Swansea Town 1920-21

I'm writing a book about Northern Union, so I'm going to be taking a break from posting on this blog. I intend to return to this in the spring of 2018.
Thank you for your ongoing support.

United avoid the drop

United keeper Jack Hacking catches a cross

Modern day audiences might find it hard to believe that once upon a time Manchester United had to beat Millwall in the last game of the season in order to stay in Division 2.
As the end of the 1934-35 season approached with 41 out of 42 rounds of matches completed Lincoln City were already down with 25 points.
Notts County, in 18th, were safe on 35 points.
In between were Swansea Town (33), Millwall (33) and Manchester United (32).
United had conceded 85 goals, 10 more than any other team in the Division, and had lost 22 of 41 matches played.  Their average home attendance was just 18,500. Manchester City were drawing crowds of 30,000 plus. And so to 05.05.1934. Swansea Town would have been relieved that their crucial match was at home, they hadn't won an away game all season. They duly defeated Plymouth Argyle 2-1 at the Vetch Field with goals from Jack Firth and Wilf Milne.
Meanwhile at the Den Jackie Cape and Tom Manley gave United a 2-0 win in front of a crowd of 35,000. The Sheffield Independent described the result as one of the most remarkable successes of the day.
Manley (left) opened the scoring in the 9th minute and Cape (below) added the second in the 48th. Some controversy surrounded Cape's goal as there were suspicions of offside.

Joe Sykes

            Joe Sykes made his debut for his hometown club The Wednesday at the tail end of the 1919-20 season. He played at any one of the 3 half back positions.
His first team opportunities were limited (31 appearances and 1 goal) and in the summer of 1924 he joined Swansea Town.
Sykes went on to make 336 appearances for the Swans (Famous Footer Club!), scoring 8 goals. He retired in 1935, having played 6 games at inside left in his final season.

Swansea Town v Arsenal 1926

Joe Sykes and mascot 06.03.26.
http://gottfriedfuchs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/swansea-town-v-arsenal-1926.html

historicalkits.co.uk

Swansea Town 1912

Very pleased to get a mention on the  fantastic http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/.

H. Atkinson's Sports Depot

I still have my grandfather's Acme referee's whistle. It's hanging on its 80 odd year old string from the shelf next to where I write this blog. He was born in Swansea in 1903 and was a lifelong Swansea Town fan. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was a customer at Atkinson's. The advertisement is taken from an old Swansea Town programme.

A humiliation that staggered the football world: Swansea Town v Blackburn Rovers- 1915

On Saturday Swansea City travel to Blackburn Rovers in the 4th round of The FA Cup.
When the 2 met in January 1915 for a first round FA Cup tie, the outcome was one of the biggest upsets in the history of British football. 
Blackburn Rovers were a big, big club. Established 40 years previously they were founding members of The Football League. The previous season Rovers had won the Championship (their 2nd title).  They had won the FA Cup 5 times. At the time of this match (09.01.15) they were 5th in Division 1.
Their line up featured 4 England internationals ( Crompton, Bradshaw, Latheron and Hodkinson) and 1 Scottish international ( Aitkenhead).
Crompton had played for England a remarkable 41 times ( a record which stood for 38 years), captaining on 21 occasions. 
Rovers offered Swansea a large sum to switch the match to Ewood Park but the offer was declined and 16,000 people were at the Vetch to see the League champions. 
Swansea Town were in the second division of the Southern League. They had only come into existence in 1912. Their line up that day was light on stars. Club captain Thomas Hewitt had played for Wales 8 times (1911-14). Captain for cup matches that season was Joe Bulcock The man who became a hero that day was a 16 year old Rugby player. Benny Benyon was only playing 'soccer' because Rugby was suspended during the war. 
Blackburn attacked relentlessly from the outset, but in the 20th minute Swansea broke out of defence in a move, started and finished by Beynon, that covered the length of the pitch and gave the Swans an unlikely lead. 
At half time Swansea were reduced to 10 men when Lock was injured. 
Rovers bombarded the Swans goal in the 2nd half. They were awarded a penalty but remarkably Billy Bradshaw, who had scored with 36 consecutive spot kicks, shot wide. Harry Read went off injured and Swansea had to hold out for the last quarter of an hour with just 9 men. 
It was, according to  contemporary newspaper reports: A humiliation that staggered the football world.
As the photograph shows, Swansea Town were unique in having a strip in which jersey and knickers were of the same colour.
Benny Beynon returned to Rugby after the war and played for Wales, but in a ruling that highlights the stupidity of the way in which that game was administered, he was banned for professionalism on account of his Association football exploits. He went to Oldham as a Northern Union player.
Joe Bulcock (Town) and Eddie Latheron (Rovers) were both killed in the war.

Swansea Town		Blackburn Rovers
Hurst	GK	Alf Robinson
Tom Hewitt	RB	Bob Crompton
Joe Bulcock	LB	Tommy Suttie
John Duffy	RH	Bert Walmsley
Lock	CH	Percy Smith
Anderson	LH	Billy Bradshaw
Harry Read	OR	Alex McGhie
Brown	IR	Wattie Aitkenhead
Benny Beynon	CF	Johnny Orr
Gilboy	IL	Eddie Latherton
Amos Lloyd	OL	Joe Hodkinson

Swansea Town's First Trophy...

Swansea Town claimed their first trophy during their very first season. The Southern League second division side won the Welsh Cup at the first attempt, overcoming the other major Welsh clubs in the process. 

In the preliminary round Swansea beat Milford Town 3-1. In the first round they overcame Mond Nickel Works by 5-0. This set up a derby with Llanelly Town at the Vetch which Swansea won 2-1. Swansea visited the Racecourse in round 3, and beat Wrexham, then of the Birmingham and District League, 3-1. 

In the 4th round Swansea were drawn away to Merthyr Town of the Southern League first division. Swansea emerged as 3-0 winners and returned to Penydarren Park for the semi final, beating Cardiff City 4-2. 

The final was held at Ninian Park on 19th April 1913. Pontypridd (also of the Southern League second division) were the opponents. A crowd of  9,000 watched a 0-0 draw. The replay was held at Mid Rhondda FC (Tonypandy) on 24th April. Swansea's winner is credited to Greirson in these press cuttings, whereas the Welsh Football Data Archive has Anderson as the scorer. 

The Swansea Town line up was :
Fisher, W J Nicholas, A Sutherland, C Duffy, J Hamilton, Jepp, Manser, Anderson, Weir, Grierson, Swarbrick

Swansea Town v Arsenal 1926

On the 6th March 1926 Swansea Town hosted Arsenal in the sixth round proper (Quarter finals) of the FA Cup.

Click on the picture to view a newsreel of the game.

At the time Town were enjoying their most successful season to date, having joined the league in 1920 and been promoted from the Third Division South as champions the previous season. They were 4th in Div 2 (they finished 5th).
Arsenal were 3rd in Division 1, they would finish 2nd behind Huddersfield Town and were, at this stage, favourites to win the FA Cup.
Swansea entered at the FA Cup at the first round proper and progressed with wins over Exeter City (away), Watford (home), Blackpool (away), Stoke (home) and Millwall (away).
Arsenal had begun in the third round proper, Beating Wolverhampton Wanderers at home in a replay after a draw at Molineux. In the fourth round they beat Blackburn Rovers (home) and then drew with Aston Villa away before winning the replay at home.

Len Thompson puts The Swans in front in the 44th minute at the Town End of the ground.

A gate of 25,198 crowded into The Vetch Field to witness Swansea pulling off a major suprise by beating the visitors 2-1.
Len Thompson put Swansea ahead in the 44th minute.
Having gone two up through favourite Jack Fowler Swansea resisted a lot of late pressure, with Denoon making a good save from Paterson and Buchan also having a good chance for the Gunners. Mackie scored from his own half late on but Swansea held out. 

The line ups were: 

Swansea Town:

Goal:       Jock Denoon
Jock Denoon joined the Swans in 1919. he had been a police officer before becoming a professional. He began his career with his hometown club, Inverness Thistle, and had spells at Chelsea and Norwich (not making the first team at either). He remained at The Vetch until 1927, making a total of 204 first team appearances.

Fullbacks: Sam Langford
Swansea bought the Tipton born right back off Merthyr Town in 1923 for half of the £1500 asking price, capitalizing on Merthyr's financial hardship.  He spent 4 years at Swansea and later played for Charlton Athletic and Walsall, where injury prevented him in playing in another famous FA Cup defeat of Arsenal!

                  Wilf Milne
Wilfie Milne was playing for Walker Celtic (Newcastle) when Swansea beat Manchester United and West Ham United to sign him for the price of a fish and chip dinner and a cup of tea (2 shillings and ninepence) in 1920.  He spent 17 seasons at The Vetch, making a total of 586 league appearances, still a club record. He scored his first goal in his 501st match!

Halfbacks:Jimmy Collins 
Dundee born Collins signed for the Swans whilst he was in the army and spent ten years at the club. He later coached in South Africa.
                 Joe Sykes
Signed from The Wednesday in the summer of 1924, Sykes made 312 league appearances over 11 seasons.
                 Lacky McPherson
Glaswegian McPherson played for Cambuslang before joining Notts County. He joined Swansea in 1924 and was sold to Everon for £6000 in 1930, having made 199 league appearances. 

Forwards: Billy Hole  
Swansea born Billy Hole was with Swansea Town in their Southern League days, signing in 1919. In 11 seasons at The Vetch he made 341 league appearances. Hole represented Wales 9 times.  He had 3 sons who also played for the club.
                 Harry Deacon 
Joined Swansea Town in 1922 after spells with The Wednesday and Birmingham. Made 319 league appearances in his 9 seasons at Swansea.
                 Jack Fowler 
Cardiff born Fowler was Swansea's record signing when he joined from Plymouth Argyle for £1,280 in 1923. In 7 seasons at Swansea he made 167 league appearances and scored 102 goals. He won 6 Welsh international caps. 
                 Len Thompson 
Yorkshireman Thompson joined Swansea from Birmingham in June 1922 for a fee of £100. He spent 6 seasons with the club and was then sold to Arsenal for £4000, but was displaced from their first XI by Alex James.
                 Dai Nicholas
Aberdare born Dai Nicholas was in his second spell with Town. He first joined from the Royal Navy as an amateur in 1919 and went on to Merthyr, Stoke and Aberdare Athletic before returning to the Vetch in 1924. Capped 3 times for Wales he made 151 league appearances in his 6 year second stint at Swansea.

Manager: Joe Bradshaw

Arsenal:

Goal:         Bill Harper

Fullbacks:  Alec Mackie

                 Bob John

Halfbacks: Alf Baker

                 Jack Butler

                 Billy Blyth

Forwards: Bert Lawson

                Charlie Buchan

                Jimmy Brain

                Jimmy Ramsay

                Jimmy Paterson

Manager: Herbert Chapman

The Swans were rewarded with a semi final against Bolton Wanderers that they lost 3-0 at White Hart Lane.

See: Swansea Town/City FC: The First Comprehensive Player A-Y by Colin Jones

Swansea Town

My maternal grandfather was born in Swansea in 1903. He was a life long lover of football in general and of Swansea Town in particular. The street in which he grew up was less than a mile from the cindered patch of land that the club transformed from allotments into the Vetch Field, and I'd like to think that in the early days of the Town he was there, on the big open North Bank, watching those early games in the Southern League division 2.

Swansea Town Make Promising Debut at Vetch Field.

Bravo Swansea Town! 

The Swansea Town Soccer Club, about whose doings and expectations there has been so much discussion during the past couple of months, have at last made their bow before the Swansea spectators, and the ten thousand people at the Vetch Field, who came from all parts of South Wales, were delighted with their play. To have run a team like Cardiff, who have had a couple of season’s experience, to a draw in the first home match, was a performance of which every member of the Swansea Town team can, with satisfaction, be proud. One thing was proved beyond a doubt, and that was that the directors have a really capable lot of players at their disposal, and though the forwards were at fault with their shooting, their defence was exceptionally safe. The Swansea Town players were certainly the more aggressive lot, and more than once it was luck on the Cardiff side rather than skill which kept the Swansea men from scoring the winning goal. The duel for points in the closing stages was productive of some thrilling football, and both sides played for all they were worth. The Town team rose to the occasion in splendid style, and not only prevented Cardiff from getting on top, but they had a moral victory, and there was scarcely a spectator on the field who did not give Swansea credit for being the better side. Swansea’s luck was out. In a couple of weeks, when the players become better acquainted, they will hold their own with the best in the Second Division of the Southern League.
South Wales Daily News  9.9.12

  Swansea Town finished a respectable 3rd in their first season, in which ten out of the thirteen teams were from South Wales.

The Numbers Game

Dixie Dean collects the cup in his number 9 shirt.

Ted Sagar- Number 1.

The things we take for granted...

Never mind names and distinctive squad numbers, up until the 1939-45 War, players didn't even sport numbers on their shirts.
Before 1909 the spectator (and ,I'm surmising, the referee) also had to deal with the fact that the goalkeeper wore the same colours as his team mates!
The fist use of numbered shirts in Association football occurred in Australia as early as 1911 , an idea borrowed from Australian Rules Football saw compulsory shirt numbering in the Sydney Leagues in 1912.
In Britain nothing was done to follow this trend until the late 1920s. The advantages of shirt numbering were obvious- Herbert Chapman and Sir Fredrick Wall both spoke in favour of it as a means of enhancing a spectators understanding and appreciation of the game.
Two matches were played in 1928 in which shirts were numbered. Chelsea vs Swansea Town at Stamford Bridge, and Sheffield Wednesday vs Arsenal at Hillsborough.
In the Chelsea Swansea game only the outfield players were numbered (2-11).

The 35,000 spectators were able to give credit for each bit of good work to the correct individual, because the team were numbered, and the large figures in black on white squares enabled each man to be identified without trouble
The Daily Express 27th August 1928

Numbered Jerseys A Success

I fancy the scheme has come to stay. All that was required was a lead and London has supplied it.
The Daily Mirror 27th August 1928

But the lead was not followed, although Chelsea did wear their numbered jerseys on a tour of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil in the summer of 1929, earning the nickname Los Numerados. 

A few experiments were made with numbered shirts in 1933- in March, England wore numbers in a trial match at Fratton Park.
The most famous development came in April 1933, when shirt numbers were worn for the first time in the FA Cup final.  Everton players wore numbers 1 to  11 and Manchester City numbers 12 to 22. 
 The following week Everton wore their numbered shirts in a Football League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.  
But at its annual general meeting in 1933, the Football League Management Committee rejected a proposal requiring shirt numbers after hearing objections that it would cost too much and spoil club colours. 

On December 4th, 1933 Arsenal wore numbers for a friendly match with F.C Vienna at Highbury. 

The wearing of numbered shirts was still rejected by the Football League Management Committee during the 1934 general meeting.
 England wore numbers  in their 3-1 loss to Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 17 April 1937. 
It was in 1939 that numbering was finally accepted in top level British football.

Welsh Clubs in English Football

Although Wales has the third oldest Football Association in the world and has always enjoyed a separate national identity in the game, there has always been some 'across the border' football activity between Welsh and English clubs.
Several English clubs were in fact members of the Welsh FA, and the cradle of Welsh football, the industrial north east, is very close to the midlands and Lancashire, where professional football developed most rapidly in the 1880's and 90's.
Here we will look at the involvement of Welsh clubs in the two great footballing institutions of England, the Football League and the FA Cup, and the boom which saw the Southern League develop a separate Welsh Division.
In the early years the FA Cup was not limited to English teams. Teams from Scotland, Wales and Ireland entered in the 1880's.
Similarly the Football League, since it's inception in 1888, has never been the 'English' league. Clubs from Scotland and Wales were eligible to apply for membership, although none did so until the expansion of the league in the 1920's.

Druids

The first Welsh club to compete in the FA Cup was Druids.They entered in 1876–77 , but didn't actually play. The following season they were knocked out 8-0 by Royal Engineers . Druids next appeared in the cup in 1882-83 when they were  beaten in the 5th round by Blackburn Olympic having earlier eliminated Bolton Wanderers.
Druids later played in The  Birmingham & District League (founded in 1889), one of the strongest leagues outside the Football League itself.

The 1882-83 and 1883-84 seasons saw FA Cup appearances by two clubs who were members of the Football Association of Wales despite being English - Oswestry Town and Davenham.
1883 also saw Wrexham's first involvement in the FA Cup, under the name Wrexham Olympic. They were also founder members of the Combination in 1890, and later played in the Birmingham and District League (1905)
In 1921 Wrexham were elected to the newly formed Third Division North of the Football League.

Chirk AAA- 1894- Billy Meredith far left middle.

Chirk AAA  played in the1885-86 FA Cup. They were also later to become members of the Combination.

Llangollen Town participated in the  FA Cup in 1887-1888.

Aberdare Athletic

Aberdare (Athletic)- Founded in 1893, they joined the Southern League in 1920-21  and the  Football League Third Division South in 1921–22. They played in the FA Cup for the first time in 1922-23 and as  Aberdare & Aberaman Athletic rejoined the Southern League in1927. 

Cardiff City 

Cardiff (City)- formed in 1899, in 1910 they joined  the Southern League Second Division. When they joined the expanding  Football League in 1920 Cardiff were put straight into Division 2. They played in the First Division from 1921–29 and from 1931 onward.  First entering the  FA cup in 1912-13, Cardiff were  runners up in 1924-25, and winners in 1926-27.

Merthyr Town

Merthyr Town was  founded in 1909 joining the second division of the Southern League. Elected to Division 3 of the Football League in 1920, they made their FA Cup debut in 1920-21.

The 1909-20 period saw many Welsh clubs joining the Southern League
Ton Pentre joined the second division of the Southern League in 1909, and Treharris Athletic Western F.C in 1910.
In 1911-12 they were joined by Cwm Albion, Mardy, and  Pontypridd, with Llanelly (who would repeatedly try, without success to join the Football League) and  Mid Rhondda joining in 1912-13.

Newport County-founded in 1912 they joined the  Southern League that year and made their FA Cup debut in the 1913-14 season. They were elected to the new Football League Division 3 in 1920.

Swansea Town - founded in 1912 they joined the Southern League that year and were elected to the new   Football league Div 3 in 1920. They made their FA Cup debut in 1920-1921, making the semi finals in 1925-1926.

In the 1913-14 season Abertillery, Barry and Caerphilly joined the Southern League, followed by Ebbw Vale.
When the Southern League resumed in 1919-20 the 11 club second tier was exclusively Welsh, with  Porth Athletic and Aberaman Athletic being the new faces. This Welsh section continued until the 
1923–24 season. 

Lovell's Athletic F.C. - a works team from a sweet factory in Newport, joined the  Southern League  in 1928.

By 1937–38 season  Barry and Newport County reserves were the  only remaining Welsh sides in the Southern League.