Stockholm 1912

A great view of Stockholm Olympic Stadium during the Great Britain v Denmark match  (04.07.12). Great Britain (aka England Amateurs) won 4-2 to take the Olympic Gold Medal.  

Hungary 1912

The luck of the draw...
Hungary were in a pretty good place before the commencement of the 1912 Olympic tournament at Stockholm.
15 games had passed since they had been beaten 8-2 by England in 1909. Of these only 3 had been lost. 8 had been won, and 45 goals had been scored. In November 1911 Imre Schlosser had scored 6 in a 9-0 win over Switzerland.
Their final warm up match had been a 6-0 win over Norway in Oslo.
Having been given a bye in the first round Hungary faced England Amateurs (Great Britain).
It was a scorching day, and an experienced Hungary XI were outgunned by the English.
Bradford City's Harold Walden got 6 goals and the legendary Vivian Woodward 1 as England ran out 7-0 winners.
Contemporary Hungarian reports state that the score did not reflect the balance of play- possession and territory were about equal but that whereas the English forwards played phenomenally Schlosser was unwell and off form.

	England Amateurs (Great Britain)
GK	Dr Ronald Brebner	Northern Nomads
FB	Thomas Burn	London Caledonians
FB	Arthur Knight	Portsmouth
HB	Harry Littlewort	Glossop North End
HB	Ted Hanney	Reading
HB	Joseph Dines	Ilford
F	Arthur Berry	Oxford City
F	Vivian Woodward	Chelsea
F	Harold Walden	Bradford City
F	Gordon Hoare	Woolwich Arsenal
F	Ivan Sharpe	Derby County
Coach: A. Birch

	Hungary
GK	Domonkos László	M.T.K.
FB	Rumbold Gyula	Ferencváros
FB	Payer Imre	Ferencváros
HB	Bíró Gyula	M.T.K.
HB	Károly Jenő	Budapesti A.K.
HB	Vágó Antal	M.T.K.
F	Sebestyén Béla	M.T.K.
F	Bodnár Sándor	M.A.C
F	Pataki Mihály	Ferencváros
F	Schlosser-Lakatos Imre	Ferencváros
F	Borbás Gáspár	Ferencváros
Coach:  Herczog Ede

Hungary won the consolation tournament, beating Germany (2 days after their record 16-0 win over Russia) by 3-1. Hungary met Austria in the final, winning 3-0 with goals from Schlosser, Pataki and Bodnár.

1908

As winners of the football tournament at the 1908 Olympics the Great Britain team received one gold medal. Players were also awarded with this marvelous neo-classical certificate.  Designed by the famous cartoonist and illustrator Bernard Partridge, the certificate shows Victory (with the wings) between Britannia and Hellas.  The certificate describes the team as England- which they were- England Amateurs. 

Stockholm 1912

A classy programme cover from the 1912 Olympics showing the fortified looking Stockholms Stadion , designed by Torben Grut. The teams shown in action are Great Britain (England Amateurs) and Finland.  Great Britain won the semi final game 4-0.

The Woodward Era

Woodward rises high to head at goal for Tottenham Hotspur

Vivian Woodward's career with the full England international side saw him play 23 matches, scoring 29 goals, between 1903 and 1911.
FIFA also give full international status to a further 30 matches that Woodward played, 24 for the England Amateur XI and 6 for the Great Britain Olympic team (effectively the England Amateur XI with a Union Flag sewn on their jerseys).
During the Woodward Era the amateurs played  40 matches (Olympics included) . Woodward played in 30, was captain in 28 and scored 44 goals. 27 of the matches were played abroad.
It is tempting to see these games as jolly boys' outings in which the English, hands deep in their Corinthian pockets, steamed off from Charing Cross to thrash the foreigners. They were, however, absolutely vital in the spread and development of the game on the continent.
In these 40 amateur matches Woodward was one of  99 players capped. Of the other 98 players, only 13 also represented the 'full' England side * and between them they collected 43 'full' caps.


* The players were Herbert Smith (4 caps), Bob Hawkes (5), Sammy Day (3), Stanley Harris (6), Harold Hardman (4), Wattie Corbett (3), Ken Hunt (2), Evelyn Lintott (7), Horace Bailey (5), Arthur Berry (1), Gordon Wright (1), A. E. Knight (1) and Billy Moore (1). 

Woodward's international appearances and goals:

 

England					England Amateurs/ GB*					Total
Date	Opponents	Cap	goals	total	Date	Opponents	Cap	goals	total	Cap	goals
14.02.03	Ireland	1	2	2						1	2
03.03.03	Wales	2	1	3						2	3
04.04.03	Scotland	3	1	4						3	4
12.03.04	Ireland	4		4						4
09.04.04	Scotland	5		4						5
25.02.05	Ireland	6		4						6
27.03.05	Wales	7	2	6						7	6
01.04.05	Scotland	8		6						8
					01.11.06	France	1	4	4	9	10
					01.04.07	Netherlands	2	1	5	10	11
6.04.07	Scotland	9		6						11
					21.12.07	Netherlands	3	3	8	12	14
15.02.08	Ireland	10	1	7						13	15
16.03.08	Wales	11	3	10						14	18
					23.03.08	France	4	3	11	15	21
04.04.08	Scotland	12								16
					18.04.08	Belgium	5	3	14	17	24
					20.04.08	Germany	6	2	16	18	26
06.06.08	Austria	13	1	11						19	27
08.06.08	Austria	14	4	15						20	31
10.06.08	Hungary	15	1	16						21	32
13.06.08	Bohemia	16								22
					20.10.08	Sweden	7*	2	18	23	34
					22.10.08	Netherlands	8*			24
					24.10.08	Denmark	9*	1	19	25	35
13.02.09	Ireland	17	2	18						26	37
15.03.09	Wales	18								27
					19.04.09	Belgium	10	2	21	28	39
					20.05.09	Switzerland	11	4	25	29	43
					22.05.09	France	12	1	26	30	44
29.05.09	Hungary	19	2	20						31	46
31.05.09	Hungary	20	4	24						32	50
01.06.09	Austria	21	3	27						33	53
					06.11.09	Sweden	13	1	27	34	54
					11.12.09	Netherlands	14	6	33	35	60
12.02.10	Ireland	22								36
					04.03.11	Belgium	15	1	34	37	61
13.03.11	Wales	23	2	29						38	63
					17.04.11	Netherlands	16			39
					25.05.11	Switzerland	17	1	35	40	64
					21.10.11	Denmark	18			41
					16.03.12	Netherlands	19	1	36	42	65
					08.04.12	Belgium	20			43
					30.06.12	Hungary	21*	1	37	44	66
					02.07.12	Finland	22*			45
					04.07.12	Denmark	23*			46
					09.11.12	Belgium	24	2	39	47	68
					21.03.13	Germany	25	1	40	48	69
					24.03.13	Netherlands	26	1	41	49	70
					15.11.13	Netherlands	27	1	42	50	71
					24.02.14	Belgium	28	1	43	51	72
					05.06.14	Denmark	29			52
					10.06.14	Sweden	30	1	44	53	73

Woodward (centre) watches the Denmark keeper make a catch, Stockholm 1912.