People are only just discovering unusual reason why season opener is called Community Shield

The battle for the Community Shield takes place between Manchester City and Manchester United – but why does the traditional season curtain-raiser have that name?

The match takes place between the winner of the previous season’s Premier League and FA Cup, meaning league winners City are taking on cup winners United in the Manchester derby.

If the same team has won both trophies – as was the case with City in the 2022/23 season – then the second spot in the match is awarded to the team that finished second in the Premier League.

Last season, Arsenal took that spot and beat City to win their first Community Shield since 2020.

The competition itself was founded back in 1898 as ‘The Sheriff of London Charity Shield’, which saw the top professional and amateur sides facing off.

It evolved into the Football Association Charity Shield after a dispute between the amateur clubs and the FA, and would keep the same name until 2002.

Throughout that time, the competition would go through several formats, but it has largely been the winners of the Football League First Division and, later, the Premier League, against the FA Cup winners.

As you may have guessed, the concept behind the match was to raise money for various charities, with those charities often nominated by the participating clubs.

The proceeds were then awarded to the 124 clubs that participate in the FA Cup from the first round, to then pass on to charities and initiatives.

Such a concept is still in place – but the FA were forced to change the name of the Charity Shield in 2002.

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The reason officially given for this was an attempt to ‘reflect the contribution made by the 250,000 volunteers who support the amateur game in England’.

The FA also signed a £30 million deal with McDonald’s, with the fast food chain becoming the match’s first title sponsor.

But it emerged that the actual reason behind the name change was that the FA had failed to meet standards outlined in UK charity law as they did not inform ticket holders exactly how charities would benefit.

To this day, though, the match still plays an important role in supporting communities and initiatives – and City and United will do battle to lift the shield at Wembley this weekend.