180-570: Stadium MK is a football stadium in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire , England . Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League Two side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National League South side Milton Keynes Dons Women . In 2022, the stadium hosted several matches during the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 . As of May 2015,
360-775: A first-team appearance for Luton Town is Connor Tomlinson at 15 years and 199 days old in the EFL Trophy , replacing Zane Banton as a 92nd-minute substitute in a 2–1 win over Gillingham on 30 August 2016, after the club were given permission for him to play from his headteacher. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The club operates
540-684: A forward . Simms was invalided back to England after being wounded on the Italian front , but recovered enough to regain his place in the Luton team and scored 40 goals during the 1916–17 season . The Luton side first played in the white and black colours which it has retained for much of its history during the 1920–21 season , when the club rejoined the Football League; the players had previously worn an assortment of colour combinations, most permanently sky blue shirts with white shorts and navy socks. Such
720-601: A stele of c. 375–400 BCE in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship trophy. Athenaeus , writing in 228 CE, mentions the Roman ball game harpastum . Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence. They all appear to have resembled rugby football , wrestling , and volleyball more than what
900-480: A 16-screen ODEON cinema. There is an ASDA hypermarket and a large IKEA store in the wider local area. The nearest railway stations are Bletchley and Fenny Stratford . Both of these are about 1.3 miles (2.1 km) away from the stadium. Milton Keynes Central station , about 2.6 miles (4.2 km) away, has more intercity services. Milton Keynes Central and Bletchley are on the busy West Coast Main Line to London,
1080-583: A 22,000-seater stadium ready in July of that year, with provision for expansion to 32,000 (it had originally been intended to seat 30,000). The new ground, Stadium MK, hosted its first match in July 2007. Four months later, on 29 November 2007, it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II . Although attendances increased since leaving the National Hockey Stadium , the MK Dons average attendance of 10,550 during
1260-779: A Development Squad, made up of contracted senior players, youth team scholars and trialists, which plays in the Southern Division of The Central League . The club also fields an under-18 team in the Football League Youth Alliance South East Conference. Luton's youth set-up consists of ten Soccer Centres across Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire , two Centres of Excellence (one in Luton , one in Dunstable ), and an academy in Baldock that caters for players in
1440-488: A French XI team in 1920, and also made up most of the England team against a Scottish Ladies XI in the same year, winning 22–0. Despite being more popular than some men's football events, with one match seeing a 53,000 strong crowd in 1920, women's football in England suffered a blow in 1921 when The Football Association outlawed the playing of the game on association members' pitches, stating that "the game of football
1620-404: A badge until 1970, when the club began to wear the town crest regularly, having first done so in the 1959 FA Cup Final. In 1973, concurrently with the club's switch to the orange kit, a new badge was introduced featuring the new colours. The new emblem depicted a stylised orange football, bearing the letters "Lt", surrounded by the club's name in navy blue text. In 1987, the club switched back to
1800-442: A caution ( yellow card ) or dismissal ( red card ). A second yellow card in the same game leads to a red card, which results in a dismissal. A player given a yellow card is said to have been "booked", the referee writing the player's name in their official notebook. If a player has been dismissed, no substitute can be brought on in their place and the player may not participate in further play. Misconduct may occur at any time, and while
1980-487: A century, with the colour of the socks varying between white and black, until Luton changed to orange, navy and white at the start of the 1973–74 season . Luton began playing in white shirts, shorts and socks in 1979, with the orange and navy motif reduced to trim; navy shorts were adopted in 1984. This palette was retained until the 1999–2000 season , when the team played in orange shirts and blue shorts. From 2000 to 2008, Luton returned to white shirts and black shorts; orange
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#17328807955572160-564: A competitive game, and involved the kicking of a mari , a ball made of animal skin. In North America, pasuckuakohowog was a ball game played by the Algonquians ; it was described as "almost identical to the kind of folk football being played in Europe at the same time, in which the ball was kicked through goals". Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on
2340-517: A consecutive place in the Championship play-offs having finished in 3rd place. Luton Town beat Sunderland 3–2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals to reach the play-off final against Coventry City . They went on to beat Coventry City 6–5 on penalties after a tense 1–1 draw to secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time. After collecting one point in their first five matches of
2520-497: A deadlock; some competitions may invoke replays . A game tied at the end of regulation time may go into extra time, which consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, some competitions allow the use of penalty shoot-outs (known officially in the Laws of the Game as "kicks from the penalty mark") to determine which team will progress to the next stage of
2700-400: A derivative of the town emblem, with the shield portion of the heraldic crest becoming the team's badge; the only similarity with the previous design was the inclusion of the club name around the shield in navy blue. The "rainbow" badge, introduced in 1994, featured the town crest below an orange and blue bow which curved around to meet two footballs, positioned on either side of the shield, with
2880-476: A draw. A late winner by Yugoslavian substitute Raddy Antić saved the team and prompted Pleat to dance across the pitch performing a "jig of joy", an image that has become iconic . The club achieved its highest ever league position, seventh, under John Moore in 1986–87 , and, managed by Ray Harford , won the Football League Cup a year later with a 3–2 win over Arsenal . With ten minutes left on
3060-536: A final and binding verdict. The League and FA stated opposition but the commissioners ruled in favour, two to one. Wimbledon F.C. hoped to move to Milton Keynes immediately, but as the new ground was yet to be built an interim home in the town would have to be found first. The first proposal, to start the 2002–03 season at the National Hockey Stadium in central Milton Keynes, was abandoned because it did not meet Football League stadium criteria. While alternative temporary options were examined—Winkelman suggested converting
3240-400: A goal has been scored or not; this was brought in to prevent controversy. Video assistant referees (VAR) have also been increasingly introduced in high-level matches to assist officials through video replays to correct clear and obvious mistakes. There are four types of calls that can be reviewed: mistaken identity in awarding a red or yellow card, goals and whether there was a violation during
3420-528: A hotel, a conference centre, and a retail park . The plan to build a ground of this size was complicated by the fact that there was no professional football club in Milton Keynes and that the highest-ranked team in the town, Milton Keynes City —based in Wolverton in northern Milton Keynes, and formerly known as Mercedes-Benz F.C.—played in the then eighth-tier Spartan South Midlands League , four divisions below
3600-628: A latex bladder for pressurisation, but modern balls at all levels of the game are now synthetic. As the Laws were formulated in England, and were initially administered solely by the four British football associations within IFAB , the standard dimensions of a football pitch were originally expressed in imperial units . The Laws now express dimensions with approximate metric equivalents (followed by traditional units in brackets), though use of imperial units remains popular in English-speaking countries with
3780-515: A major final for the first time against Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup final . The team was then relegated from the top division in 1959–60 , and demoted twice more in the following five years, playing in the Fourth Division from the 1965–66 season , before they were promoted back to the top level in 1974–75 . In 1981–82 , the club won the Second Division and gained promotion to
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#17328807955573960-519: A meeting attended by representatives from Eton , Harrow , Rugby , Winchester and Shrewsbury schools. They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club , formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to
4140-549: A mostly black team. Talented players such as Ricky Hill , Brian Stein and Emeka Nwajiobi made key contributions to the club's success during this period, causing it to accrue "a richer history of black stars than any in the country", in the words of journalist Gavin Willacy. On the last day of the 1982–83 season, the club's first back in the top tier, it narrowly escaped relegation: playing Manchester City at Maine Road , Luton needed to win to stay up, while City could escape with
4320-487: A move surmised that the stadium was a " Trojan Horse " included in the blueprint to bypass planning rules, and that although the consortium described the larger development as enabling the construction of the stadium, the reverse was the case—Winkelman's consortium, they claimed, had to have a professional team in place right away to justify the ground so the development could get planning permission. David Conn of The Guardian corroborated this assessment. "The whole project
4500-594: A newly built stadium in Milton Keynes by the start of the 2003–04 season. The proposed move was opposed in most quarters; the League board unanimously rejected Wimbledon's proposed move in August 2001. Koppel appealed against this decision, leading to a Football Association (FA) arbitration hearing and subsequently the appointment of a three-man independent commission by the FA in May 2002 to make
4680-478: A number of changes to the initial scheme to reflect changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic , but that the capacity of the new stadium was still to be 23,000 and had a target opening date of 2024. This plan was revised in 2023, to delivering the first phase, a 19,500-seat stadium, by 2026, followed by the second, a further 4,000 safe standing seats, at a later date. In September 2024, the club submitted revised plans to
4860-426: A penalty kick. Other markings define the position of the ball or players at kick-offs , goal kicks, penalty kicks and corner kicks. A standard adult football match consists of two halves of 45 minutes each. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play. There is usually a 15-minute half-time break between halves. The end of the match is known as full-time. The referee
5040-475: A public meeting with the purpose of forming a 'Luton Town Football Club', Spratley protested, saying there was already a Luton Town club; and the atmosphere was tense when the meeting convened in the town hall on 11 April 1885. The meeting, attended by most football lovers in the town, heard about Spratley's secret January meeting and voted down his objections. The motion to form a 'Luton Town Football Club', put forward by G H Small and seconded by E H Lomax,
5220-477: A record away attendance of 8,943 supporters in a League One fixture. The total attendance for the match was 20,516. The record attendance for a football match at Stadium MK was on 25 September 2019 when a crowd of 28,521 attended to see MK Dons lose 2–0 to Liverpool in the EFL Cup 3rd round. This record attendance surpassed the one set on 31 January 2016 when a crowd of 28,127 attended Milton Keynes Dons' 5–1 defeat in
5400-798: A regular occurrence and Saints hosted one game a season at the stadium between the 2014–15 and 2016–17 seasons. On 24 January 2011, the Northampton Saints Rugby union club announced that their 2010–11 Heineken Cup quarter final match against Ulster would take place in the stadium, because their Franklin's Gardens ground was too small to meet the minimum 15,000 seats demanded by the organisers . Franklin's Gardens has since been expanded. The Saints had previously indicated that they might play future major games at Stadium MK as their proposal to expand Franklin's Gardens using an enabling (ASDA supermarket) development had encountered planning difficulties. Accordingly, their quarter-final match
5580-416: A relatively recent history of metrication (or only partial metrication), such as Britain. The length of the pitch, or field, for international adult matches is in the range of 100–110 m (110–120 yd) and the width is in the range of 64–75 m (70–80 yd). Fields for non-international matches may be 90–120 m (100–130 yd) in length and 45–90 m (50–100 yd) in width, provided
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5760-490: A return to Selhurst Park. With the move threatened and the club facing liquidation, Winkelman made "the life-defining decision", to quote Conn, "of taking it on himself". He secured funds from his consortium for the administrators to pay the players' wages, keep the club operating, and pay for the necessary renovations for the National Hockey Stadium to host League football. After hosting the first few home matches of
5940-531: A side from England's top division since 1989. In the 2013–14 season , under the management of John Still , Luton won the Conference Premier title with three games to spare, and thereby secured a return to the Football League from 2014–15 . After reaching the League Two play-offs in 2016–17 , when they were beaten 6–5 on aggregate by Blackpool in the semi-final, Luton were promoted back to League One
6120-567: A similar ancient game ( cuju , or tsu chu ) was played by women during the Han dynasty (25–220 CE), as female figures are depicted in frescoes of the period playing tsu chu . There are also reports of annual football matches played by women in Midlothian , Scotland, during the 1790s. Association football, the modern game, has documented early involvement of women. In 1863, football governing bodies introduced standardised rules to prohibit violence on
6300-481: A smiling man wearing a straw boater, serves as the team's mascot and appears on the Kenilworth Road pitch before matches. In December 2014, after the seafront statue of Eric Morecambe in his birthplace Morecambe was restored, Luton and Morecambe F.C. jointly announced that the winners of future Luton–Morecambe fixtures would be awarded the "Eric Morecambe Trophy". The record for the most appearances for Luton
6480-531: A stadium capable of accommodating a top-flight football team. What would become Stadium MK was first proposed in 2000 by the Milton Keynes Stadium Consortium or Stadium MK, led by Pete Winkelman and his company Inter MK Group. This consortium proposed a large development in the southern Milton Keynes district of Denbigh North , including a 30,000-capacity football stadium, a 150,000-square-foot (13,935 m) Asda hypermarket, an Ikea store,
6660-566: A stand first used exclusively by Luton supporters, then later by away supporters, and now used by both except in times of high ticket demand from away clubs. The Main Stand is flanked by the David Preece Stand, and opposite them stands a row of executive boxes. These boxes replaced the Bobbers Stand in 1986, as the club sought to maximise income. The original Main Stand burnt down in 1921, and
6840-523: A total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport. The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game , a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference . The two teams compete to score goals by getting
7020-528: A total of 30 points docked from its 2008–09 record by the Football Association and the Football League for financial irregularities dating back several years. These deductions proved to be too large an obstacle to overcome, but Luton came from behind in the final of the Football League Trophy to win the competition for the first time. Relegation meant that 2009–10 saw Luton playing in
7200-554: A truce to the nation's civil war in 2006 and it helped further reduce tensions between government and rebel forces in 2007 by playing a match in the rebel capital of Bouaké , an occasion that brought both armies together peacefully for the first time. By contrast, football is widely considered to have been the final proximate cause for the Football War in June 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras . The sport also exacerbated tensions at
7380-432: A variety of positions in which the outfield (non-goalkeeper) players are strategically placed by a coach, these positions are not defined or required by the Laws. The basic equipment or kit players are required to wear includes a shirt, shorts, socks, footwear and adequate shin guards . An athletic supporter and protective cup is highly recommended for male players by medical experts and professionals. Headgear
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7560-458: A viable location to move to. The club did not rule out redeveloping Kenilworth Road and, in October 2012, entered talks to buy the stadium back from Luton Borough Council. By 2015, these plans had been dropped in favour of a move to a new location, with managing director Gary Sweet confirming that the club was in a position to "buy land, secure the best possible professional advice ... and to see
7740-470: A winning note. On 30 December 2012, Saracens hosted Northampton Saints for a regular season match at Stadium MK, whilst their stadium at Barnet Copthall was still being built. The Saints hosted Saracens in April 2015 before a record 27,411 crowd, as a Premiership game and additionally as a preparation exercise for the stadium's hosting of the 2015 Rugby World Cup . Northampton hosting games at Stadium MK became
7920-648: A year later. The David Preece Stand was erected in 1991, and the conversion of the Kenilworth Stand to an all-seater was completed in 2005. The club first expressed an interest in building a new stadium away from Kenilworth Road in 1955, the year it won promotion to the First Division for the first time. Even then the ground was small compared to those of most First and Second Division clubs, and its location made significant redevelopment difficult. The team has since made several attempts to relocate. Leaving Luton for
8100-415: Is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch . The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for
8280-461: Is associated with another supporters' group, the breakaway Loyal Luton Supporters Club. Trust in Luton has, since March 2014, held the legal right to veto any changes to the club's identity, including name, nickname, colours, club crest and mascot. Luton Town supporters maintain a bitter rivalry with Hertfordshire -based Watford . Watford were the higher ranked team at the end of every season from 1997 until 2022. However, overall Luton still hold
8460-463: Is governed by FIFA . Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC , CAF , CONCACAF , CONMEBOL , OFC , and UEFA . Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. The FA in England) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with
8640-504: Is held by Bob Morton , who turned out for Luton 562 times in all competitions. Morton also holds the record for the most Football League appearances for the club, with 495. Fred Hawkes holds the record for the most league appearances for Luton, having played in 509 league matches. Six players, Gordon Turner , Andy Rennie , Brian Stein , Ernie Simms , Herbert Moody and Steve Howard , have scored more than 100 goals for Luton. The first player to be capped while playing for Luton
8820-541: Is known for its Concrete Cows . This nickname was also used for the home end at the Dons' previous ground in Milton Keynes, the National Hockey Stadium, now demolished. The North stand is unofficially known as "The Boycott End", after the AFC Wimbledon fans announcing a boycott of the first fixture between the two teams in 2012 but then changed their mind and sold out the away ticket allocation by bringing more than 3,000 fans to
9000-410: Is marked by the goal line, two lines starting on the goal line 16.5 m (18 yd) from the goalposts and extending 16.5 m (18 yd) into the pitch perpendicular to the goal line, and a line joining them. This area has a number of functions, the most prominent being to mark where the goalkeeper may handle the ball and where a penalty foul by a member of the defending team becomes punishable by
9180-438: Is not a required piece of basic equipment, but players today may choose to wear it to protect themselves from head injury. Players are forbidden to wear or use anything that is dangerous to themselves or another player, such as jewellery or watches. The goalkeeper must wear clothing that is easily distinguishable from that worn by the other players and the match officials. A number of players may be replaced by substitutes during
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#17328807955579360-405: Is positioned on each goal line, midway between the two touchlines. The inner edges of the vertical goal posts must be 7.32 m (24 ft) apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the goal posts must be 2.44 m (8 ft) above the ground. Nets are usually placed behind the goal, but are not required by the Laws. In front of the goal is the penalty area. This area
9540-755: Is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged." Players and football writers have argued that this ban was, in fact, due to envy of the large crowds that women's matches attracted, and because the FA had no control over the money made from the women's game. The FA ban led to the formation of the short-lived English Ladies Football Association and play moved to rugby grounds. Women's football also faced bans in several other countries , notably in Brazil from 1941 to 1979, in France from 1941 to 1970, and in Germany from 1955 to 1970. Restrictions began to be reduced in
9720-506: Is recognisable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football , the antecedent of all modern football codes , these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking it. Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world, FIFA has described that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The history of football in England dates back to at least
9900-579: Is the dominant region in women's football, with the United States winning the most FIFA Women's World Cups and Olympic tournaments. Europe and Asia come second and third in terms of international success, and the women's game has been improving in South America. Association football is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws of the Game . The game is played using a spherical ball of 68–70 cm (27–28 in) circumference, known as
10080-451: Is the official timekeeper for the match, and may make an allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring attention, or other stoppages. This added time is called "additional time" in FIFA documents, but is most commonly referred to as stoppage time or injury time , while lost time can also be used as a synonym. The duration of stoppage time is at the sole discretion of
10260-435: Is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School . Initially spelt assoccer (a shortening of "association"), it was later reduced to the modern spelling. This form of slang also gave rise to rugger for rugby football, fiver and tenner for five pound and ten pound notes , and the now-archaic footer that was also a name for association football. The word soccer arrived at its current form in 1895 and
10440-404: Is to score goals; defenders , who specialise in preventing their opponents from scoring; and midfielders , who dispossess the opposition and keep possession of the ball to pass it to the forwards on their team. Players in these positions are referred to as outfield players, to distinguish them from the goalkeeper. These positions are further subdivided according to the area of the field in which
10620-514: Is too small for major events. The stadium hosted three matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup . The stadium also hosts concerts, with artists including Take That , Rammstein , Rod Stewart , Olly Murs , My Chemical Romance and Imagine Dragons having performed there in recent years. From the first days of Milton Keynes as a new town , designated in 1967, the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (1967–1992) envisaged
10800-421: The football (or soccer ball ). Two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals then the game is a draw. Each team is led by a captain who has only one official responsibility as mandated by
10980-489: The 2008–09 League One season remained below half the ground capacity. The MK Dons average home attendance for the first part of the 2009–10 season was ranked sixth out of 24 teams in League One . The average attendance for the 2012–13 season was just 8,612; in the 2013–14 season it was 9,047; in the 2015–16 season it was 13,158. In 2016–17 it was 10,306. On 29 March 2014, the stadium saw Wolverhampton Wanderers take
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#173288079555711160-515: The Caribbean and Oceania regions (except Australia ) have yet to make a mark in international football. When it comes to men's national teams, Europeans and South Americans continue to dominate the FIFA World Cup, as no team from any other region has managed to even reach the final. These regional trends do not hold true for the women's game, as the United States women's national team has won
11340-631: The Conference Premier in 2013–14 , securing promotion back into the Football League. Luton were promoted from League Two and League One in successive seasons in 2017–18 and 2018–19 before being promoted to the Premier League at the conclusion of the 2023 Championship playoffs . Luton Town Football Club was formed on 11 April 1885. Before this there were many clubs in the town, the most prominent of which were Luton Wanderers and Luton Excelsior. A Wanderers player, George Deacon, came up with
11520-422: The Conference Premier , a competition in which the club had never before participated. The club unsuccessfully contested the promotion play-offs three times in four seasons during their time as a non-League club, employing five different managers. In the 2012–13 FA Cup fourth round, Luton won their away tie against Premier League club Norwich City 1–0 and, in doing so, became the first non-League team to beat
11700-599: The EFL Championship , the second tier of the English football pyramid . Nicknamed "The Hatters", Luton Town have played their home games at Kenilworth Road , since 1905. Luton Town was the first club in southern England to turn professional. It joined the Football League before the 1897–98 season , left in 1900 because of financial problems, and rejoined in 1920. Luton reached the First Division in 1955–56 and contested
11880-647: The FA Cup fourth round by Chelsea ., which beat the previous record of 26,969 who witnessed a shock historic 4–0 win over Manchester United in the second round on 26 August 2014. On 6 October 2015, Stadium MK hosted the Rugby World Cup match, Uruguay versus Fiji and this set the new record attendance to 30,043. On 4 February 2017 a record league attendance of 21,545 was set against Bolton Wanderers in Football League One . The football club's first stadium
12060-504: The National Bowl music venue—Wimbledon F.C. started the season at Selhurst Park and set a target of playing in MK by Christmas 2002. A group of Wimbledon F.C. fans protested by setting up AFC Wimbledon , to which the vast majority of Wimbledon F.C. fans switched allegiance, in June 2002. A temporary stadium in Milton Keynes proved difficult to arrange and Wimbledon F.C. remained in south London at
12240-497: The Third Division South until 1936–37 , when the team finished top and won promotion to the Second Division , at that time the second tier of English football. During the promotion season, striker Joe Payne scored 55 goals in 39 games; during the previous season he had scored 10 in one match against Bristol Rovers , which remains a Football League record today. Towards the end on the 1936-37 season Eddie Parris became
12420-511: The following season as runners-up. Luton achieved a second successive promotion in 2018–19 , after they won the League One title, marking the club's return to the Championship after a 12-year absence. Luton reached the Championship play-offs in 2021–22 , where they were beaten 2–1 on aggregate by Huddersfield Town in the semi-final. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Luton Town secured
12600-471: The fourth tier . In yo-yo club fashion, Luton were to return. A team including Bruce Rioch , John Moore and Graham French won the Fourth Division championship in 1967–68 under the leadership of former player Allan Brown ; two years later Malcolm Macdonald 's goals helped them to another promotion, while comedian Eric Morecambe became a director of the club. Luton Town won promotion back to
12780-458: The top flight for the first time in 1955–56 , after finishing the season in second place behind Birmingham City on goal average . A few years of success followed, including an FA Cup Final appearance against Nottingham Forest in 1958–59 ; at the end of the season, Owen was voted FWA Footballer of the Year . However, the club was relegated the following season and, by 1964–65 , was playing in
12960-529: The 17th century. The nickname was originally a variant on the now rarely seen straw-plaiters . Supporters of the club are also called Hatters. The club is associated with two very different colour schemes—white and black (first permanently adopted in 1920), and orange, navy and white (first used in 1973, and worn by the team as of the 2015–16 season ). Luton mainly wore a combination of light blue and white before 1920, when white shirts and black shorts were first adopted. These colours were retained for over half
13140-529: The 1894–95 season and finished as runners-up in its first two seasons. It then left to help form the United League and came second in that league's inaugural season before joining the Football League (then based mostly in northern and central England) for 1897–98 , concurrently moving to a new ground at Dunstable Road . The club continued to enter a team to the United League for two more seasons, winning
13320-620: The 1960s and 1970s. The Italian women's football league was established in 1968. In December 1969, the Women's Football Association was formed in England, with the sport eventually becoming the most prominent team sport for women in the United Kingdom. Two unofficial women's World Cups were organised by the FIEFF in 1970 and in 1971 . Also in 1971, UEFA members voted to officially recognise women's football, while The Football Association rescinded
13500-682: The 2003–04 campaign at Selhurst Park, Wimbledon F.C. played their first match in Milton Keynes in September 2003. A company voluntary arrangement was put together in March 2004 under which Winkelman's consortium would take Wimbledon F.C. out of administration, reportedly using a holding company called MK Dons. The Football League threatened to expel the club if the takeover were not completed by 31 July. Winkelman's Inter MK Group brought Wimbledon F.C. out of administration in late June 2004 and concurrently announced changes to its name, badge and colours. The new name
13680-568: The FA Cup on 4 March 1959 and 27,911 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the First Division on 5 November 1955. The highest transfer fee received for a Luton Town player is the fee Leicester City paid for Luton-born full-back James Justin on 28 June 2019. The most expensive player Luton Town have ever bought was wing-back Ryan Giles , for a reported fee of £5 million from Wolverhampton Wanderers on 27 July 2023. The youngest player to make
13860-570: The FIFA Women's World Cup four times, more than any other women's team. Football is played at a professional level all over the world. Millions of people regularly go to football stadiums to follow their favourite teams, while billions more watch the game on television or on the internet. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. According to a survey conducted by FIFA published in 2001, over 240 million people from more than 200 countries regularly play football. Football has
14040-420: The First Division in 1973–74 , but were relegated the following season by a solitary point. Former Luton player David Pleat was made manager in 1978, and by 1982–83 the team was back in the top flight. The team which Pleat assembled at Kenilworth Road was notable at the time for the number of black players it included; during an era when many English squads were almost entirely white, Luton often fielded
14220-539: The First. Luton defeated Arsenal 3–2 in the 1988 Football League Cup final and remained in the First Division until relegation at the end of 1991–92 season . Between 2007 and 2009, financial difficulties caused the club to fall from the second tier of English football to the fifth in successive seasons. The last of these relegations, in the 2008–09 season , followed a 30-point deduction for financial irregularities. Luton spent five seasons in non-League football before winning
14400-798: The Football Association, the Scottish Football Association , the Football Association of Wales , and the Irish Football Association . FIFA , the international football body, was formed in Paris in 1904 and declared that they would adhere to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association. The growing popularity of the international game led to the admittance of FIFA representatives to the IFAB in 1913. The board consists of four representatives from FIFA and one representative from each of
14580-564: The Football League . The developers could not justify building such a stadium for a club of this small stature. Winkelman, an ex- CBS Records executive and music promoter, had moved to the Milton Keynes area from London in 1993. He attested to a vast untapped fanbase for football in Milton Keynes—a "football frenzy waiting to happen", he said. Critics of this claim pointed to the apparent lack of public interest in Milton Keynes City and
14760-464: The Game while the ball is in play. The offences that constitute a foul are listed in Law 12. Handling the ball deliberately, tripping an opponent, or pushing an opponent, are examples of "penal fouls", punishable by a direct free kick or penalty kick depending on where the offence occurred. Other fouls are punishable by an indirect free kick . The referee may punish a player's or substitute's misconduct by
14940-470: The IFAB Laws. Each team consists of a maximum of eleven players (excluding substitutes ), one of whom must be the goalkeeper . Competition rules may state a minimum number of players required to constitute a team, which is usually seven. Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to play the ball with their hands or arms, provided they do so within the penalty area in front of their own goal. Though there are
15120-430: The Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and whose decisions are final. The referee is assisted by two assistant referees . In many high-level games there is also a fourth official who assists the referee and may replace another official should the need arise. Goal line technology is used to measure if the whole ball has crossed the goal-line thereby determining whether
15300-661: The Laws of the Game. The most prestigious senior international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup . The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games . The two most prestigious competitions in club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League , which attract an extensive television audience worldwide. The final of
15480-475: The Laws of the Game: to represent their team in the coin toss before kick-off or penalty kicks . The primary law is that players other than goalkeepers may not deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play, though they must use both their hands during a throw-in restart. Although players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their body (notably, "heading" with
15660-522: The Luton Borough Council for a 25,000 stadium with a planned opening date of 2027. During the 2014–15 season , Luton Town had an average home league attendance of 8,702—the second highest in League Two behind only Portsmouth . In the 2013–14 season , when the club were in the Conference Premier , the club had significantly higher support than the other clubs in its league, with an average home attendance of 7,387; more than twice compared to
15840-543: The Milton Keynes plan after the appointment of a new chairman, Charles Koppel, in January 2001. Koppel said that such action was necessary to prevent Wimbledon F.C.'s going out of business. He announced Wimbledon F.C.'s intent to move on 2 August 2001 with a letter to the Football League requesting approval, stating that Wimbledon had already signed an agreement to relocate and "subject to the necessary planning and regulatory consents being obtained" intended to be playing home games at
16020-530: The United States. A notable exception is New Zealand, where in the first two decades of the 21st century, under the influence of international television, "football" has been gaining prevalence, despite the dominance of other codes of football, namely rugby union and rugby league . The term soccer comes from Oxford "-er" slang, which was prevalent at the University of Oxford in England from about 1875, and
16200-682: The West Midlands and the North-West; Fenny Stratford is on the low-frequency Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford . There are shuttle bus connections from the Central and Bletchley stations. Car parking beside the stadium is limited and expensive: time limits on parking outside the nearby shops are strictly enforced on match days. On special occasions, the National Bowl is used for overflow parking. Association football Association football , more commonly known as football or soccer ,
16380-491: The World Cup to England. In late 2014, it was reported that Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur were in negotiations with MK Dons over a temporary groundshare at Stadium MK for a season, during renovations at Spurs' White Hart Lane ground. According to press reports, Tottenham proposed to play most home matches in MK and a small number at Wembley Stadium . The idea of playing home matches in Milton Keynes, even temporarily,
16560-471: The [planning] application process through to the receipt of consent." In April 2016, the club announced its intention to build and move into a 17,500-capacity stadium on the Power Court site in central Luton. Outline planning permission for this ground, with potential to expand to 23,000 seats, was granted by Luton Borough Council on 16 January 2019. In March 2021, the club announced that it intended to make
16740-452: The ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, such as their head, chest and thighs, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and that only within the penalty area . The team that has scored more goals at
16920-456: The ban that prohibited women from playing on association members' pitches in England. Women's football still faces many struggles, but its worldwide growth has seen major competitions being launched at both the national and international levels, mirroring the men's competitions. The FIFA Women's World Cup was inaugurated in 1991: the first tournament was held in China, featuring 12 teams from
17100-410: The beginning of each playing period with a kick-off until the end of the playing period, the ball is in play at all times, except when either the ball leaves the field of play, or play is stopped by the referee. When the ball becomes out of play, play is restarted by one of eight restart methods depending on how it went out of play: A foul occurs when a player commits an offence listed in the Laws of
17280-479: The beginning of the Croatian War of Independence of the 1990s, when a match between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade degenerated into rioting in May 1990. Women's association football has historically seen opposition, with national associations severely curbing its development and several outlawing it completely. Women may have been playing football for as long as the game has existed. Evidence shows that
17460-404: The buildup, direct red card decisions, and penalty decisions. The ball is spherical with a circumference of between 68 and 70 cm (27 and 28 in), a weight in the range of 410 to 450 g (14 to 16 oz), and a pressure between 0.6 and 1.1 standard atmospheres (8.5 and 15.6 pounds per square inch ) at sea level. In the past the ball was made up of leather panels sewn together, with
17640-732: The champions of these two club competitions would contest the Intercontinental Cup to prove which team was the best in the world. In the 21st century, South America has continued to produce some of the best footballers in the world, but its clubs have fallen behind the still dominant European clubs, which often sign the best players from Latin America and elsewhere. Meanwhile, football has improved in Africa , Asia and North America , and nowadays, these regions are at least on equal grounds with South America in club football, although countries in
17820-469: The clock and Arsenal 2–1 ahead, a penalty save from stand-in goalkeeper Andy Dibble sparked a late Luton rally: Danny Wilson equalised, before Brian Stein scored the winner with the last kick of the match. The club reached the League Cup Final once more in 1988–89 , but lost 3–1 to Nottingham Forest. The club was relegated from the top division at the end of the 1991–92 season , and sank to
18000-517: The club colours. The club released the song "Hatters, Hatters", a collaboration between the Luton team and the Bedfordshire-based musical comedy group the Barron Knights , in 1974. Eight years later another song featuring vocals by the Luton players, "We're Luton Town", was released to celebrate the club's promotion to the First Division. The first sponsor to appear on a Luton Town shirt
18180-511: The club entered administration . Newell's team finished as champions of the rebranded third-tier Football League One in 2004–05 . While Newell's place was taken first by Kevin Blackwell and later former player Mick Harford , the team was then relegated twice in a row, starting in 2006–07 , and spent the latter part of the 2007–08 season in administration, thus incurring a ten-point deduction from that season's total. The club then had
18360-436: The club name underneath. This badge was used until 2005, when a replacement very similar to the 1987 version was adopted, featuring black text rather than blue and a straw boater in place of the outstretched arm depicted in the older design. The club's founding year, 1885, was added in 2008. The badge was altered once more during the 2009–10 pre-season, with the red of the town crest being replaced with orange to better reflect
18540-445: The club's then-owners proposed a controversial plan to relocate to a site near Junction 12 of the M1 motorway , near Harlington and Toddington . A planning application was made on the club's behalf by former chairman Cliff Bassett, but the application was withdrawn almost immediately following the club's takeover in 2008. In 2009, the club began an independent feasibility study to determine
18720-623: The council the benefit of building the stadium. A League club would move up, permission would be granted, then Winkelman would exercise the option to buy all the land, sell it to Asda and Ikea for very much more, and the difference would be used to build the stadium." Conn retrospectively described this as the "deal of a lifetime". Starting in 2000 the consortium offered this proposition to several Football League clubs, including Luton Town, Crystal Palace , Barnet , Queens Park Rangers , and Wimbledon F.C. Wimbledon F.C., who had groundshared at Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park ground since 1991, adopted
18900-425: The course of the game. The maximum number of substitutions permitted in most competitive international and domestic league games is five in 90 minutes, with each team being allowed one more if the game should go into extra-time; the permitted number may vary in other competitions or in friendly matches . Common reasons for a substitution include injury, tiredness, ineffectiveness, a tactical switch, or timewasting at
19080-453: The eighth century. The modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The Cambridge rules , first drawn up at the University of Cambridge in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge , at
19260-420: The end of a finely poised game. In standard adult matches, a player who has been substituted may not take further part in a match. IFAB recommends "that a match should not continue if there are fewer than seven players in either team". Any decision regarding points awarded for abandoned games is left to the individual football associations. A game is officiated by a referee , who has "full authority to enforce
19440-508: The end of the 2002–03 season. Koppel announced a plan to convert the National Hockey Stadium for football and play there from the start of the 2003–04 season until the new stadium was built. Wimbledon F.C. entered administration in June 2003. After the club missed a deadline to invest in renovations to the Hockey Stadium, confusion arose as to whether Wimbledon F.C. would move and where they would play if they did. The administrators arranged
19620-405: The end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shoot-out . Internationally, association football
19800-652: The first Black player to represent Luton when he made his debut on 13 March 1937 in a home game against Northampton Town . During the early 1950s, one of Luton's greatest sides emerged under manager Dally Duncan . The team included Gordon Turner , who went on to become Luton's all-time top goalscorer, Bob Morton , who holds the record for the most club appearances, and Syd Owen , an England international. During this period, Luton sides also featured two England international goalkeepers, Ron Baynham and Bernard Streten , as well as Irish internationals Seamus Dunne , Tom Aherne and George Cummins . This team reached
19980-422: The first clubs in the country to share a stadium between both men's and women's teams of the same club. Stadium MK was selected as one of several venues for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 tournament. The stadium hosted Group B fixtures Spain v. Finland (8 July 2022), Denmark v. Finland (12 July 2022) and Finland v. Germany (16 July 2022). On 28 July 2022, a 27,445 attendance saw Germany defeat France 2–1 in
20160-420: The forehead) other than their hands or arms. Within normal play, all players are free to play the ball in any direction and move throughout the pitch, though players may not pass to teammates who are in an offside position. During gameplay, players attempt to create goal-scoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling , passing the ball to a teammate, and by taking shots at
20340-514: The formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street , London. The only school to be represented on this occasion
20520-517: The four British associations. For most of the 20th century, Europe and South America were the dominant regions in association football. The FIFA World Cup , inaugurated in 1930 , became the main stage for players of both continents to show their worth and the strength of their national teams. In the second half of the century, the European Cup and the Copa Libertadores were created, and
20700-695: The game in a specific position, there are few restrictions on player movement, and players can switch positions at any time. The layout of a team's players is known as a formation . Defining the team's formation and tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's manager . There are 17 laws in the official Laws of the Game, each containing a collection of stipulations and guidelines. The same laws are designed to apply to all levels of football for both sexes, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, seniors and people with physical disabilities are permitted. The laws are often framed in broad terms, which allow flexibility in their application depending on
20880-441: The game set a new stadium record attendance of 22,220. On 8 October 2012, the organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup announced that the stadium was one of 17 to be short-listed for detailed appraisal, leading to the final choice of 12 stadiums to be announced in March 2013 It was officially announced as a venue for the 2015 Rugby World Cup on 2 May, and with the venue capacity to expand to 32,000, it hosted three fixtures. The first
21060-680: The game. The side stands are known for the direction in which they are from the pitch (East and West). The stadium is in south central Milton Keynes, in Denbigh, a part of the Bletchley and Fenny Stratford civil parish, near the junction of the A5 and the A421 spur. Local facilities include a ' Double Tree ' hotel and a shopping complex with Next , Primark , and Marks and Spencer stores, restaurants including Nando's , TGI Fridays , Prezzo , and Bella Italia , and
21240-425: The goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent in possession of the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is restricted. Football is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play or when play is stopped by the referee for an infringement of
21420-404: The highest global television audience in sport. In many parts of the world, football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans , local communities, and even nations. Ryszard Kapuściński says that Europeans who are polite, modest, or humble fall easily into rage when playing or watching football games. The Ivory Coast national football team helped secure
21600-588: The idea of a 'Town' club which would include all the best players in Luton. Wanderers secretary Herbert Spratley seized upon Deacon's idea and arranged a secret meeting on 13 January 1885 at the St Matthews school rooms in High Town . The Wanderers committee resolved to rename the club Luton Town—which was not well received by the wider community. The local newspapers referred to the club as 'Luton Town (late Wanderers)'. When George Deacon and John Charles Lomax then arranged
21780-530: The idea of clubs playing temporarily at Wembley while their grounds were redeveloped. Spurs eventually ended up playing a game at Stadium MK against Watford in front of 23,650 people a fixture supported by former MK Dons player and Milton Keynes local Dele Alli . On 1 June 2014, the stadium hosted the 2013–14 FA Women's Cup final. Arsenal defeated Everton 2–0. As of the 2018–19 season, MK Dons women's team share Stadium MK as their home stadium with their male counterparts, Milton Keynes Dons – one of
21960-654: The instigation of Alcock. England is also home to the world's first football league , which was founded in Birmingham in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor . The original format contained 12 clubs from the Midlands and Northern England . Laws of the Game are determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). The board was formed in 1886 after a meeting in Manchester of
22140-697: The lack of a crossbar, rules which made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s, with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games. The world's oldest football competition is the FA Cup , which was founded by the footballer and cricketer Charles W. Alcock , and has been contested by English teams since 1872. The first official international football match also took place in 1872, between Scotland and England in Glasgow , again at
22320-607: The men's tournament is the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. Association football is one of a family of football codes that emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity. Within the English-speaking world, the sport is now usually called "football" in Great Britain and most of Ulster in the north of Ireland, whereas people usually call it "soccer" in regions and countries where other codes of football are prevalent, such as Australia, Canada, South Africa, most of Ireland (excluding Ulster), and
22500-453: The most goals in a game—he hit 10 past Bristol Rovers on 13 April 1936. The club's largest wins have been a 15–0 victory over Great Yarmouth Town on 21 November 1914 in the FA Cup and a 12–0 win over Bristol Rovers in the Third Division South on 13 April 1936. Luton's heaviest loss was a 9–0 defeat against Small Heath in the Second Division on 12 November 1898. Luton's highest home attendances are 30,069 against Blackpool in
22680-525: The nature of the game. The Laws of the Game are published by FIFA, but are maintained by the IFAB. In addition to the seventeen laws, numerous IFAB decisions and other directives contribute to the regulation of association football. Within the United States, Major League Soccer used a distinct ruleset during the 1990s and the National Federation of State High School Associations and NCAA still use rulesets that are comparable to, but different from,
22860-462: The nearby new town of Milton Keynes was unsuccessfully proposed several times, most notably in the 1980s. The club sold Kenilworth Road to Luton Council in 1989, and has since leased it. A planning application for a new 20,000-seater indoor stadium, the "Kohlerdome" proposed by chairman David Kohler in 1995, was turned down by the Secretary of State in 1998, and Kohler left soon after. In 2007,
23040-411: The next stoppage of play. The referee's decision in all on-pitch matters is considered final. The score of a match cannot be altered after the game, even if later evidence shows that decisions (including awards/non-awards of goals) were incorrect. Luton Town F.C. Luton Town Football Club is a professional football club from Luton , Bedfordshire , England. The club currently competes in
23220-426: The offences that constitute misconduct are listed, the definitions are broad. In particular, the offence of "unsporting behaviour" may be used to deal with most events that violate the spirit of the game, even if they are not listed as specific offences. A referee can show a yellow or red card to a player, substitute, substituted player, and to non-players such as managers and support staff. Rather than stopping play,
23400-461: The original thirteen laws of the game. The sticking point was hacking, which a twelfth club at the meeting, Blackheath FC , had wanted to keep, resulting in them withdrawing from the FA. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA, and instead in 1871, along with Blackheath, formed the Rugby Football Union . The FA rules included handling of the ball by "marks" and
23580-472: The other local non-League clubs, and argued that Milton Keynes residents interested specifically in League football already had ample access with Luton Town , Northampton Town and Rushden & Diamonds all within 25 miles (40 km). Winkelman was the only person in Milton Keynes publicly associated with the project; his financial supporters, later revealed to be Asda (then a subsidiary of Walmart ) and Ikea, were kept strictly anonymous. Opponents of such
23760-432: The pitch does not become square. In 2008, the IFAB initially approved a fixed size of 105 m (115 yd) long and 68 m (74 yd) wide as a standard pitch dimension for international matches; however, this decision was later put on hold and was never actually implemented. The longer boundary lines are touchlines , while the shorter boundaries (on which the goals are placed) are goal lines . A rectangular goal
23940-437: The pitch, making it more socially acceptable for women to play. The first match recorded by the Scottish Football Association took place in 1892 in Glasgow . In England, the first recorded game of football between women took place in 1895. Women's football has traditionally been associated with charity games and physical exercise, particularly in the United Kingdom. Association football continued to be played by women since
24120-437: The player spends the most time. For example, there are central defenders and left and right midfielders. The ten outfield players may be arranged in any combination. The number of players in each position determines the style of the team's play; more forwards and fewer defenders creates a more aggressive and offensive-minded game, while the reverse creates a slower, more defensive style of play. While players typically spend most of
24300-400: The players and spectators by holding up a board showing this number. The signalled stoppage time may be further extended by the referee. Added time was introduced because of an incident which happened in 1891 during a match between Stoke and Aston Villa . Trailing 1–0 with two minutes remaining, Stoke were awarded a penalty kick. Villa's goalkeeper deliberately kicked the ball out of play; by
24480-416: The referee may allow play to continue if doing so will benefit the team against which an offence has been committed. This is known as "playing an advantage". The referee may "call back" play and penalise the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue within "a few seconds". Even if an offence is not penalised due to advantage being played, the offender may still be sanctioned for misconduct at
24660-419: The referee. Stoppage time does not fully compensate for the time in which the ball is out of play , and a 90-minute game typically involves about an hour of "effective playing time". The referee alone signals the end of the match. In matches where a fourth official is appointed, towards the end of the half, the referee signals how many minutes of stoppage time they intend to add. The fourth official then informs
24840-440: The respective six confederations. The World Cup has been held every four years since; by 2019 , it had expanded to 24 national teams, and 1.12 billion viewers watched the competition. Four years later , FIFA targeted the 32-team 2023 Women's World Cup at an audience of 2 billion, while about 1.4 million tickets were sold, setting a Women's World Cup record. Women's football has been an Olympic event since 1996 . North America
25020-534: The rules. After a stoppage, play recommences with a specified restart. At a professional level, most matches produce only a few goals. For example, the 2022–23 season of the English Premier League produced an average of 2.85 goals per match. The Laws of the Game do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper, but a number of specialised roles have evolved. Broadly, these include three main categories: strikers , or forwards, whose main task
25200-481: The season, Luton won their first Premier League game on 30 September 2023, beating Everton 2–1 away at Goodison Park . After a stable first half of the season, the club's form significantly regressed after January, winning one in seventeen matches before being relegated in May 2024. The club's nickname, "the Hatters", reflects Luton's historical connection with the hat making trade, which has been prominent there since
25380-460: The second highest of 3,568. Average attendances at Kenilworth Road fell with the installation of seats and the club's reduction in stature, dropping from 13,452 in 1982–83 to their 2014–15 level—a slump of 35% over 32 years. A supporters' trust , Trust in Luton , owns shares in the club and elects a representative to the club's board. The club's official supporters' group, Luton Town Supporters' Club, merged with Trust in Luton in 2014. The club
25560-494: The second semi-final. Saracens were the first club to host a Premiership rugby match at Stadium mk when Bristol Rugby visited on 10 May 2008, away from their regular Vicarage Road ground, due to Watford F.C. playing at home in the 2008 Championship play-off semi-final. It provided a grand stage for Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Richard Hill's 288th and last appearance for the men in black. A last-minute try from Kameli Ratuvou ensured Hill's 15-year club career finished on
25740-543: The sexes are so widely divided are all on the side of emancipation , and I look forward to the time when ladies may sit in Parliament and have a voice in the direction of affairs, especially those which concern them most." Honeyball and those like her paved the way for women's football. However, the women's game was frowned upon by the British football associations and continued without their support. It has been suggested that this
25920-424: The stadium has two tiers which hold a capacity of 30,500. Should it be required, there is the option to increase the capacity of the stadium again to 45,000 with the addition of a third tier, hence the high roof. The design meets UEFA's Elite Stadium specifications and includes a Desso GrassMaster playing surface. The plans of the complex included an indoor arena, Arena MK (now known as The Marshall Arena), that
26100-529: The stadium hosted a full international friendly; Ghana beat Latvia 1–0 in their last warm-up before the World Cup in South Africa . In December 2009, The FA awarded Candidate Host City status to Milton Keynes. Had England won the bid, Stadium MK would have hosted some games. For this to happen, the stadium capacity would have had to be increased to 44,000. However, on 2 December 2010, FIFA decided not to award
26280-402: The stadium occasionally hosts rugby union . The first such occasion was in May 2008, when Saracens (who at the time groundshared with Watford at Vicarage Road ) played Bristol at Stadium MK because Watford needed their ground for a Championship play-off. In 2011, Northampton Saints RFC used the ground for their Heineken Cup quarter and semi-final matches because their home ground
26460-416: The stadium's main tenant and most frequent user, with all the amenities built within the stadium (such as the club shop) designed for the club's benefit. It has hosted two England under-21 internationals. The first was a 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 3 match against Bulgaria's under-21s on 16 November 2007. The hosts beat the visitors 2–0 with Mark Noble scoring twice (on
26640-427: The superior record in the fixture between the two clubs; out of 120 competitive matches there have been 55 Luton victories and 38 for Watford, with 29 draws. The 2003 Football Fans Census showed that there was also animosity between Luton Town fans and those of west London club Queens Park Rangers . The club produces an official match programme for home matches, entitled Our Town . A character known as Happy Harry,
26820-570: The tenth minute and the seventeenth minute) and James Milner scoring on the twenty sixth minute with 20,222 in attendance. The other was an international friendly against Azerbaijan's under 21s 31 March 2009. The hosts thrashed the visitors 7–0 with Kieran Gibbs scoring twice and single goals from Michael Mancienne , Craig Gardner and Jack Rodwell as well as own goals from Elcin Sadiqov and Elvin Mammadov with 12,020 in attendance. On 5 June 2010,
27000-486: The third tier four years later . Luton stayed in the third-tier Second Division until relegation at the end of the 2000–01 season . Under the management of Joe Kinnear , who had arrived halfway through the previous season, the team won promotion from the fourth tier at the first attempt. "Controversial" owner John Gurney unsettled the club in 2003, terminating Kinnear's contract on his arrival in May; Gurney replaced Kinnear with Mike Newell before leaving Luton as
27180-454: The time Richard Scudamore stated in July 2015 that the Premier League would have no objection to Tottenham groundsharing temporarily—either with MK Dons or with Chelsea at Wembley—but to defend "the integrity of the competition" would not allow Tottenham to play home matches at more than one location in the same season. Two months later, the FA chief executive Martin Glenn indicated that he supported
27360-447: The time it was recovered, the clock had run out and the game was over, leaving Stoke unable to attempt the penalty. The same law also states that the duration of either half is extended until a penalty kick to be taken or retaken is completed; thus, no game can end with an uncompleted penalty. In league competitions, games may end in a draw. In knockout competitions where a winner is required, various methods may be employed to break such
27540-531: The time of the first recorded women's games in the late 19th century. The best-documented early European team was founded by activist Nettie Honeyball in England in 1894. It was named the British Ladies' Football Club . Honeyball is quoted as, "I founded the association late last year [1894], with the fixed resolve of proving to the world that women are not the 'ornamental and useless' creatures men have pictured. I must confess, my convictions on all matters where
27720-641: The title in 1897–98. Poor attendance, high wages, in addition to the high travel and accommodation costs that resulted from Luton's distance from the northern heartlands of the Football League crippled the club financially; it became too expensive to compete in that league. A return to the Southern League was therefore arranged for the 1900–01 season . Eight years after arriving at Dunstable Road, Luton moved again, settling at their current ground, Kenilworth Road , in 1905. Captain and left winger Bob Hawkes became Luton's first international player when he
27900-422: The tournament or be the champion. Goals scored during extra time periods count towards the final score of the game, but kicks from the penalty mark are only used to decide the team that progresses to the next part of the tournament, with goals scored in a penalty shoot-out not making up part of the final score. In competitions using two-legged matches , each team competes at home once, with an aggregate score from
28080-544: The town's crest as its own in a manner similar to many other teams. The club's first badge was a white eight-pointed star, which was emblazoned across the team's shirts (then a deep cochineal red) in 1892. Four years later a crest comprising the club's initials intertwined was briefly adopted. The shirts were thereafter plain until 1933, when Luton first adopted a badge depicting a straw boater, which appeared on Luton shirts. The letters "LTFC" were added in 1935, and this basic design remained until 1947. The club then played without
28260-400: The trains. A damaging financial loss during 1896–97 forced Luton to sell the stadium to stay afloat and, as a result, the club moved across the tracks to a stadium between the railway and Dunstable Road. The Dunstable Road ground was opened by Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford , who also donated £50 towards the £800 building costs. When the site was sold for housing in 1905, the club
28440-597: The transmission of cuju outside of China, especially the form of the game popular in the Tang dynasty , the period when the inflatable ball was invented and replaced the stuffed ball. Other East Asian games include kemari in Japan and chuk-guk in Korea, both influenced by cuju . Kemari originated after the year 600 during the Asuka period . It was a ceremonial rather than
28620-439: The two matches deciding which team progresses. Where aggregates are equal, the away goals rule may be used to determine the winners, in which case the winner is the team that scored the most goals in the leg they played away from home. If the result is still equal, extra time and potentially a penalty shoot-out are required. Under the Laws, the two basic states of play during a game are ball in play and ball out of play . From
28800-510: Was Charterhouse . The Freemasons' Tavern was the setting for five more meetings of The FA between October and December 1863; the English FA eventually issued the first comprehensive set of rules named Laws of the Game , forming modern football. The laws included bans on running with the ball in hand and hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins), tripping and holding. Eleven clubs, under the charge of FA secretary Ebenezer Cobb Morley , ratified
28980-529: Was Milton Keynes Dons F.C. (commonly shortened to MK Dons). Milton Keynes Dons continued to play at the National Hockey Stadium while the development including the new ground was constructed in Denbigh. Asda paid Inter MK £35 million for its section of the site, Ikea £24 million. Ground was broken on the stadium in February 2005. In December 2005 MK Dons set a target of playing at the new ground by January 2007; in February 2007 they revised their proposal to
29160-429: Was Tricentrol, a local motor company based in Dunstable , who sponsored the club from March 1980 to 1982; the deal was worth £50,000. A list of subsequent Luton Town shirt sponsors are as follow: Luton Town's first ground was at Dallow Lane , the former ground of Excelsior. The ground was next to the Dunstable to Luton railway line , and players regularly claimed to have trouble seeing the ball because of smoke from
29340-535: Was a Pool D match between France and Canada on 1 October 2015 with France winning 41–18 with 28,145 in attendance. The second was a Pool B match between Samoa and Japan two days later with Japan winning 26–5 with 29,019 in attendance. The third and final was a Pool A match between Fiji and Uruguay three days later with Fiji winning 47–15 with new stadium attendance record, with 30,048 in attendance. The stadium has also hosted large-scale concerts performed by various music artists and groups: The stadium
29520-483: Was carried. A club committee was elected by ballot and the team colours were agreed to be pink and dark blue shirts and caps. Initially based at Excelsior's Dallow Lane ground, Luton Town began making payments to certain individual players in 1890. The following year, Luton became the first club in southern England to be fully professional. The club was a founder member of the Southern Football League in
29700-530: Was derided as "the plastic pitch". A serious incident involving hooliganism before, during and after a match against Millwall in 1985 led to the club's then chairman, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) David Evans , introducing a scheme effective from the start of 1986–87 supposedly banning all visiting supporters from the ground, and requiring home fans to carry membership cards when attending matches. Conversion to an all-seater ground also began in 1986. Away fans returned for 1990–91 , and grass
29880-527: Was first recorded as in exercise in the Zhan Guo Ce , a military history from the Han dynasty . Cuju players would pass the ball around, having to avoid it touching the ground at any point. It was then passed to a designated player, who attempted to kick it through the fengliu yan , a circular goal atop 10–11 meter poles. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), cuju games were standardised and rules were established. The Silk Road facilitated
30060-419: Was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca . Kicking ball games arose independently multiple times across multiple cultures. The Chinese competitive game cuju ( 蹴鞠 , literally "kickball"; also known as tsu chu ) resembles modern association football as well as a mix of basketball, and volleyball. This is the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is historical evidence. The game
30240-542: Was forced to move again at short notice, to its present Kenilworth Road site, in time for the start of the 1905–06 season . The stadium has an all-seater capacity of 11,600 and is situated in the Bury Park area of Luton . It was named after the road that runs along one end of it, although the official address of the club is 1 Maple Road. Opposite the eponymous Kenilworth Stand is the Oak Road End, which has evolved from
30420-426: Was included as trim until 2007. The white, navy and orange palette favoured in the 1980s was brought back in 2008, following the results of a club poll, but a year later the colours were changed yet again, this time to a predominantly orange strip with white shorts. Navy shorts were readopted in 2011. Luton wore orange shirts, navy shorts and white socks during the 2015–16 season . Luton Town have traditionally used
30600-417: Was indeed dependent on Asda and Ikea," Conn summarised in a 2012 article, after interviewing Winkelman. "Having seen the opportunity to build a stadium Milton Keynes lacked, and realised Asda did not have a store in the town, Winkelman acquired options to buy the land from its three owners, including the council. Asda would not have been granted planning permission for a huge out-of-town superstore unless it gave
30780-416: Was largely unpopular with Spurs fans. The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust stated in September 2014 that it would have "serious issues" with such an arrangement. In a London Evening Standard poll of 206 Tottenham fans two months later, 71 (34%) said they would attend home matches at Stadium MK if the club played there temporarily, while 135 (66%) said they would not. The Premier League chief executive at
30960-424: Was left winger Robert Hawkes , who took to the field for England against Ireland at Goodison Park on 16 February 1907. The most capped player is Mal Donaghy , who earned 58 Northern Ireland caps while at the club. The first player to score in an international match was Joe Payne , who scored twice in his only game for England against Finland on 20 May 1937. Payne also holds the Football League record for
31140-497: Was motivated by a perceived threat to the "masculinity" of the game. Women's football became popular on a large scale at the time of the First World War , when female employment in heavy industry spurred the growth of the game, much as it had done for men 50 years earlier. The most successful team of the era was Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. of Preston, England . The team played in one of the first women's international matches against
31320-477: Was picked to play for England against Ireland on 16 February 1907. A poor 1911–12 season saw Luton relegated to the Southern League's Second Division; the club won promotion back two years later. After the First World War broke out, Luton took part in The London Combination during 1915–16 , and afterwards filled each season with friendly matches . A key player of the period was Ernie Simms ,
31500-588: Was played at the stadium on Sunday 10 April 2011 in front of a (then) stadium record crowd of 21,309 supporters who witnessed the Saints (the 'home' side for the day) beat Ulster 23–13. This secured for the Saints a place in the semi-final of the Heineken Cup where they went on to beat USA Perpignan , again at Stadium MK. On 21 January 2012, Northampton Saints played their final 2011–12 Heineken Cup pool match at Stadium MK against Munster . Saints were defeated 36–51 but
31680-535: Was replaced by the current stand before the 1922–23 season . The ground underwent extensive redevelopment during the 1930s, and the capacity by the start of the Second World War was 30,000. Floodlights were installed before the 1953–54 season , but it was 20 years before any further modernisation was carried out. In 1973 the Bobbers Stand became all-seated, and in 1985 the grass pitch was replaced with an artificial playing surface ; it quickly became unpopular and
31860-481: Was the National Hockey Stadium , which was temporarily converted for football for the duration of the club's stay whilst Stadium MK was under construction. Their lease on this ground ended in May 2007. On 18 July 2007, the club's new 22,000 seater stadium hosted its first game, a restricted-entrance event against a young Chelsea XI. The stadium was officially opened on 29 November 2007 by the Queen . Milton Keynes Dons are
32040-496: Was the quality of Luton's team at this time that despite playing in the third tier, a fixture between Ireland and England at Windsor Park on 22 October 1921 saw three Luton players on the pitch— Louis Bookman and Allan Mathieson for Ireland, and the club's top goalscorer, Simms, for England. However, after Luton finished fourth in the division, the squad was broken up as Simms, Bookman and Mathieson joined South Shields , Port Vale and Exeter City respectively. Luton stayed in
32220-523: Was to be the home of the Milton Keynes Lions professional basketball team. However, the retail developments that would have provided enabling funding were deferred due to lack of financing, leaving the Lions without a home. Following the conclusion of the 2011–12 season, the Lions could not secure a venue within Milton Keynes, resulting in their relocation to London. In addition to association football,
32400-488: Was used as a centre-point for the 40th birthday celebrations of Milton Keynes which took place during 2007. Jehovah's Witnesses ' annual conventions have been held at the stadium. The sci-fi convention Collectormania was held at the venue between 2009 and 2013. The 2021 and 2022 UK's Strongest Man competitions were held at the stadium. The South stand of Stadium MK is known as the Cowshed by Dons fans, as Milton Keynes
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