The Christmas holidays are a rare opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family while giving and receiving gifts. For Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, Christmas seems to come twice in consecutive days. He indeed receives more than he gives.
How Boxing Day Became The Pride Of British Football
In England, December 26 is the biggest day of the football season.
On this day, families gather, leftovers are shared, and soccer is watched. Footballers look forward to Boxing Day from the start of the season because it is one of the busiest days on the calendar.
Boxing Day matches for Sheffield FC and Hallam FC has been played since 1860, making them the world’s oldest derbies. But it is likely that Boxing Day matches originated during World War I.
During the 1914-15 Christmas truce, troops left their trenches to kick soccer balls in the barren no-man’s-land between enemy lines. Although most kickabouts were between troops, there are records of matches between opposing nations.
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It didn’t take long for the 134th Saxon Infantry Regiment and the English to play soccer in the trenches,” Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch recalled. It was wonderful and strange at the same time.
The tradition was that clubs played home-and-away matches against the same opponents on December 25 and 26 after professional football returned to England in 1919. The Boxing Day tradition continues today, albeit with less congested fixtures than a century ago.
English and Scottish leagues continue to play soccer matches during the festive season, while most other European countries are on holiday.
Harry Kane Boxing Day Numbers
At this point, it is an annual tradition for Harry Kane to hit the back of the net on the day after Christmas. He has scored an absurd ten goals in the seven Boxing Day matches the 29-year-old has featured in. This makes him the joint all-time Boxing Day goalscorer with Robbie Fowler. Past players Alan Shearer and Robbie Keane are one goal behind on eight.
The 2014 goal was his first Premier League Boxing Day goal, and it only took him 55 seconds to score.
In 2015/16, he hit a brace against his former club Norwich City. He took two touches with his right foot for his second goal before shifting to his left foot. As he fired hard and low past the Norwich goalkeeper, he confused the Norwich defense and there was no doubt in his mind it would find the net.
Next season, he netted a hat trick versus Southampton. Simply put, Harry Kane could not stop scoring on December 26. After beating his man to the ball, he headed in Eriksen’s free-kick from close range to open the scoring against Southampton. [3]
The moment was a record-breaking one, and he celebrated accordingly. As a result, he surpassed Alan Shearer’s 36 Premier League goals in 1995, with Blackburn with his 37th in 2017. His hat trick would turn that into 39 goals at the end of the match, a record that still stands today. [4]
The following season, he scored against Bournemouth. The next season, he was back on the south coast to score the winner against Brighton. There was no doubt it was a poacher’s finish. Upon ping-ponging off two Brighton defenders, the ball fell perfectly at Kane’s feet, who gratefully accepted the present and volleyed home.
In 2021, Spurs took the lead when Moura poked the ball onto Kane, who fired high across Crystal Palace goalkeeper Jack Butland and into the net. [5]
Upon returning from World Cup duty, the Tottenham striker scored in his first game back against Brentford.
But it is by no means a one-person show. Harry Kane’s supporting cast also seems to take it up a notch during the festive period. Tottenham racked up 30 goals in its last decade post-Christmas games. Incredibly, the North Londoners did not lose a single Boxing Day fixture during the 2010s, and they failed to win only once.
The Mourinho Effect On Harry Kane
Former Spurs coach José Mourinho has undoubtedly proved to his doubters that he is far from past it. The charismatic manager had his side playing like genuine title contenders, and Harry Kane hit a rich vein of form under the stewardship.
Kane’s strike partnership with Son Heung-min has blossomed into something special. Only Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba teamed up for more goals in Premier League history.
Harry Kane has been showcasing his complete skill set week in and week out for the past decade, confirming what everybody knew: that he is more than just a pure goal scorer.
The Englishman’s work rate, his range of passing, and his movement and understanding with Son Heung-min have transformed Tottenham Hotspurs into a Premier League contender, year after year.
As the only active player in the Boxing Day top five all-time scorers list, the England striker has a great chance of equaling or even breaking Robbie Fowler’s record in the next few seasons.
Leading into the 2022 Boxing day fixture, Harry Kane is equal with Robbie Fowler on nine goals and is one ahead of Alan Shearer and Robbie Keane. The North London forward does hold the record for the most goals on Boxing Day for one team. Only Thierry Henry is second on the list with seven goals.
This season, he will be lining up against Brentford for this Boxing day fixture. This could be dependent if he starts depending on how far England goes in the 2022 World Cup.
Breakdown of Harry Kane Goals On Boxing Day
His five games for Tottenham on Boxing Day:
- One goal vs Leicester City – 2014-15
- Two goals vs Norwich City – 2015-16
- Three goals vs Southampton – 2016-17
- One goal vs Bournemouth – 2017-18
- One goal vs Brighton – 2018-19
- One goal vs Crystal Palace – 2021-22
- One goal vs Brentford 2022-23
Best Football Teams On Boxing Day
In the Premier League, Manchester United has the best win rate (81 percent) among teams that have played at least 10 Boxing Day matches.
Just one win has been achieved by West Bromwich Albion in 12 Premier League Boxing Day games (8 percent).
Where Is Harry Kane From
Born and raised in Waltham Forest just outside of London, Kane began playing football at Ridgeway Rovers as a six-year-old before joining Arsenal’s youth academy in 2001. [1]
Before he was scouted by Tottenham in 2004, he briefly played for Rovers and Watford before he became the striker he is today. His rapid rise through the ranks of the club saw him represent the side at the Under-16 and Under-18 levels. When he was 16 years old, he was promoted to the senior team. [2]
The England International
The Tottenham Hotspur ace is a clever forward who was first capped at the U17 level in April 2010. He helped John Peacock’s squad through the Elite Round and into the European Championship Finals.
Unfortunately, Harry Kane couldn’t take his place in the squad for the ultimately successful trip to Liechtenstein due to injury. Still, he remained on the radar, and Noel Blake selected him to feature in the U19s for their Euro First Qualifying Round in Belgium in October 2010.
He was then part of the U19s squad that reached the semi-final of the Euros in 2012, helping them to qualify for the U20 World Cup with his goals and link-up play.
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Born and raised in east London and attended the same high school as former England captain David Beckham, Kane is highly-regarded at White Hart Lane and enjoyed a successful loan spell in the Championship with Millwall during the 2011-12 season before he was loaned to Norwich City and Leicester City the following campaign.
The all-rounder made his debut against Uruguay in a warm-up match after being named to the England U20 squad for the FIFA World Cup in Turkey. In the following match against Chile, the 6ft 2 striker scored.
Harry Kane made his under-21 debut against Scotland in August 2013. After scoring 13 goals in 12 matches for the under-21s, he continued to produce prolifically.
The accurate penalty taker was named in the full England squad for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania. He scored a header 80 seconds after replacing Wayne Rooney in the second half.
During the 2018 World Cup, he scored six goals and won the Golden Boot. His 50th goal for England came in a game against Germany in 2022, making Harry Kane the second player in history to reach that mark. In the World Cup 2022, he only scored two goals before England was knocked out by France in the quarter finals.
References:
[1] and [2]: https://www.footballnews.footballmamak.com/post/harrykane
[3], [4], and [5]: https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/ranking-all-nine-of-harry-kanes-boxing-day-goals-for-tottenham/
Images:
www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk/harry-kane-makes-friends-at-st-josephs-primary-school-bingley/ (main image)
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/20/christmas-day-truce-1914-not-one-off-researcher-reveals/
www.goal.com/en-sa/news/they-got-it-right—kane-backs-var-after-clear-match-winning-penalty/zjd5fke0bpmp1t6qtwn0o987i
m.facebook.com/watch/?v=526427831571667&paipv=0&eav=AfazeYY5JMX65SQPujie7rqL3cjNzFh283ZcSGJeEnHRjQLtadjnQP5nnaUO3o1Mgi0&_rdr
www.90min.com/posts/6590113-on-this-day-2014-harry-kane-scores-his-first-ever-premier-league-goal
www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/ranking-all-nine-of-harry-kanes-boxing-day-goals-for-tottenham/
Steve Bardens / Getty Images
www.marca.com/en/football/uefa-euro/2021/06/30/60dc5728ca4741e0368b4592.html
