The History of The Carling Cup

Alan Hardaker is known to many as the Godfather of Football. He was the Football League's secretary from 1957 until 1979. Hardaker came up with the idea of introducing the League Cup to capitalize on having games during the week.

Hardaker also wanted to give the lower level teams the chance to win some money. Playing in the FA Cup along with top teams, the lower ranking teams seldom came out of the competition with winnings.

Since the beginning of the 81-82 season the League Cup has taken on whatever the name of it's sponsor has been! And, beginning in 1982 the Carling Cup has been sponsored by the Carling Company, a Canadian brewery business.

By the late 1950's many of the teams had added flood lighting to their fields so that if games went into overtime they could still be played. This also opened up the way to provide games during the week when people who worked could still attend football games in the evenings.

The president of the Football League, Sir Joe Richards used his own money to back the games. Richards even bought the trophy cup that was to be awarded! And, the trophy cup still bears his name today!

The Carling Cup was formed to try to help some of the smaller football clubs make some money, it was based on the two legged ties. When the League Cup was established for the 1960-1961 playing season, most of the top football teams refused to join.

The games proved to be a little slow to peak the attention of both the public and many of the football clubs. And, during the first two seasons the games saw poor attendance. The usual crowds that attended numbered just slightly more than the numbers that attended the Third Division games.

The games had however succeeded in their purpose of giving the lower division teams a chance at winning a cup final. The first season runner-ups was Rotherham, a Second Division team. And, in the second season Rochdale became the very first Fourth Division team to ever reach a cup final.

The top level teams finally began to take an interest in the Carling Cup games. And in 1963, the first series of teams that were all from the top division took place.

Hardaker wanted the cup winners to have an automatic entry into the European games. He began lobbying and even threatened a boycott of the Fairs Cup games and in 1966 the entry into the competition was added.

However, there was a slight problem with the entries. The only ones that could qualify were the Division One teams. And, it wouldn't be until 1971 that the Tottenham Hotspurs won and became the first team to actually receive an entry.

With the promise of a way to compete in Europe the cup league attracted more and more attention. And, eventually the entire Football League membership began to take part in the games.

By 1967 the Carling Cup games popularity had increased and they needed a new place to have their final game and Wembley's Twin Tower's was chosen. An audience of 98,000 fans watched as The Queens Park Rangers, a Third Division team won the trophy!

Many people considered The Carling Cup just as important to the domestic tournaments as the FA Cup was. It had earned the respect of the football clubs as well as the many fans.

With the 1969-70 season the Carling Cup games began to draw even larger crowds. On the average over 1000 more fans attended these games than the games for the FA Cup.

The growing popularity also meant that the games no longer needed to be decided over two legs. The success of the League Cup brought the option of having the final teams win inclusion at neutral venues.

The League Cup quickly became dubbed the "Lucky Cup" as it marked it's place in the professional sport. The Carling Cup League had became a major success and that success continues today with completely sold out seasons every year at Wembley.

The League Cup finals in 1977 were recorded in the sports history book. The finals between Aston Villa and Everton spanned over three games and ended with over 330 minutes of playing time before Aston Villa won the cup!

By 1982 the League Cup games had became so successful that they attracted sponsorship from many companies. The Milk Marketing Board was the first company to sponsor the games in 82' and the following year Canon jumped onboard to back the games.

The sponsorships continued and with each new sponsor the cup took on the company name. From 1992 until 1998 the cup was known as the Coca-Cola Cup and from 1998 through 2003 it was the Worthington Cup. And, after the departure of Worthington the Carling brewery stepped in and has remained ever since.

Despite all the controversy that arose when the Carling Cup first began, the league has became a crucial part of the Football League. And, has attracted a loyal base of fans world wide with the games being televised.

Hardaker set out to give the lower level leagues a chance amongst top teams and he surely succeeded. Many teams that would other wise have had little or no chance of reaching a cup final have competed and won the Carling Cup throughout the leagues history!

The 2006-07 competition marked the Carling Cup's 47th year and the members now include England's 92 top level football clubs. Since 2001 Wembley Stadium as been under renovations and the games have found a temporary home at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.