Archive Page 3
This Sunday I shall be having a stall at the Shrewsbury Town Programme Fair which will take place at the club’s Prostar Stadium, Otley Road, Shrewsbury from 11 until 2. As usual I will have a small selection of books and programmes, plus copies of all issues of Soccer History Magazine.
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Tags: Programme Fairs, Shrewsbury Town
24 October 1908
The final of the Olympic Games tournament took place at London’s White City Stadium with a crowd of around 8,000 present. The United Kingdom (represented by England) took on Denmark, but despite taking an early lead through Chapman they struggled to impose themselves on the game and it was only when Vivian Woodward added a second in the closing stages that the match was safe, the home team securing the gold medals with a 2-0 victory.
The national press in general attributed the close nature of the victory to a poor performance by the host team rather than consider the unthinkable – that European football standards were close to matching those of the England Amateur team. The Observer newspaper also used their post tournament analysis to take a swipe at the French: “In the Olympic Games only the Frenchmen have had cause for disappointment. Their unrepresentative Association teams failed completely, and at the last moment they have had to withdraw from the Rugby competition, because fifteen of their chosen players could not make the journey. Sweden, Holland and Denmark in turn made hard fights with the English eleven, and only the first named suffered a heavy defeat from the chosen among Football Association amateurs. Without for a moment underrating the Dutchmen and the Danes, who put up great fights, it must be said that the England eleven failed to uphold the traditions of our amateurs. Picked largely on last season’s form the Englishmen, with one or two exceptions regularly participating in professional League football, should have played well. They included five real Internationals, and had enjoyed practice together in previous amateur contests. Yet even on Saturday in their third game of the week they could not get together, and barely held their own against the fast Danish eleven, who played throughout with splendid pluck and dash. The English forwards were particularly disappointing; weak in combination – of which little was seen – they could not dribble, and the absence of any cleverness in overcoming the opposing defence suggests that one of the chief charms of the Games is lost to professional football. The Danes deserve the highest praise for their splendid struggle that might have been still more even had any luck attended them.”
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Denmark, Olympic Games, United Kingdom
23 October 1908
On this day 100 years ago the bronze medal match for the Olympic Games tournament took place at White City Stadium. As both French teams had returned home Holland faced Sweden, who had been eliminated in the opening round. By all accounts the match was something of a disappointment, although Holland, despite playing their second match in two days, ran out 2-0 winners.
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Olympic Games
22 October 1908
The two semi-finals for the Olympic Games tournament took place on this day 100 years ago at the White City Stadium, London. The match between Denmark and France A, which kicked off at 1.00, was another one-sided affair with the Danes running up a 17-1 victory. The Daily Mail reporter was very critical of the French team: “From the kick-off to the call of time the Frenchmen were utterly and hopelessly outclassed and outplayed. Within five minutes of the start they were three goals down, the halves and backs apparently having no idea of how to cope with their opponents’ attacks. All they did was to get in each other’s way.”
The second match saw the United Kingdom defeat Holland 4-0 although the match was goalless until shortly before half time when a back heel by Stapley of Glossop found its way into the net. The same player added three more goals in the second period to set up a final tie between the United Kingdom and Denmark, by a considerable distance the best two teams in the tournament.
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Olympic Games
20 October 1908
The remaining First Round tie of the Olympic Games football tournament was played off on this day 100 years ago between the United Kingdom (represented by the England Amateur team) and Sweden. The match at White City Stadium was perhaps not quite as one-sided as the previous day’s fixture, but nevertheless resulted in a 12-1 win for the United Kingdom. The Sweden goalkeeper, Oscar Bengtsson, was the star of his team, the Daily Mail correspondent noting, “The winners’ total might very well have been twenty-five or thirty to one but for some really wonderful goalkeeping by O. Bengtsson.” Sweden actually hit the post early on when the match was scoreless, but trailed 7-0 at half time. Scorers for the United Kingdom were Purnell (4), Stapley (2), Woodward (2), Hawkes (2), Berry and Chapman. The visitors’ goal was scored by G Bergstroem.
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Olympic Games, Sweden, United Kingdom
The next programme fair I shall be attending is at Kettering Town’s Rockingham Road home next Sunday, 26 October, starting at 11.30. I shall be selling my usual range of materials (programmes, books, magazines) including the latest issue of Soccer History Magazine.
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Tags: Kettering Town, Programme Fairs
19 October 1908
The first game of the Olympic Games football tournament took place at White City Stadium, London on this day 100 years ago in front of an attendance of around 2,000. There had originally been eight entries but Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew before the competition started. The Official Olympic Report states this was due to ‘political trouble in the Balkans’ although the English newspapers attributed their absence to a lack of finance; France B replaced Bohemia in the fixtures.
The opening game was a rather one-sided affair, Denmark defeating France B by a 9-0 margin. The Danes impressed the Daily Mail correspondent who wrote, “They are clever alike with foot and head, they are fast, and they have been taught the game very thoroughly. The man who impressed me most was their outside right, who is possessed of great pace and centres excellently. The half-back line, too, is very strong in attack, though its powers of defence were not very severely tested.”
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Denmark, France, Olympic Games, White City Stadium
17 October 2008
On this day 100 years ago Birmingham were leading the Second Division, despite having just suffered their first defeat of the season at Oldham. The Latics, only in their second-ever season in the Football League, attracted almost 20,000 to Boundary Park, a figure in excess of most First Division matches.
Second Division results were as follows: Barnsley 1, Glossop 3 (4,000); Bradford Park Avenue 0, Grimsby Town 2 (7,000); Burnley 1, Fulham 3 (10,000); Clapton Orient 1, West Bromwich Albion 0 (10,000); Derby County 1, Bolton Wanderers 0 (7,000); Hull City 2, Blackpool 0 (7,000); Leeds City 2, Stockport County 1 (8,000); Oldham Athletic 2, Birmingham 0 (20,000); Tottenham Hotspur 4, Chesterfield Town 0 (20,000); Wolverhampton Wanderers 4, Gainsborough Trinity 0 (7,000).
The top four in the table were: Birmingham (P9, Pts 14); Derby County (P9, Pts 12); Glossop (P8 Pts 11); West Bromwich Albion (P9 Pts 11).
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Birmingham, Oldham Athletic
Soccer History will again have a stall at the Lincoln City Programme Fair. This takes place on Sunday 19 October at the Centre Spot Club, Sincil Bank and starts at 11 am. Two other fairs I shall be attending in the near future are at Shrewsbury Town (2 November, 11 til 2) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (23 November, 11 til 2).
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Tags: Lincoln City, Programme Fairs, Shrewsbury Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers
10 October 1908
Football in the Potteries and south Cheshire was suffering from a downturn this season 100 years ago. With no Football League clubs, the highest grade football played in the region was in the Birmingham League. Results in this competition from 10 October 1908 included: Crewe Alexandra 5, Brierley Hill 0; Stoke 7, Wellington Town 2; Walsall 1, Kidderminster Harriers 1; Wrexham 2, Shrewsbury Town 1. Elsewhere on the same day Macclesfield lost 5-2 away to New Mills in the Manchester League, while Port Vale were struggling just one place from the bottom of the North Staffs & District League having played 5 games with 1 draw and 4 defeats. Cup fixtures have a habit of providing relief from such problems and so it was with Vale, who defeated Longton Free Wanderers 7-0 in a Hanley Cup match.
To end today’s entry, here is a comment from the Staffordshire Sentinel from 10 October 1908 denouncing the use of the big boot: “The chief fault of present-day half-back work is high kicking, for some of them make their game a tall-kicking competition to such an extent [t]hat their own forwards will say ‘that won it, that the highest.’ It is meant sarcastic and there is good reason for it; for no line of forwards can be consistently effective if the half-backs are playing skywards. When the half-back kicks the ball high he gives his opponents an equal chance for possession of the ball, whereas when he plays the ball along the ground to one of his own side the opposition have to be very spry to get near it. High kicking is good to look at, but bad from a football point of view, although on occasion a player is justified in kicking the ball as high as he can , but, speaking generally, big kicking is not so effective as it looks. The judicious kick, with the ball going exactly where the kicker intended, means greater benefit to a team than the ponderous kick that sends the ball almost into the middle of the next field.”
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Tags: 100 Years Ago, 1908, Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale, Stoke City
