31 December 1924 - Barrow Carries The Day(s)

On 31 December 1924, Gillingham and Barrow met for the fifth time in three weeks to resolve their FA Cup sixth round qualification match-up, with Barrow finally edging a win, 2-1.

The teams, both from Division Three, first met in that season's tournament on 13 December, playing to a scoreless draw in Gillingham. Five days later, they met for a replay at Barrow and again drew, this time 1-1 after extra time thanks in part to a penalty converted by Barrow's Harold Kay. On 22 December, they met at a neutral site and again finished 1-1 after extra time. Another Kay penalty ensured that the fourth meeting, played on 30 December at a neutral site, also ended 1-1, to set up a fifth meeting the next day.

Although the attendances had declined from the first match (9,000) to the fourth (2,325), a crowd of 4,242 showed up to watch the fifth meeting, which, like the previous two, was played at a neutral ground. There, Barrow finally secured the 2-1 victory with goals from Fred Laycock and Jim Carrick. In all, the teams had played a total of almost nine and a half hours.

Barrow's reward was a first round match-up against Division Two side Blackpool. They played to a scoreless draw at home, then fell to Blackpool 0-2 in the replay.

30 December 2009 - And A Little Extra For The Home Supporters

On 30 December 2009, Rangers striker Kris Boyd became the Scottish Premier League's all-time leading scorer with a 5-goal haul against Dundee United.

Boyd began his career in the SPL with Kilmarnock, scoring 63 times in 153 league appearances from 2000 to 2006. In January 2006, when he joined Rangers for a transfer fee of £500,000. There, he got off to a flying start by scoring a hat-trick in his debut, a 5-0 win over Peterhead in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

By the time Dundee United arrived at Ibrox in December 2009, Boyd had won one SPL title (2008-09), one Scottish League Cup (2007-08) and back-to-back Scottish Cups (2007-08, 2008-09). He was also sitting on a total of 155 league goals, three behind the SPL record of 158, set by Celtic's Henrik Larsson from 1997 to 2004.

He matched the record before the half-hour mark, starting with a penalty kick in the 20th minute, followed by a long-range effort four minutes later, then a tap-in finish in the 29th minute. He went through a relatively quiet period until deep into the second half before finally breaking Larsson's record with a fourth goal in the 75th minute, then adding another for good measure in the 80th minute. One minute later, manager Walter Smith substituted him and he exited to a massive ovation from the home supporters. Rangers won 7-1.

Boyd left Rangers at the end of the season after collecting another league title and a Scottish League Cup, and increasing the SPL goal record to 164. After spending time in England, Turkey, and the United States, he returned to Rangers in 2014, though they were in the Championship at the time. In 2015, he returned to the SPL with Kilmarnock, his current club, and has since increased his record to 172.

29 December 1980 - Arrivederci, Gigi

On 29 December 1980, Luigi "Gigi" Peronace, the first football agent in England, died of a heart attack in Montevideo. He was 55 years old.

The Calabria-born Peronace (pictured at far left) held a variety of roles in football, including serving as a translator for Juventus managers William Chalmers and Jesse Carver. He also served as Carver's business manager at Tornio, but left there in 1954 to become the transfer manager at Lazio.

He moved into agency in 1957, when he was contacted by then-Leyton Orient manager Alex Stock, who was interested in taking charge of an Italian club. Peronace helped negotiate a deal with Roma and Stock became their manager later that year. That same year, he was involved in bringing Leeds United forward John Charles to Juventus for a British-record fee of £65,000 (almost double the previous record).

Peronace helped shatter that record when he negotiated the sale of Denis Law from Manchester City to Torino for £100,000. He then beat it again when he helped Law move back to Manchester (this time for Manchester United) for £115,000. Meanwhile, he was also involved in Jimmy Greaves' switch from Chelsea to AC Milan and Joe Baker's move from Hibernian to Torino, then later helped Liam Brady join Juventus from Arsenal.

He wasn't only an agent--in addition to serving as general manager for the Italian national team for the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 European Championship, he helped organize the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1970 (it was later named the Gigi Peronace Memorial).

28 December 1982 - The Supercopa Gets Real

On 28 December 1982, Real Sociedad won the inaugural Supercopa de España, overcoming a first-leg deficit to beat Real Madrid 1-4 on aggregate.

The Supercopa, which features the previous season's league and Copa del Rey winners, was yet another battleground for the burgeoning rivalry between the two clubs. In 1980, Sociedad finished as league runners-up to Madrid by a single point, then won the title the following year by beating Madrid on goal differential. Meanwhile, Madrid won that season's Copa del Rey after eliminating Sociedad on penalties in the semifinals.

The two met at the Bernabéu on 13 November 1982 for the very first Supercopa match, where a 44th-minute goal from Madrid's Dutch defender John Metgod allowed the hosts to escape with a narrow 1-0 edge. In the return leg, played before a crowd of 30,000 at the Estadio Atocha in San Sebastián, Madrid held onto their lead through the first half. But shortly after the restart, Sociedad forward Pedro Uralde (pictured) scored to level the aggregate at 1-1 (53').

The teams remained deadlocked through regulation, sending the match into extra time. There, in just the 92nd minute, Sociedad forward Roberto López Ufarte put his team ahead 1-2 on aggregate. As Madrid pressed forward to find a goal, they exposed their defense and Uralde netted his second of the day (102') to stretch the aggregate lead to 1-3.

Madrid found the net one minute later, but, unfortunately for them, it was their own, as late substitute back José Salguero put the ball past his own keeper. The contest ended 0-4 (1-4 agg.) to deliver the trophy to Sociedad.

27 December 2008 - I Doubt He Even Needed A Shower

On 27 December 2008, Chippenham Town striker David Pratt set a new world record. But it wasn't one he wanted to set.

Visiting Bashley for a Southern Premier League meeting, Chippenham's starting line-up included the 21-year old Pratt, but only for three seconds. Immediately after the opening whistle, he committed a lunging tackle on Bashley forward Chris Knowles, drawing a straight red card from referee Justin Amey. Bashley manager Steve Riley praised the ref's decision, saying "The lad's gone in with his studs showing and went straight through my player. It was a potential leg-breaker. The ref had no choice." Fortunately, Knowles was uninjured and, unlike Pratt, remained on the pitch.

Despite going down to 10 men so quickly, Chippenham took the lead in the 10th minute, but Bashley scored two late goals to earn a 2-1 victory.

Pratt's red card is the quickest ever issued to a starting player, beating the previous world record of 10 seconds set by Bologna's Guiseppe Lorenzo in 1990. The previous English record was 13 seconds, set by Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman in 2000 for handling the ball outside the box. There have been a few substitutes sent off after no time, however, as they received their ejections prior to coming onto the pitch.

For his part, Pratt later said "The world record is not a big deal to me. It's not something that I'm proud of." In May 2009, he moved to his current club, Basingstoke Town, where his play in 2009-10 won him both the Manager's Player of the Year and the Supporters' Player of the Season awards.

26 December 1903 - Ghana's First Football Club

On 26 December 1903, the 22 members of Ghana's first football club, Excelsior, introduced themselves to the country with an exhibition.

The sport arrived in Ghana--then a British colony known as the Gold Coast--a few years earlier, carried there by European traders. By September 1903, it eventually worked its way to Cape Coast in central Ghana, where it captured the attention of students at the Government Boys School. Their headmaster, the enigmatically-named Mr. Briton, encouraged the boys' interest and, according to one report, 22 of them "embarked upon a secret training course in football."

After three months of night practices held under moonlight, the boys, who named their new club "Excelsior," decided to go public. On 26 December, the 22 split into two teams for an exhibition played on a pitch marked out in Victoria Park, complete with goals. Gold Coast governor Sir Fredric Hodgson attended the match.

The exhibition fomented football's popularity and more clubs followed, including Accra Hearts of Oak, Cape Coast Venomous Vipers, Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs, Sekondi Hasaacas and Sekondi Eleven Wise. The national team played their first match in 1950 and the Ghana Amateur Football Association eventually formed in 1957.

25 December 1875 - The First Edinburgh Derby

On 25 December 1875, Hearts and Hibernian met for the very first time, forming one of the oldest existing rivalries in football.

Hibernian, who had been founded earlier that August, had close connections to Edinburgh's Irish Catholic population, with all players required to be members of the Catholic Young Men's Society. And they drew their name from the Roman name for Ireland. As a result, they faced sectarian isolation from many other clubs in the country, with the Scottish Football Association announcing "We are catering for Scotsmen, not Irishmen."

Fellow Edinburgh club Hearts, founded one year earlier, were the first to cross the sectarian divide, meeting Hibs at the Meadows on Christmas Day 1875 for a friendly. And, despite playing with only 8 players for the first 20 minutes, Hearts were rewarded with a 1-0 victory.

Since then, Hearts have enjoyed the better part of the derby, winning a total of 280 matches, including six of the last nine. Hibs, meanwhile, have won the derby 203 times, with 153 draws.