The penalty kick that brought Preston North End winning the 1938 FA Cup. Source: Curry Bet

Television has become the most important media that makes football can be watched throughout the world. Thanks to television, billion of people can watch football match from thousand miles away.

The revolution began in 1938. The FA Cup final match in 1938 between Preston North End and Huddersfield Town was the first football match to be aired on BBC Television. This match took place on April 30, 1938 at Wembley Stadium. Some people said that television broke the FA Cup tradition by allowing people who were not at Wembley to watch the game. It devalued the importance of being at the Wembley. About 10,000 people reportedly watched the game from television.

The critic is normal, every changes must face criticism. 80 years later we can see that television has been playing an important role in football industry by allowing people to watch the game anywhere.

Programme and ticket of the match on Ebay

Preston North End won the FA Cup after winning 1-0 with a penalty kick on extra time. Liverpool's legendary coach, Bill Shankly, was one of the Preston North End players in this match. Both teams couldn't score in 90 minutes normal time. Then the match continued to the extra time.

On extra time, both teams were still having difficulty to score. Entering the last 1 minute of the extra time, drama took place. Huddersfield players committed a foul in the penalty box and the referee immediately gave a penalty kick to Preston North End. George Mutch executed the penalty kick well. Shortly after the goal, the match ended and Preston North End came out as the 1938 FA Cup champion.

Preston North End came home as a champion. Source: Into Sport

The following is footage of the 1938 FA Cup Final match by British Pathe.