El Palomo

Bologna were the Italian champions of  1928-29. Just a fortnight after the decisive play off match both Bologna and runners up Torino were in South America on tour. One of the highlights of the tour was the clash between Bologna and Argentina on 15.08.29 which Argentina won 3-1 and in which  Bartolucci of Huracán figured prominently at right half.

The photographs above show Bartolucci executing the move that earned him the nickname Palomo (The Dove)- for it was he who introduced la palomita- the diving header.

Bartolucci was also instrumental in setting up Asociación Mutual de Jugadores, which led to the professionalization of Argentinian football in 1931.

Argentina and Bologna, 15.08.29

The toss of a coin...

In the long history of the FA Cup only one tie has ever been decided in a hotel.
The hotel, pictured above, was The Raven in Shrewsbury. The match was a first round tie between Shropshire Wanderers and Sheffield FC in the 1873-74 season.
Having drawn 0-0 at Bramall Lane the sides replayed at Shrewsbury Race Course on 17th November 1873.
The replay also ended 0-0 (with Sheffield reduced to 9 men by injuries). It was then agreed to settle the match on the toss of a coin.

Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 19.11.73

Interesting to note that the idea of deciding the match on a coin toss came up at the after match supper, rather than right away at the end of the game. Victorian match reports frequently included coverage of the hospitality arrangements, but on this occasion they were central to the outcome!
Some noteworthy individuals took part in this match- J.C. Clegg played in the first England XI and later served as both chairman and president of the Football Association. On the Shropshire Wanderers' side were Llewelyn Kenrick - founder of the Football Association of Wales and Wales' first captain and John Hawley Edwards, who represented both England and Wales in international football.

Captains of Wales in the 19th Century

From 1876 to 1900 Wales played 66 internationals.
They won just 12 of these matches (18%), drawing 9 and losing 45 (68 %)
During this time Wales were led by 18 different captains.

Kenrick

1. Llewelyn Kenrick (Druids/Shropshire Wanderers)
The man who started it all. Kenrick, a solicitor, was the driving force in the foundation of the Welsh Football Association. He organised the team selection for the first international (v Scotland at Hamilton Crescent (25.03.76) and captained Wales in 4 matches (1876-79), all of which were lost.

P	W	D	L	%
4	0	0	4	0

2. George G Higham (Oswestry)
Higham played 2 internationals . His only game as captain was a 9-0 defeat away to Scotland (1878).

3. John Morgan (Cambridge University , Swansea*, Notts County, Derby School)
Swansea born Morgan was a schoolmaster and author of grammar textbooks. In 10 international appearances he led Wales 7 times (1880-82) . He was captain when Wales beat England for the first time (1881)
*no connection with Swansea Town/City, but an earlier club. 

P	W	D	L	%
7	3	0	4	42.85

Powell

4. Jack Powell (Druids, Newton Heath)

Powell, a strapping 1.88m full back, personifies the changes that occurred in the Welsh football scene as professionalism spread. He was first capped in 1878 when playing for Druids (based in the Flintshire village of Ruabon). Later in his career he played for Bolton Wanderers (he had to leave the club due to an issue over his eligibility , as a professional, in an FA Cup match) and was a prominent member of Newton Heath's side in their first season in competitive football.

He captained Wales 6 times (1883- 88).

P	W	D	L	%
6	0	1	5	0

5.William Pierce Owen (Ruthin Town).

Owen had a brother and 2 cousins who also represented Wales. He played 12 internationals and scored 6 goals. He was a solicitor. He led Wales on 2 occasions (1883-84).

P	W	D	L	%
2	1	0	1	50

6. Humphrey Jones (Bangor, East Stirlingshire, Queen's Park)

East Stirlingshire's most capped player! Jones played first class football in Wales (Bangor) , England (Swifts) and Scotland (East Stirlingshire, Queen's Park).
Jones led Wales 13 times (1885-91)

P	W	D	L	%
13	3	1	9	23

7. Harry Edwards (Wrexham Olympic)

Edwards' only captaincy was in a 4-1 defeat at Belfast (1887). 

8. Dr Alfred O Davies  (Swifts, Wrexham)

Dr Davies captained Wales twice in 1888  when he was playing for Swifts (Slough) and once in 1889 when he was with Wrexham. He also played for Crewe Alexandra. 

P	W	D	L	%
3	1	1	1	33

9. Billy Owen (Chirk AAA)

The Chirk inside right was captain on 4 occasions (1889-93).

P	W	D	L	%
4	1	1	2	25

10. Richard E Turner (Wrexham)

The goalkeeper had the misfortune to ship 7 goals in his one match as captain, Ireland winning 7-2 in Belfast (1891).

11. James Trainer (Preston North End)
The Invincibles goalkeeper had begun his career with Wrexham and then moved to Lancashire, where he played for Great Lever and Bolton Wanderers before joining Preston North End in 1887. He won 20 caps over a 12 year period (1887-99). Trainer was captain on 11 occasions.

P	W	D	L	%
11	1	3	7	9

Lea

12. Arthur Lea (Wrexham) Arthur Lea only had one arm. He was a versatile half back/inside forward.  He won 4 caps and captained Wales once, a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Ireland in 1893.

13. Oliver David Shepston Taylor (Newtown)
Newtown full back Taylor led Wales in a 5-2 defeat at Kilmarnock in 1894.

14. Charlie Parry (Everton, Newtown)
Parry played for Everton and Ardwick before returning to Wales to play for Newtown and  Aberystwyth Town. Consequently he captained Wales on one occasion whilst playing his club football in the Shropshire League.

P	W	D	L	%
4	1	1	2	25

Jenkyns

15. Caesar Jenkyns (Walsall) Jenkins was captain for England's visit to the Racecourse in 1898 which ended Wales 0 England 3.


16. Jack Jones (Tottenham Hotspur) 21 caps for this half-back who had grown up in Liverpool and played for Bootle, Grimsby Town and Sheffield United before joining Tottenham. He was the first Tottenham player to win international honours.

P	W	D	L	%
3			3	0

17. Smart Arridge (New Brighton Tower)

Arridge was captain for a a 4-0 defeat to England in 1899.

18. Di Jones (Manchester City)
Jones was a Chirk boy who played for Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City 
He made 14 international appearances. Tragically he died of tetanus as the result of an infected injury in 1902. 

P	W	D	L	%
2	1	1		50

British Football Club

British Club, 1902-03

Early football in Mexico was essentially a British affair. The teams that contested the first league competition in 1902-03 were almost exclusively English and Scottish in composition.
One of the clubs in particular left no doubts about the members' origins, British Football Club Ciudad de México.
The club itself (Club Británico) had been founded in 1899, but the football section came into being in 1902. 
The club represented an ideal of good manners and gentlemanly conduct, and wore eye catching chocolate brown jerseys. 
The Primera Fuerza was first contested in 1902-03, and British Club finished 3rd (out of 5).  They won their only league title in 1907-08.
 In 1910–11 they won the Copa Tower, a precursor of the Copa México (named after the donor of the cup, the British Ambassador Reginald Tower).
British Club went into decline, struggling to make a full team for matches in the 1911-12 season. The club folded and a  number of British Club players went on to form The Rovers via a merger with the short lived Popo Park FC.

Then vs Now

Patsy Gallacher in action. It looks like the defender is launching into the sort of challenge that would have modern referees reaching for the red card.

Making comparisons between  players from different eras is futile and fun.
How would the galácticos of the 21st century have fared in the pre war game?
The pace of the game was slower, players smoked and traveled on public transport. They ate steak and chips for Saturday lunch and prepared for Cup Finals by taking a stroll on the beach. 
However, if we were to transport the stars of the modern game back in time , they would find 
that certain aspects of the game  would have act as levelers.

Arsenal were considered progressive...

Diet and preparation.
The players of the early professional age lacked the benefits of  scientific physical conditioning. Many of them would have started off from a disadvantaged baseline, as working class people at the time bore the lifelong effects of childhood deprivation, poor nutrition and disadvantageous living conditions.
In the era when professionalism and northern working class football were emerging the physical differences between the northerners and the privileged public schoolboys was often commented on (a good example been the Darwen vs Old Etonians games of 1879).

Charlton Athletic vs Preston North End, 1937 

Playing surfaces.
Up until the 1990s even top level matches were often played on terribly degraded pitches.

Germans

Footballs.
A weatherproof outer skin for the ball was not developed until the 1950s. Balls would soak up moisture, increasing their weight as the game wore on.  The boots worn reflect the unforgiving nature of the balls- reinforced toecaps were an advantage.  Stroking a 40 yard accurate pass with one of those old time leather casers would have been a physical impossibility. Heading also carried it's own risks. In the short term the player risked injury from the laces, in the long term the impact killed off brain cells.

Physical contact.
Dismissals were a relative rarity. Physical contact was very much a part of the game. Tackles from behind were permitted, as were shoulder charges. 50- 50 balls were contested with studs up. The more skillful players always faced a degree of physical intimidation in order to discourage 'too much of the fancy stuff'.

Smiths

Tom Smith was an inside right who joined Manchester United from Leicester City in January 1924. He played 90 first team games for United before leaving for Northampton Town in 1927.

Winger (W.H) Billy Smith began his senior career with Huddersfield Town in 1913. He played 575 games for the Terriers , winning 3 League Championships and an FA Cup. He joined Rochdale in 1934. Smith won 3 England caps (1922-28).

(J.R) Jack Smith, a centre forward, joined Bolton Wanderers from Glasgow Rangers in 1921. In 174 games for Wanderers he scored 187 goals. Moving to Bury in 1928 he continued to score regularly (169 games, 112 goals). He won the  FA Cup with Bolton in 1923 and 1926, having won the Scottish Cup with Kilmarnock in 1920.

Inside left Joe Smith scored 277 goals for Bolton Wanderers, for whom he played 492 games (1908-27). He then enjoyed 3 seasons with Stockport County, scoring 63 goals in 73 games. He won 5 England caps (1913–1920) and managed Blackpool from 1935–1958.

(A.W) Bertie Smith made 12 appearances for Huddersfield Town (1922-26). He played at centre half.

The club named after a balloon?

In December 1909 the Argentine aviator Jorge Newbery made an historic balloon flight (550 km in 13 hours) covering Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The balloon was called El Huracán.
The Nueva Pompeya suburb of Buenos Aires had been home to a football team since 1903 when  Los Chiquitos de Pompeya was founded by local schoolboys. In 1905 this outfit evolved into Defensores de Ventana. In 1907 the decision was made to step up into a more organized level of football. A change of  name was again proposed - the poetic   Verde esperanza y nunca pierde being chosen. Legend has it that when the club members went to have an official rubber stamp made the name was changed to Huracán because it was cheaper to have printed and that Huracán was chosen because it appeared on a poster in the window of the shop.
Further reorganization came in November 1908- a merger with Pompeya con Parque Patricios. This is recognized as the official foundation of Club Atlético Huracán.
Notice though that these events pre date the voyage of Newbery. The balloon Huracán arrived in Argentina in 1909- Newbery first piloted it in June of that year. The chance selection of the name Huracán at the printers and the name of the famous balloon was a coincidence.

The association between the club and the aviator developed after the famous flight. The club approached Newbery for permission to use the balloon image as a crest. Newbery approved and was made an honorary President of the club. Newbery also helped the club to acquire a better playing venue and to become affiliated to the Argentine Football Association.
Consequently in 1912 they participated in the 3rd tier of Argentinian championship football (meaning they could only field players aged under 18 for league matches), and they won promotion for 2 successive seasons.  

Club Atlético Huracán, 1913- notice the balloon on the badge is very large.

First appearing in the Primera División in 1914, Huracán were champions in 1921, 1922, 1925 and 1928.

1928

Alex Raisbeck

Between 1896 and 1898 Alex Raisbeck made 30 appearance for Hibernian, scoring 4 goals. In March 1898 he moved to Stoke on loan, making his debut against The Wednesday. Stoke were struggling near the foot of Division 1 and required a 'Test Match' win to keep them up.
In the close season, having made 8 appearances for Stoke (1 goal) Raisbeck was signed by Liverpool.
His debut for the Reds was also against The Wednesday.
Over the next 11 seasons he was a regular at centre half for the Anfield club, notching up 340 first team appearances and scoring 21 goals.
He was capped 8 times by Scotland (1900-08).
In 1909 he returned to Scotland and joined Partick Thistle, for whom he made over 130 appearances .

His great forte as a half back is a dashing, breezy versatility. He is like an intelligent automaton, fully wound up and warranted to last through the longest game on record. To watch him at play is to see a man pulsating to his finger-tips wth the joy of life. Swift, rapid movement, fierce electric rushes are to him an everlasting delight. One would think that he had discovered the secret of perpetual motion. He keeps on and on and never flags.
Association Football & The Men Who Made It by Alfred Gibson and William Pickford.

Footballers, although they earned tidy money, were bound by a draconian maximum wage rule . Clubs found ways to bypass these rules and Liverpool employed Raisbeck in a novel capacity to boost his earnings. He walked around Anfield and the neighbouring districts ensuring that the bill posters employed by the club were doing their job. 

“Wanderers” Football Club Season 1865-1866

Forest FC of Leytonstone, formed in 1859 and adherents of the Harrow Rules, relocated to London in 1864 and adopted the name Wanderers (although their 'home' ground was Battersea Park).
Copied this from The Code War: English Football Under the Historical Spotlight  by Graham Williams. Not sure of the original source...

“WANDERERS” FOOTBALL CLUB

SEASON 1865-1866

LIST OF MEMBERS.

                      Alcock, J.F                Green, F           Pember, A

                      Alcock, C.W              Green, J.F         Phipps, H.G

                      Allfrey, W.M              Gaillemaid, A.G   Prior, J.T

                      Baker, A                   Hall, C.H            Reid, C.F

                      Baker, W.F                Harper, Syd.       Richardson, H

                      Bowen, E.E                Head, H            Sparks, T.H

                      Butler, C.F                 Howlett, W.O       Smyly, W.C

                      Burnett, E.W              Jackson, C.D       Tayloe, J.E

                      Crompton, A               Lucas, F            Tebbut, A.M

                      Cruikshank, J.A           Lucas, J             Tebbut, C.M

                      Cutbill, W.J.C              Ludlam, J.W       Thompson, A

                      Elliot, J                      MacKenzie, A.W  Thompson, W

                      Gillespie, E.W             Martin, J.B          Thornton, P.M

                      Green, A                    Morley, J.L          Tupper,C.H

                                                            Weber, C.L

LIST OF MATCHES

ALREADY ARRANGED

1865

Saturday, 28^th October, Civil Service, at Battersea Park

Wednesday, 8^th November, Charterhouse School, at Charterhouse

Saturday , 11^th      ”      Crystal Palace Club, at Penge

  ”       18^th      ”      Westminster School, at Westminster

  ”       25^th      ”      Forest School, at Walthamstow

  ”     2^nd   December,  “N.N.s” at Kilburn

  ”     9^th        ”       Harrow School, at Harrow

  ”    16^th       ”       Reigate Club, at Reigate

1866

Saturday, 6^th January, Crystal Palace Club, at Penge

    ”    13^th   ”    Civil Service, at Battersea Park

    ”     20^th   ”     “N.N.s” at Kilburn

    ”    24^th February, Civil Service, at Battersea Park

All Communications respecting Matches &c, to be addressed to C.W ALCOCK, 155, Fenchurch Street

Uniform Flannel can be obtained of Gann, Jones & Co, 171, Fenchurch Street

Brazil 1914

Rolando looks on as Fried leaves the field

The first time that a 'national' selection (drawn from both Rio and São Paulo) had represented Brazil was for a friendly against the touring Exeter City in 1914.

Brazil won 2-0 with goals from Oswaldo Gomes and Osman.

Arthur Friedenreich reportedly lost 2 teeth during the game. He played on.

Brazil		Exeter City
Marcos (América)	G		Reg Loram
Píndaro (Flamengo)	FB		Jack Fort
Nery (Flamengo)	FB		Sam Strettle
Lagreca (AA São Bento)	HB		Jimmy Rigby
Rubens Salles (Paulistano)	HB		Jimmy Lagan
Rolando (Botafogo)	HB		Augustus Harding
Abelardo (Botafogo)	F		Harry Holt
Oswaldo Gomes (Fluminense)	F		Fred Whittaker
Friedenreich (Ypiranga)	F		Billy Hunter
Osman (América)	F		Billy Lovett
Formiga (Ypiranga)	F		Fred Goodwin