On this day 80 years ago the first football match was broadcast on radio.

Arsenal played Sheffield United in a Division One fixture on 22 January 1927 and BBC Radio covered the 1-1 draw at Highbury. Arsenal finished in 11th place in that season and United 8th.

So that listeners could imagine where the ball was during play, the pitch was divided into numbered squares. Hence the expression "back to square one".

Exactly a week after the Arsenal match the FA Cup Fourth Round tie between Corinthians and Newcastle United became the second to be broadcast. It was played at the old Crystal Palace, the venue for many FA Cup Finals, and Newcastle were 3-1 winners.

The first Final to be broadcast was Cardiff City v Arsenal on 23 April in the same year. Listeners heard history being made as the Bluebirds took The Cup out of England for the one and only time after their 1-0 victory.

Ten years later, part of the 1937 Cup Final between Sunderland and Preston North End was televised. The following year, when Preston returned to Wembley to win with George Mutch's last-gasp penalty, the whole match was televised on the BBC. An estimated 10,000 people watched in the days when there was a full League programme on Cup Final Day.