 FA Cup and losing. In fact, Darwen took the Old Etonians to two replays – after the first match was drawn 5–5, the first replay finished 2–2 before Old Etonians finally beat them at the third attempt by a score of 6–2.
23. Albert ‘Monkey’ Hornby is not accurately portrayed in The English Game. He was an elite athlete who played football for Blackburn Rovers, rugby for England and captained the English Cricket team.
24. Fergus suter not only was a footballer but also a stonemason.
25. Furgus Souter played for Blackburn Rovers and won the cup 3 times in all. However The English Game has him playing for the first working men’s team to win the cup- which was in fact Blackburn Olympic.