The BFI has released an archive of old football footage and among treasure trove is rare footage from Champion Hill as Dulwich face Nigeria.

The film is accessible for free on the BFI Player website which has released a massive online collection of films charting the history of British football dating back to the start of the 20th century.

Filmed by the Colonial Film Unit the footage follows the Nigerian team as they embark upon their first ever tour of England in 1949. The tour saw the Nigerian players challenge the very best amateurs in the country including Marine FC and Dulwich Hamlet where the tourists went down to a valiant 1-0 defeat at Champion Hill.

This ground-breaking tour acted as a precursor for other visiting teams from the British colonies, with the Gold Coast visiting in 1951, Trinidad in 1953, Uganda in 1956 and the West Indies football team in 1959.

Featuring more than 120 titles, Football on Film is comprised of newsreels, feature films, instructional films and adverts that provide a historical insight into the evolution of the game.

Sourced from national and regional archives, Football on Film will include almost every team from today’s top two divisions, while also featuring footage from the great amateur clubs, local football and clubs sadly lost as well as some quirkier stuff such as adverts.

It is part of the BFI’s archive initiative, which aims to digitise 10,000 film and TV titles by 2017, and is backed by National Lottery funding and the support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

To view the film, click here