An Appeal To Good Sportsmen

There was a perception during the early days of the 1914-18 war that footballers (or football, as in the institution of the game) was failing in its patriotic duty. This arose from the failure of the Football League to suspend play at the outset of hostilities. Rugby Union footballers were seen to be flocking to the colours as one. 

Footballers did, of course, make proportionate sacrifices. Fatalities included Leigh Richmond Roose (Wales and numerous clubs- notably Stoke and Sunderland), Walter Tull (Northampton Town, Tottenham Hotspur), Bradford City's  Bob Torrance, Jimmy Speirs, Evelyn Lintott, James Conlin, James Comrie and  Gerald Kirk. George 'Gattling Gun' Hilsden (Chelsea, West Ham United and England) was incapacitated by a mustard gas attack having rather ignominiously tried to avoid the call up- he was arrested having hidden in a shed.

The Football Association Amateur Cup, 1900s

Crook Town

1901
Crook Town of County Durham took the Cup north again. They drew 1-1 with  King's Lynn at Harwich & Parkeston's Dovercourt ground and won the replay at Ipswich, 3-0.

1902
Bishop Auckland reached the final once more, but on this occasion Surrey based Old Malvernians were too strong for them, winning the final at Headingley 5-1.

1903
Further success for the North East as Stockton overcame Oxford City 1-0 at Feetham's (Darlington) following a goalless draw at Reading.

Sheffield

1904
The 1904 FA Amateur Cup was won by Sheffield- the 'World's oldest football club'- who beat London side Ealing 3-1 at Bradford City's Valley Parade.

1905
West Hartlepool beat Clapton 3-2 at Sheperds Bush. The full title of the club was West Hartlepool Amateur Football & Athletic Company Limited. They went out of business just five years after this, their biggest achievement.

1906
Oxford City made a more productive visit to the North than they had in 1903. On this occasion they beat Bishop Auckland 3-0 at Stockton.


1907
Clapton won the first of  their 5 FA Amateur Cups- beating Stockton 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

1908
Stockton were again runners up, beaten 2-1 by Depot Battallion Royal Engineers at Feetham's.

1909
Clapton thrashed Teesiders Eston United 6-0 in the final at Ilford. In the Clapton team was Walter Tull.

1910
Another success for the military, as R.M.L.I (Gosport) beat  South Bank 2-1 at Bishop Auckland.

Walter Tull

Born in Kent of a Barbadian father and an English mother, Walter Tull played 20 first team matches for Tottenham Hotspur  between 1909 and 1911.He also toured South America with them. In 1911 Herbert Chapman signed him for Northampton Town. He played 111 games for Northampton up until the outbreak of the war in 1914.
During the First World War Tull served with the Footballers' Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment. When he was promoted from the ranks in 1917 Tull became the first black/ mixed race officer in the British army. He was killed in action in 1918.

Through his actions, Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny negroes/mulattos equality with their contemporaries. His life stands testament to a determination to confront those people and those obstacles that sought to diminish him and the world in which he lived. It reveals a man, though rendered breathless in his prime, whose strong heart still beats loudly.
Tull's epitaph: Phil Vasili