1891 Census- England

Here are the 1891 Census details on the England XI who lined up against Scotland at Ewood Park on 6th April 1891. Only 8 of the players can be positively identified in the Census records.  Interestingly, of those 8, 5 were living with their parents. Whereas only Billy Moon was actually an amateur (and he captained the team on this occasion), only 3 of the other 7 put their occupation down as professional footballer.

		Age	M?	Occupation	Circumstances
GK	(William Robert) Billy Moon (c) (Old Westminsters)	22	S	Solicitor	Moon was living with his widowed mother at  45 Portsdown Road, Paddington. His mother was described as 'living on her means'. Also at home were a 21 yr old brother who was a medical student, 3 teenage sisters, a housemaid and a cook.
RB	Bob Howarth  (Preston North End)	25	M	Solicitor's clerk	Howarth lived at The Cross Keys, Market Place Preston with his wife Elizabeth and their 2 sons aged 4 and 2.
LB	Bob Holmes (Preston North End)	23	S	Professional footballer	Lodging at The Grapes Inn, 42 Church Street Preston.
RH	Albert Smith (Nottingham Forest)	22	S	Clerk	Lived at   45 Hutchinson Street Nottingham with his shoemaker father, his mother (described as a parish visitor) and his 19 yr old sister who was a warehouse girl.
CH	Johnny Holt (Everton)	25	No conclusive evidence found.
LH	Alf Shelton    (Notts County)	23	S	Professional football player	He lived with his widower father and an elderly lodger at Castle Rd in Nottingham.
OR	Billy Bassett (West Bromwich Albion)	22	S	Writing clerk	William Isiah Basset appears in all censuses as William J or William Jas. Bassett. He was living with his parents at 28 Nichols Street West Bromwich. Contrary to what Wikipedia says he had an older brother. Bassett had 4 siblings living at home.
IR	John Goodall  (Derby County)	27	M	Tobacconist	Living with his wife and 3 infants. There was also a servant in the house, 34 Dexter Street in Litchurch, Derby.
CF	Fred Geary  (Everton)	23	absent from the 1891 census
IL	Edgar Chadwick    (Everton)	21	S	Professional footballer	The eldest of 7 children living at home with their baker/grocer parents in Blackburn.
OL	Alf Milward (Everton)	20	absent from the 1891 census

A fair mix up in goal

Looking at this illustration made me think of some comments on the modern game: All that pushing and shoving at corners is a disgrace... If you so much as touch the goalie it's a foul... A fair mix up in goal , which shows the first round FA Cup tie played at the Manor Ground on January 27th 1894, looks like something from Twickenham. Fair play to the Wednesday keeper, Bill Allan,  for getting a punch in.
Wednesday won 2-1 thanks to 2 goals from Fred Spiksley, Elliot getting Arsenal's goal. 
Interesting to see the use of Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. One a contraction and the other an elaboration. The Wednesday only added Sheffield in 1929 whilst Arsenal were known as Woolwich Arsenal until 1914 and The Arsenal up to 1919.

17th Middlesex (1st Football Battalion)

As we have seen elsewhere, Association football had a tough time in the early part of the 1914-18 War, the governing bodies roundly criticised for carrying on with football instead of encouraging players to join up. In December 1914 on the suggestion of Lord Kitchener, Brentford MP  William Joynson-Hicks founded the Football Battalion. Frank Buckley was the first to enlist- he had been a soldier before joining Aston Villa in 1902, and had  represented England against Ireland in February 1914. Commanding the Battalion, Buckley became a Major and was wounded at The Somme.

standing: Sergeant Percy Barnfather (Croydon Common), Private William Jones (Brighton & Hove Albion), Private William Booth (Brighton & Hove Albion),  Private George Beech (Brighton & Hove Albion), Private Tommy Lonsdale (Southend United), Sergeant Joe Smith (Chesterfield), Sergeant Yeoval, Private Frank Martin (Grimsby Town), Private Jack Sheldon (Liverpool)

seated:  Private Pat Gallacher (ex Tottenham Hotspur), Captain Edward Bell (ex Portsmouth & Southampton),Lieutenant Vivian Woodward (Chelsea), Captain Frank Buckley (Bradford City), Private Sid Wheelhouse (Grimsby Town), Private Tommy Barber (Aston Villa), Lance Corporal Fred Bullock (Huddersfield Town).

17th Middlesex (1st Football Battalion) Regiment Football Team-1917

standing:  Lance Corporal Jack Doran (Coventry City), Lance Corporal Pat Gallacher (exTottenham Hotspur), Private John Spick, Regimental Sergeant Major Alfred Sabine, Private Joe Webster (West Ham United), Sergeant Alfred Hollanby, Company Sergeant Major Gibson (Nottingham Forest), Private Gardiner.

seated:  Lance Corporal George Pyke (Newcastle United), Lieutenant Bennett, Captain Cosmo Clark, Lieutenant-Colonel George Kelly, Captain Robert Templeman, Lieutenant Claude Gann, Private John Woodhouse (Brighton & Hove Albion).

ground: Private Jack Dodds (Oldham Athletic), Private David Kenney (Grimsby Town), Captain Percy Barnfather (Croydon Common), Private John Nuttall (Millwall), Sergeant Charles Stewart (Croydon Common).

Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos

Panathinaikos won their first National Championship in the 1929-30 season.
Winning the E.P.S.A. (Athens Football Clubs' Association) put them into a play off round robin with Aris (Thessaloniki- winners of the Macedonia Football Clubs' Association) and Olympiakos (Piraeus Football Clubs' Association champions).

The round robin matches went as follows:

18.05.30	Olympiakos	5	0	Aris	Pireas
01.06.30	Panathinaikos	8	2	Olympiakos	Athens
06.06.30	Aris	1	4	Panathinaikos	Thessaloniki
15.06.30	Olympiakos	1	2	Panathinaikos	Thessaloniki
22.06.30	Panathinaikos	2	2	Aris	Athens
29.06.30	Aris	2	1	Olympiakos	Thessaloniki

The final table:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	pt
Panathinaikos	4	3	1	0	16	6	7
Aris	4	1	1	2	5	12	3
Olympiakos	4	1	0	3	9	12	2

Angelos Messaris

Angelos Messaris scored 8 goals in the 4 matches. The resounding 8-2 win over their rivals Olympiacos was the stuff of legend for The Greens. A chant originated at the time:

Οκτώ στον Ολυμπιακό και τέσσερα στον Άρη, γεια σου Άγγελε Μεσσάρη!

Eight against Olympiacos 
Four more against Aris 
Yra for Angelos Messaris!

American League of Professional Football

In  the spring of 1894 the owners of 6 (of the 12) National League baseball teams in the USA  decided to form the country's first professional football league.
Their idea wasn't so much to promote the Association game, but to optimize the earning potential of their stadiums. 
It was planned to start the league in the 'fall' of 1894, and the American League of Professional Football
was officially founded on August 14th 1894 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City. It was stated with confidence that Sunderland would visit the USA in 1895 to play the member clubs. 

The baseball clubs simply formed football clubs and gave them the names of their baseball clubs. There is evidence that several baseball players switched codes for a bit of winter employment, but talk of baseball stars adopting football was largely hype. 
Four teams kicked off The American League of Professional Football (ALPF) inaugural season on October 6th 1894.  Boston beat Brooklyn 3-2, Philadelphia  lost 5-0 to the visiting New York Giants . Following ALPF protocol the  home clubs wore a white strip with black stockings, while the away clubs wore a  dark color with white stockings.
The AFA  ( a study of the many and various governing bodies who have contrived to hinder the progress of the game in the states would be a life's work) announced that players taking part in the ALPF would be barred from AFA competition. However, the baseball clubs were wealthy compared to the football clubs, and were still able to recruit players from the AFA . ALPF clubs also recruited players from local leagues, mainly English (ie British) and Irish.
Baltimore approached the venture somewhat more methodically than the other clubs- actually employing a football coach rather than entrusting the responsibility to the baseball coach. This coach, A.W. Stewart, also recruited a number of genuine professionals from England. 
Mitchell Calvey,Archie Ferguson, and Alec Wallace of Ardwick/ Manchester City and Fred Davies of Sheffield United all featured, raising gripes from opponents at this importation of foreign talent. The Orioles were described in the press as Football Hustlers. 

However, the league did not fulfill its promise- the fixtures were not completed and gates tended to be very low (about 500, whereas baseball attracted an average of 5,000).There was a financial crisis in the country at the time. There was no second season. 

	P	W	D	L	F	A
Brooklyn Bridegrooms	6	5	0	1	20	6	10
Baltimore Orioles	4	4	0	0	24	3	8
Boston Beaneaters	5	4	0	1	15	12	8
New York Giants	6	2	0	4	16	13	4
Philadelphia Phillies	9	2	0	7	15	37	4
Washington Senators	6	1	0	5	7	26	2

Football legalized in Scotland...

Although it passed unnoticed, 4th August 1906 was a very significant day in the history of Scottish football.
The season kicked off on the 18th August. 
It was on the 4th that Parliament in London passed An Act to further promote the Revision of the Statute Law by repealing Enactments which have ceased to be in force or have become unnecessary. aka The Statute Law Revision (Scotland) Act 1906 (6 Edw 7 c 38).
 This effectively repealed The Football Act 1424 James I. 1424 (May 26) c.18. which stated:
it is statut and the king forbiddis that na man play at the fut ball under the payne of iiij d (4 pence fine)

King James I of Scotland 

José Nasazzi and women (#2)

I can't quite make out the text, but I'm guessing this is the first anniversary of Uruguay's triumph in the Amsterdam Olympics. 
Nasazzi , looking as uncompromising as ever, knee bandaged, is flanked by two rather operatic looking ladies draped in Uruguayan flags. 
As effective World Champions Uruguay were confirmed as host nation for the inaugural World Cup at the 18th FIFA congress at Barcelona in 1929. 

Woolwich Arsenal's League Debut

There are many reasons to place Arsenal among the very greatest clubs in the history of football.
Under Herbert Chapman and George Allison in the 1930s they enjoyed great success and were always at the forefront of any modernizing initiatives. They were also of course hugely popular. Not only did they draw huge crowds but they were also the default team of the British armed forces. 
There is, however, another reason that Arsenal hold such an important place in the heritage of the game . It was Arsenal who brought professional football to London, They risked ostracism to do so, and struggled to carve out a place among the professionals of the north and midlands in the Football League.  
Strange then that the beginnings of their league career should remain so steeped in obscurity.
Royal Arsenal were an ambitious club. They sought to compete against the strongest professional sides. They entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1889. In 1891 the club decided to turn professional. In 1893 the club  formed a limited liability company to raise capital to purchase their ground (the Manor Ground, Plumstead). It was at this point that the name was changed to Woolwich Arsenal. 
They joined the Football League in 1893. It would be a demanding season- their nearest neighbours were Small Heath about 160 km away. They also faced journeys to Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
The Woolwich Arsenal team was made up of players who had been with Royal Arsenal in the amateur days ans a selection of low-end journeyman professionals.
Lets look at the line up for Woolwich Arsenal's League debut, a 2-2 draw with Newcastle United at the Manor Ground, Plumstead on 02.09.93: 

Goalkeeper: Charlie Williams

19 year old Williams was making his league debut. He stayed at Plumstead for one season. He then joined Ardwick. In 8 seasons with Ardwick /Manchester City he made over 200 appearances and became the first goalkeeper to score a League goal from a clearance. 

Right back: Joe Powell

The 24 yr old was at Arsenal for 4 seasons, making 91 appearances. A soldier in the 

80th Staffordshire Regiment, he played  for the Regiment against Arsenal in 1892 and the club persuaded him to leave the army and join them as a professional. Tragically Powell died at the age of 26 after losing an arm as the result of an infection in an injury sustained in a match against  Kettering. 

Left back: William Jeffery

Jeffrey had played 7 league matches with Burnley in 1891-92. He was 27 . He spent one season at Arsenal before joining Southampton St Mary's in the Southern League 

Right half: Daniel Devine

Very little is known of Devine: He was Scottish.

Centre half: Bobby Buist
 Scotsman Buist, who had played for Cowlairs, and Clyde, was actually a worker at The Royal Arsenal. He played for the club until 1894 when he went back to Scotland and joined Lieth Athletic.

Left half: David Howat
Howat came from Preston and played more than 50 league matches for Arsenal. Not much else is known about him. 

Outside right: Duncan Gemmell
Another Scot who drifted into obscurity after making 8 league appearances.

Inside right: James Henderson  
Top goalscorer in the first League season. Henderson was Scottish- he had played for Rangers and moved to London as a professional footballer. He left Arsenal in 1895, having played 47 League & Cup matches (30 goals) and  49 other first-team games (30 more goals).

Centre forward: Walter Shaw 
Shaw scored the first ever League goal for Arsenal. He was from the  West Midlands and played for Singers and Birmingham St George’s. In 1893-94 Shaw played 17 games and scored 11 goals (plus 4 cup games, 1 goal), the next season he made only 2 first team appearances. He left Arsenal for obscurity in 1895. 

Inside left: Arthur Elliott 
Formerly of Notts Rangers, Gainsborough Trinity and Accrington.
Elliot joined Arsenal in 1892, made 34 appearances and scored 19 goals.

Outside left: Charlie Booth
Booth joined Arsenal from Wolverhampton Wanderers. He left in 1894, moving to Loughborough Athletic and Football Club.