Arsenal play Manchester City in Sunday’s Community Shield, the annual curtain-raiser ahead of the new Premier League season.The tournament has existed for over a century, but in 2002 it changed its title from the Charity Shield to its current name.It had been known since its inception in 1908 as the Charity Shield, a continuation of the original Sheriff of London Charity Shield: an annual one-off match between the best amateur and best professional club in England, which had begun in 1898. The proceeds of the matches would go to charity.A schism between professional and amateur clubs led to the Football Association (FA) barring clubs from the breakaway Amateur Football Association from participating in the games. A successor competition pitted the Football League winner against the winners of the Southern Football League.As English football developed on a national league scale, the game was played between invited clubs at various stadia around England.In 1974, then-FA secretary Ted Croker formalised the format, which lasts to this day, of the champions of England playing the FA Cup winners (or the league runners-up if a team wins the double) of the previous season, generally at Wembley Stadium in London. There have been eight games played away from Wembley since the format changed 52 years ago.This year’s edition will be played at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, due to an existing concert booking at Wembley.Why did the match name change?In 2002, the FA was forced to change the name of the competition by the Charity Commission — the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales.
Why the Charity Shield became the Community Shield after a Charity Commission intervention
The annual curtain-raiser has existed for over a century, but in 2002 it changed its title from the Charity Shield to its current name
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