A Review of the 1897-98 Season

Any Wintry Afternoon in England

C. R. W. Nevinson was an English artist who was an associate of the Italian Futurists and an official War Artist in the 1914-18 conflict.
Any Wintry Afternoon in England was painted in 1930, and can be seen at the Manchester Art Gallery.

Zuzu

Cunha Bueno, the Paulistano goalkeeper, in action against Palestra Itália in 1917.
Zuzu, as he was known, was a goalkeeper of desperation, noted for unconventional last ditch saves executed with all parts of his anatomy.
With Zuzu in goal Paulistano won the Campeonato Paulista in 1916,1917, 1918 & 1919.
Away from football he was a coffee farmer and exporter. 
The ball in this photograph looks small. I have read that size 4 balls were used in Italy, I'm not sure if that was the case in South America too. 

Chirk AAA v Darwen

Cricket and Football Field 29.01.87

This article tells us so much about the state of football in 1880s. Professionalism was legal, organized competition in the form of the FA Cup and the county cups had firmly taken root in the public imagination. The provinces, particularly the north west and the midlands, had a thriving football culture and there was a railway network that facilitated affordable travel for teams and their supporters. 

Darwen travel to Chirk in north east Wales for an FA Cup tie.

Darwen feature the old English internationals Marsden and Rostron, while in goal they have Hugh Mcintyre, formerly of Blackburn Rovers and Glasgow Rangers.  A versatile player indeed, he had represented Scotland at centre half, moving back into goal as his age increased (he was 31).

GK	McIntyre
FB	Marsden
	Leach
HB	Hamilton
	Ashton
	Thornber
F	Haresnape
	Broughton
	Rostron
	Shorrock
	Slater

Chirk was a village but they boasted 4 internationals in their line up : William Owen,  Di Jones (later of Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City),  George Owen (later of Newton Heath) and  George Griffiths. In  April 1887 this same XI won the Welsh Cup for the first time, and  retained it the following season.

GK	E Povey
FB	T Wynne
	Di Jones
HB	H Owen
	J Owen
	J Jones
F	P Griffiths
	W Owen
	T Williams
	G Owen
	G Griffiths

That Ruabon people had travelled  the five miles south to support Darwen against their local rivals (an exclusively Welsh team) is a delightful detail.  

Bulgaria 1924

1924 was a big year in Bulgarian football. The first national championship competition was scheduled and the nation played its first international fixtures.
Regional leagues had been held since 1921, and in 1924 a unification tournament for the 6 regional champions was planned. Unfortunately this was  abandoned when Vladislav (Varna) refused to replay their semi final with Levski in Sofia, wanting a switch to Varna as the original tie had been played in Sofia. This was never resolved. 
 The following season's  championship was successfully concluded, with Vladislav beating Levski 2-0 in the final.

Bulgaria's first international came on 21.05.24 at Vienna's Simmeringer Sportplatz. 
The team featured 9 Levski players.

Petar Ivanov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Aleksandar Hristov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Simeon Yankov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Gheno Mateev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Boian Byanov	S.С. Ticha, (Varna)
Dimitr Manolov	S.C. Slavia, (Sofia)
Dimitr Mutafchiev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Nikola Mutafchiev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Tsvetan Genev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Konstantin Maznikov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Kiril Yovovich	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)

Austria (in their 87th international) were too strong for the Bulgarians, who held out until the 31st minute. The final score was Austria 6, Bulgaria 0.

Bulgaria made 2 changes for their next match, against The Irish Free State at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Petar Ivanov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Aleksandar Hristov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Simeon Yankov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Ivan Radoev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Boian Byanov	S.С. Ticha, (Varna)
Dimitr Manolov	S.C. Slavia, (Sofia)
Dimitr Mutafchiev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Nikola Mutafchiev	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Todor Vladimirov	S.C. Slavia, (Sofia)
Konstantin Maznikov	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)
Kiril Yovovich	S.C. Levski, (Sofia)

They were beaten by Patrick Dunkan's 75th minute goal.
Bulgaria's first international win came in their 15th match, against Romania in 1930.

FA Cup Final, 1889

Here is a programme for the 1889 FA Cup Final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Preston North End's Invincibles (the Cup version, with Mills- Roberts in the place of Trainer).
Major Marindin would undoubtedly have been rooting for Wolves' English XI (including 7 internationals).  Wolves had finished 3rd in the League,  conceding 9 goals across the 2 meetings with Preston.
Dewhurst, Ross and Thomson were the scorers as Preston won 3-0 to secure the Double. 

Madelon

La Madelon was a French popular song of the 1914-18 war.
I do not know how it came to be the nickname of the Czech footballer Jan Knobloch , but he was, throughout his career, known as Madelon.

Madelon joined Sparta Prague in 1927 and won the Czech national championship in 1932. He also made 18 appearances for the Czech national team (1929-33). The image is from a cigarette card by the German company Richard Greiling Zigarettenfabrikan. 

Acknowledgements  to http://collectorscrack.blogspot.co.uk

Football League v Southern League

During the 1914-15 season only 6 of the 40 clubs in the Football League were from south of Birmingham. Of the 20 teams in the first division of the Southern League, 19 would become members of the Football League by the 1920-21 season.
In addition to the annual fixtures against the Scottish and Irish leagues, the Football League staged matches against the Southern League between 1910 and 1914:

11.04.10	Football League	2	2	Southern League
	Stewart			Lewis
	Parkinson			Fleming
	Stamford Bridge (7,000)

Football League
J Lievesley	Sheffield United
R Downs	Barnsley
T Rodway	Preston North End
F Taylor	Chelsea
J Harrop	Liverpool
H Moffat	Burnley
A Goddard	Liverpool
J Stewart	Newcastle United
J Parkinson	Liverpool
J Bache	Aston Villa
H Middlemiss	Tottenham Hotspur

Southern League
J Johnson	Crystal Palace
F Blackman	Brighton & Hove Albion
J Bulcock	Crystal Palace
J Mahon	New Brompton
A Hartwell	Queen’s Park Rangers
A Trueman	Southampton
R Jefferson	Swindon Town
H Fleming	Swindon Town
W Steer	Queen’s Park Rangers
A Lewis	Northampton Town
H Buckle	Coventry City

Jack Parkinson (Liverpool)

14.11.10	Football League	2	3	Southern League
	Hibbert			Fleming
	Bradshaw			Reid
				Trueman
	White Hart Lane (5000)

Football League
T Lunn	Tottenham Hotspur
G Maltby	Nottingham Forest
J Johnston	Clapton Orient
R Duckworth	Manchester United
C Buckley	Aston Villa
W Bradshaw	Blackburn Rovers
J Mordue	Sunderland
J Coleman	Sunderland
W Hibbert	Bury
J Stewart	Newcastle United
G Wall	Manchester United

Southern League
G Kitchen	West Ham United
F Blackman	Brighton & Hove Albion
J Walker	Swindon Town
W Booth	Brighton & Hove Albion
A Hartwell	Queen’s Park Rangers
A Trueman	Southampton
R Jefferson	Swindon Town
H Fleming	Swindon Town
G Reid	Brentford
H Moody	Luton Town
H Lipsham	Millwall

Geordie Reid (Brentford)

09.10.11	Football League	2	1	Southern League
	Roberts			Bradley
	Hampton
	Victoria Ground, Stoke (10000)

                                                   

                                                                                               

Football League
A Iremonger	Notts County
L Hofton	Manchester United
J Pennington	West Bromwich Albion
R Duckworth	Manchester United
C Roberts	Manchester United
G Hunter	Aston Villa
J Simpson	Blackburn Rovers
H Halse	Manchester United
H Hampton	Aston Villa
F Buck	West Bromwich Albion
B Shearman	West Bromwich Albion

Southern League
C Shaw	Queen’s Park Rangers
R Brittan	Northampton Town
J Robertson	Southampton
S Frost	Millwall
E Bradley	Coventry City
T Randall	West Ham United
R Jefferson	Swindon Town
H Fleming	Swindon Town
J Peart	Stoke
F Bradshaw	Northampton Town
E Freeman	Northampton Town

Harry Hampton (Aston Villa)

30.09.12	Football League	2	1	Southern League
	Buchan			Webb
	Bradshaw
	Old Trafford, 10,000

Football League
R Williamson	Middlesbrough
E Longworth	Liverpool
E Fletcher	Manchester City
H Moffat	Oldham Athletic
J Fay	Bolton Wanderers
R McNeal	West Bromwich Albion
A Goddard	Liverpool
C Buchan	Sunderland
E West	Manchester United
P Bradshaw	Everton
G Wall	Manchester United

Southern League
C Shaw	Queen’s Park Rangers
H Collyer	Crystal Palace
J Walker	Swindon Town
R Spottiswood	Crystal Palace
J Hughes	Crystal Palace
T Randall	West Ham United
F Walden	Northampton Town
D Shea	West Ham United
W Davis	Millwall
C Webb	Brighton & Hove Albion
S Lamb	Swindon Town

Charles Buchan (Sunderland)

09.02.14	Football League	3	1	Southern League
	Shea (3)			Davis
	The Den, 13000

Football League
S Hardy	Aston Villa
R Crompton	Blackburn Rovers
J Pennington	West Bromwich Albion
F Cuggy	Sunderland
J Harrop	Aston Villa
R McNeal	West Bromwich Albion
C Wallace	Aston Villa
D Shea	Blackburn Rovers
G Elliot	Middlesbrough
E Latheron	Blackburn Rovers
H Martin	Sunderland

Southern League
T Thorpe	Northampton Town
J Fort	Exeter City
H Colclough	Crystal Palace
W Booth	Brighton & Hove Albion
A Mitchell	Queen’s Park Rangers
R Liddell	Millwall
R Jefferson	Swindon Town
W Batty	Swindon Town
W Davis	Millwall
B Bowler	Plymouth Argyle
E Hendren	Brentford

                                                   

Danny Shea (Blackburn Rovers)

26.10.14	Football League	2	1	Southern League
	Stephenson (2)			Moody
	Highbury, 11000

Football League
A Reynolds	Fulham
R Crompton	Blackburn Rovers
J Boocock	Bradford City
J Harrow	Chelsea
T Fleetwood	Everton
W Watson	Burnley
F Walden	Tottenham Hotspur
C Stephenson	Aston Villa
H Halse	Chelsea
E Latheron	Blackburn Rovers
J Hodkinson	Blackburn Rovers

Southern League
T Thorpe	Northampton Town
J Kirkwood	Millwall
H Colclough	Crystal Palace
V Gregory	Watford
A Mitchell	Queen’s Park Rangers
R Liddell	Millwall
W Thompson	Queen’s Park Rangers
W Batty	Swindon Town
S Puddefoot	West Ham United
H Moody	Millwall
R Hughes	Northampton Town

Clem Stephenson (Aston Villa)

	Wins	Goals scored
Football League	4	13
Southern League	1	9
Drawn	1