Woolwich Arsenal 1900s

This poster appeared in The Boy's Own in 1910, along with the disclaiming caption that 'several of these men have now left the 'Arsenal''.
In fact by the 1910-11 season only 3 of the featured XI were still at the club.

Jimmy Ashcroft (Woolwich Arsenal:1900–08)
Ashcroft signed as a professional for the Gunners in June 1900. He played 303 first-class games in eight seasons for Arsenal. In 1901-02 he kept six clean sheets in a row and 20 clean sheets in 1903–04, club records that have not been bettered. Ashcroft won 3 caps for England in 1906, becoming Arsenal's first England international.

Archie Cross (1900-09)
Cross made 149 appearances for Arsenal before returning to Dartford. Initially a right back, in 1907 he switched to left back.

Jimmy Sharp (1905-08)
5 caps for Scotland and 116 games for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals. Moved to Glasgow Rangers for £400.

James Bigden (1904 -08)
Joined Arsenal from West Ham United in June 1904. He represented Woolwich Arsenal 87 times, scoring 1 goal.

Tommy Hynds (1907)
Scotsman Hynds was one of the Manchester City players implicated in an illegal payments scandal in 1904. Banned from football for four months and fined £75, he signed for Woolwich Arsenal while still under suspension. He made his Arsenal debut on 1 January 1907, and spent 5 months at the club.

Roddy McEachrane (1902-13)
A Scot who moved to Londonto work at Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited. He played for Thames Ironworks and became a professional footballer, also playing for
West Ham , the club that succeeded Ironworks. 

William Garbutt (1906-08)
The outside right later enjoyed a great career in management in Italy.

Tim Coleman(1902–08) 
Another peripatetic player who served 8 clubs in a 20 year career. In 196 games for Arsenal he scored 84 goals.Coleman gained 1 cap for England, against Ireland in 1907. He was sold to Everton for £700 in February 1908.

Peter Kyle (1906-08)
 23 goals in 60 appearances for Arsenal. The Scotsman started out with Clyde but after moving to Liverpool in 1899 he played for 9 different English clubs. Kyle joined Arsenal from Tottenham having been suspended for fighting with a teammate.

Charlie Satterthwaite (not Satherthwaite, as in the illustration: 1904–10)
Formely of Liverpool, but joined Arsenal from West Ham United and played 141 matches for Arsenal, scoring 48 goals. He retired from football in 1910.

David Neave (1904-05 & 1905-12)
Another Scot who joined Woolwich Arsenal from Arbroath. Neave was with Leyton briefly in 1905 but returned to Arsenal, for whom he played 168 matches, scoring 32 goals. 

Let's look at the performances of Woolwich Arsenal in the period 1900-13, when these players were at the club.

Season	Div.	Pos.	FA Cup
1900-01	2	7	R2
01-02	2	4	R1
02-03	2	3	R1
03-04	2	2 p	R2
04-05	1	10	R1
05-06	1	12	SF
06-07	1	7	SF
07-08	1	14	R1
08-09	1	6	R2
09-10	1	18	R2
10-11	1	10	R2
11-12	1	10	R1
12-13	1	20 R	R2

Having joined the Football League in 1893 Arsenal were the southernmost member club, their nearest neighbours being Small Heath (Birmingham). They were the only London club in the Football League until Chelsea and Clapton Orient joined in 1905.
There is a popular myth that Arsenal are the only club never to have been relegated out of the top flight of the Football League, as you can see, this is not the case, as they were relegated in 1913.

Hector Scarone

Hector Scarone  had 3 spells with Nacional, during which he scored 301 goals in 369 appearances. His Nacional career was punctuated by stints with Barcelona (1926–1927), Ambrosiana Inter (1931–1932) and  Palermo (1932–1934).
Scarone won 8 Primera División titles with Nacional (1916, 1917, 1919,1920, 1922, 1923, 1924 & 1934).
In an international career spanning the years 1917-32, he made 52 appearances for Uruguay, scoring 31 goals, winning 4 Copa Americas (1917, 1923, 1924 & 1926), 2 Olympic Gold Medals (1924 &1928) and The World Cup (1930). He scored in both Olympic Gold Medal matches.
Scarone also represented Uruguay in 18 unofficial matches, scoring a further 11 goals.
Scarone had a number of nicknames- Rasquetita (little scraper- his older brother Carlos was Rasqueta- scraper)- Mago (the magician) and The Gardel of Football (Carlos Gardel was The King of Tango).

Prvog Ratnog Prvenstva Zagreba- 1918

A poster for 2 matches in a Zagreb championship tournament. The game  played on 19th May 1918 was between  Hrvatski akademski športski klub (HAŠK) and ŠK Zagreb. The following day FC Sparta Elektra would play HŠK Građanski.
Six clubs took part in this league and the final standings were as follows:

1. HAŠK
2. Građanski 
3. AŠK Croatia
4.ŠK Zagreb
5. Sparta Elektra 
6. HŠK Slavija Zagreb

Joe Hulme

After spells with York City and Blackburn Rovers outside right Joe Hulme joined Arsenal in 1926 and spent 12 years at Highbury, making 374 appearances and scoring 125 goals. During this time he won 4 First Division Championship medals and played in 4 FA Cup Finals, being on the winning side twice. Hulme also appeared for England 9 times, scoring 4 international goals.

1914-18

Botafogo

Botafogo 1907

15 year old Flávio Ramos founded a football club in August 1904. He called it Electro Club. The following month, at the suggestion of his grandmother, the name was changed to Botafogo Football Club. Founder member Itamar Tavares suggested they adopt the colours of Juventus.  

The modern day Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas didn't come into being until 1942 when Botafogo Football Club merged with Club de Regatas Botafogo (founded 1894).

Botafogo won the following honours:

Campeonato Carioca: 1907, 1910, 1912, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935

Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio-São Paulo*:  1930,1935 

Flávio Ramos

1907: The 1907 championship was decided in 1996, when the Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro declared that the official result was that Botafogo and Fluminense were joint champions for that year. There was no pre arranged means of settling a tie- Fluminense claimed the title on goal average and Botafogo demanded a play-off. The league had already encountered problems and disputes that season. Internacional had been suspended from the competition for failing to turn up for their game with Botafogo. In support of Internacional the other 2 teams in the league (Fluminense and Paysandu Cricket Club) were threatening to boycott the league.

 Flávio Ramos (6 goals) was top scorer in the league.  

Abelardo de Lamare

1910: Botafogo scored 66 goals and conceded just 9 in the 10 games of the regular season. America were the next highest scorers with 31. The title was decided by a play-off between the teams that finished first and second in the league, and Botafogo maintained their 6 goal a game average by smashing Fluminense 6-1 in this decider. 

Notable goalscorers for Botafogo that season were: Abelardo de Lamare (22), Décio Viccari (14) and Mimi Sodré (11)

Abelardo de Lamare's haul included 7 in the 15-1 defeat of Riachuelo.

1912: A split in the league- Botafogo won the league promoted by Associação de Football do Rio de Janeiro. They were banned from competing in the Liga Metropolitana de Sports Athleticos having abandoned their 1911 campaign in controversial fashion .

Carvalho Leite

1930: Following a barren spell of 18 years Botafogo beat  Vasco da Gama to the championship by 1 point. Carvalho Leite was top scorer with 14 goals and Botafogo's goal record was for 60, against 30. 

1932: Carvalho Leite got 20 goals as Botafogo eased to the championship 5 points ahead of Flamengo.

Nilo

1933: There was another rift in Rio football with the advent of professionalism. The official championship was sanctioned by Associação Metropolitana de Esportes Athleticos. Botafogo won this league.

 Nilo Murtinho Braga was top scorer in the league with 19 goals, ahead of Carvalho Leite (13).

1934: The political disputes and chopping and changing of governing bodies in Rio football during this era can become quite confusing. In 1934 professionalism was officially accepted in Brazilian football and  Botafogo was amongst the founders of Federação Metropolitana de Desportos.

1935: Botafogo won their third championship in as many years...

*(this was a play-off between the champions of Rio and São Paulo that we will look at in a later post)

South America v Europe in International Football

Paris 1924

The first Europe v South America clashes took place at the 1924 Olympic games in Paris. Uruguay, qualifying via the South American Championships, were the only South American team. They defeated 4 European opponents on their way to the gold medal:

Yugoslavia

26.05.24 Uruguay 7-0 Yugoslavia

01.06.24 France  1-5 Uruguay  
06.06.24 Netherlands  1-2 Uruguay
09.06.24 Switzerland  0-3 Uruguay 

Amsterdam 1928 

The next round of intercontinental football came 4 years later in the 1928 Olympic Games Uruguay were joined by Argentina (who they beat in the final) and Chile.
Argentina played a friendly on their way to the tournament:
01.04.28 Portugal v Argentina 0-0  (Lisbon)

In the tournament itself South America remained dominant: Portugal became the first European teams to defeat South American opposition.

27.05.28 Portugal 4-2 Chile 
30.05.28 Uruguay 2-0 Netherlands
02.06.28 Belgium  3-6 Argentina 
03.06.28  Uruguay 4-1 Germany 
07.06.28  Uruguay  3-2 Italy  
08.06.28 Netherlands 2-2 Chile

Uruguay 1930

Uruguay

The first World Cup was contested by 13 teams, The continental representation was as follows: Europe 4, North America 2, South America,7. The tournament produced 8 South America-Europe meetings.  France played South American opposition twice, losing both games.

14.07.30 Romania 3-1 Peru 
14.07.30 Brazil 1-2 Yugoslavia
15.07.30  Argentina 1-0 France  
19.07.30 Chile 1-0 France
17.07.30 Bolivia 0-4 Yugoslavia
20.07.30 Paraguay 1-0 Belgium
21.07.30 Romania  0-4 Uruguay
27.07.30 Uruguay 6-1 Yugoslavia

Post World Cup Friendlies 1930
The following matches were played by European teams in South America following the World Cup:

01.08.30 Brazil  3-2 France (Rio de Janeiro-France did not consider this to be a full international) 03.08.30 Argentina 3-1 Yugoslavia (Buenos Aires)
10.08.30 Brazil 4-1 Yugoslavia (Rio de Janeiro-Yugoslavia did not consider this to be a full international)

 Italy 1934

Uruguay didn't travel to defend their title and it turned out to be a bad tournament for South American teams (probably for football in general). With the tournament being a straight knock out both South American representatives were eliminated after just 90 minutes of football.

The referee didn't give this handball as the defender on the line saves Leonidas' shot.

27.05.34 Brazil 1-3  Spain (Genoa) 
27.05.34 Sweden  3-2 Argentina (Bologna)
Following the World Cup Brazil paid a visit to Belgrade where they featured in a high scoring friendly with Yugoslavia:
03.06.34 Brazil 4-8 Yugoslavia (Belgrade) 

1936 Olympic Games

06.08.36 Finland 3-7  Peru (Hertha-BSC )

Snazzy Juan Valdivieso punches clear.

09.08.36 Peru 4-2 Austria  (Hertha-BSC )

 Austria were awarded this tie 2-0 after Peru refused to replay- the possibility is that they were removed from the tournament by a Nazi plot. We accept the 4-2 result and do not include the 2-0 default result.

	South America	Europe
Wins	18	7
Wins in Europe	10	4
Wins in South America	8	3
Draws	2
Goals	79	53

Unfortunately during this era neither England or Scotland played South American opposition, nor did the Austrian Wunderteam. 

Charles Cambier

Belgium's first international team. Van Den Eynde is circled left and Cambier centre.

Charles Cambier

Belgium entered the international football stage with a game against France on May 1st 1904, just weeks before the formation of FIFA. 

Lining up at centre half was Charles Cambier, a 20 year old who played for  Club Brugge.
Cambier played 23 internationals for Belgium up until the outbreak of the war in 1914. He was with Brugge for 22 seasons, retiring in 1925.
His career was interrupted not only by the war, but earlier by a double leg fracture inflicted in a 1910 club match by his international team mate Lomme Van Den Eynde.
Following this indiscretion  Van Den Eynde, who played for Union St.-Gilloise, had first to escape the wrath of Arthur and Joseph Cambier, Charles' brothers and teammates, who attempted to beat him up.
A more official sanction followed. The Belgian FA banned Van Den Eynde (who had a reputation for over the top tackling) for life. 
The life ban was lifted in 1912, at about the same time as Cambier made his comeback from the injury, and Van Den Eynde actually made his return to the Belgian team before Cambier; however they never played alongside each other again. 

William Foulke

William Foulke appeared in every history of football that I read when I was a boy. He was a kind of symbolic historical shorthand- look how mad football was in those days! A big fat 20 stoner played for England!  There's even a clip of the 1901 FA Cup Final in which Foulke hitches up his trousers like Big Joe Roberts, the Bad Guy in the Buster Keaton movies...
Accounts of Foulke's career  usually focus on anecdotes about his bulk and fiery temper rather than on his achievements on the field.
Let's have a look...
1894–1905- Sheffield United (FA Cup winners 1899,1902, League Champions 1898) 352 appearances
1905–06 Chelsea 35 appearances (Division 2)
1905-07 Bradford City 24 appearances (Division 2)


Foulke won one England cap,  in a 4-0 win over Wales at Bramall Lane in 1897.

Derby County's Jack Robinson had won his first cap in England's previous game, and was effectively first choice goalkeeper for the national team until 1901.

Mexico

When looking at the early days of Mexican international football we will find that Rafael Garza Gutiérrez (known popularly as Record) occupies centre stage.

Record was a founder of América (1916), the club which in 1922 became the first Mexican team to play abroad, taking part in a tournament in Guatemala.
América also figured large on the domestic front, being league champions 4 seasons in a row (1924-25 to 1927-28).
Garza Gutiérrez was a natural choice to lead Mexico.
Mexico's first 6 internationals were all played against Guatemala in 1923, 3 in Guatemala in January and 3 in Mexico City in December. Following this series of matches there was a 5 year hiatus -Mexico's next match being at the Amsterdam Olympics. In the meantime the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación had been formed (1927). 

Here we will look at the first three internationals, all played on a tour of Guatemala in January 1923. The Mexican squad was made up entirely of América players:

Ignacio de la Garza 

Pedro Legarreta 

Rafael Garza Gutiérrez "Record"(c)

Enrique Esquivel 

José Andrade 

Pablo Sarré 

Carlos Garcés 

Horacio Ortíz 

José Díaz Izquierdo 

Adeodato López 

Humberto Garza Ramos 

Agustín Ojeda  replaced Humberto Garza Ramos for the second game only.The team was managed by Adolfo Frías Beltrán.

Guatemala had previous experience of international football, havingh played 2 matches in September 1921 in which they beat Honduras 9-0 and lost 6-0 to Costa Rica.

1. 01.01.23 Guatemala 2-3 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 10,000)
José Díaz Izquierdo scored Mexico's first international goal to put them 1-0 up in the 26th minute. Horacio Ortíz added a second before half time. 

Fernando Minondo scored for Guatemala on 65. Adeodato López extended Mexico's lead in the 70th minute and Constantino Kinhie got the hosts' second 2 minutes later.


2.04.01.23 Guatemala 3-1 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 10,000)
Three days later Guatemala exacted some revenge on the visitors. José Minondo struck twice in the first half and completed his hattrick after Horacio Ortíz had pulled one back for Mexico.

3. 07.01.23 Guatemala 1-4 México
(Campo Marte, Guatemala: 6,000)
Mexico got off to a flying start in the third match, with José Díaz Izquierdo and Horacio Ortíz scoring in the opening 10 minutes. Adeodato López got the third in the 34th minute and completed the scoring 6 minutes from time. José Minondo had scored for the hosts in the 68th minute. 

Garza Gutiérrez later led Mexico in the 1928 Olympics and the 1930 World Cup. On retiring as a player he became the manager of the national team.

Le football féminin

Women's Football in France was always a stylish affair. The game took off in 1917 when it was taken up by members of the Femina Sport Club of Paris.
In 1920 Femina traveled to England and played Dick Kerr's in what is considered the first Women' s international.