05.04.02

Full House- the game in progress

In July 1902 Alexander McDougall, a building contractor and timber merchant of Partick, appeared at Glasgow Circuit Court charged with Culpable Homicide.
In 1899  Glasgow Rangers had decided to invest £12,000 on ground improvements at Ibrox (the eventual cost was £20,000).  McDougall had submitted an estimate of £5280 to construct timber terraces in the ground. The charges were based on the assertion that McDougall had used inferior pine in the construction and had not built the beams and joists in the requisite manner. After a 2 day trial a unanimous verdict of not guilty was delivered.
This, of course, was a postscript to the Ibrox Disaster. The collapse of the terracing during the Scotland v England match on 05.04.02 had led to the deaths of 25 spectators and more than 500 people had been injured.

Remarkably, reports of the abandoned match appeared in the press. The opening line of the account below beggars belief. 

Incidentally- this was the first occasion on which both nations had fielded exclusively professional teams.
In the first half of the match Scotland were attacking the western end of the ground at which the accident occurred. There are conflicting accounts of the incident. It would appear that the terrace collapsed after about 15 minutes play, and that play was suspended for about 20 minutes before the decision was made to play on.
Officially the match is recorded as abandoned and does not count towards the official records of the Football Association of the Scottish FA.

Old Trafford 1910

The Manchester Courier, 21.02.10

Its not just teams and individual players that make up the rich fabric of football history, but places too, iconic venues.

Manchester United's Old Trafford ground is one of the great venues in World Football. 

Opened in 1910, Old Trafford was Manchester United / Newton Heath's 3rd home. 

From 1878  to 1893 Newton Heath played at North Road. The highest attendance recorded at this ground was approximately 15,000 for a Division 1 game against Sunderland (04.03.93).

The second ground was Bank Street. The capacity was 50,000. In the last match United played there, however, the attendance was just 5,000 (22.01.10).

The opening match at Old Trafford (19.02.10) drew a crowd in excess of 50,000.

In 1911 58,000 watched the replayed FA Cup Final between Bradford City and Newcastle United. Old Trafford's 2nd FA Cup Final, the Khaki Final of 1915 (Sheffield United v Chelsea) had an attendance of 49,557. 

70,504 saw United lose 3-1 to Aston Villa (27.12.20) and the ground's first international (England 0 Scotland 1, 17.04.26) was attended by a crowd of 

49,429.

Sandy Turnbull scored the first ever goal at Old Trafford, for United in a 4-3 loss to Liverpool. 

Souvenir

A curious memento. And for tissue paper to survive 100 years...
Described as follows in an auction catalogue:
1910 F.A. Cup third round commemorative tissue Imprinted 'Souvenir of the English Cup third round Played at St James Park Newcastle Saturday Feb. 19th 1910', with team pictures and annotation of players names underneath. Floral flag design to outer edges. Printed by Mrs S.Burgess of Bishopsgate, London.

If we look at the teams that played that day we will see that there was plenty of quality on show.  Blackburn Rovers were 3rd in Division 1 and Newcastle United 6th. 

Newcastle United		Blackburn Rovers
Jimmy Lawrence	G	Jimmy Ashcroft
Billy McCracken	RB	Bob Crompton
Tony Whitson	LB	Arthur Cowell
Colin Veitch	RH	Albert Walmsley
Wilf Low	CH	George Chapman
Peter McWilliam	LH	Billy Bradshaw
Jock Rutherford	OR	Billy Garbutt
Jimmy Howie	IR	Eddie Latheron
Albert Shepherd	CF	Ellis Crompton
Sandy Higgins	IL	Wattie Aitkenhead
George Wilson	OL	Walter Anthony

The 54,000 crowd brought in receipts in excess of £2000 (described in the contemporary press as 'an enormous sum').
Higgins opened the scoring in the first minute ( a quick short drive). Rutherford added a second in the 25th minute but Rovers immediately pulled one back through Anthony. Howie completed the scoring in the second half.

Hull City

Hull City supporters at The Boulevard, 1904

Hull City A.F.C. were founded on 28 June 1904. Kingston upon Hull was a  Northern Union (Rugby League) stronghold, and previous attempts to establish Association in the city had failed.

The club was formed too late in the year to apply for membership of the Football League, so in their first season they played only friendly matches.  The early matches were played at The Boulevard, home of rugby side Hull FC. This groundsharing scheme (costing the football club £100 a year) soon ended . They began their League career playing at The Circle, a cricket ground, and in 1906 established a stadium at  Anlaby Road. 

There were 6,000 at The Boulevard to see City's first match, a 2-2 draw with Notts County on 1st September 1904.

The white jerseys were soon abandoned in favour of black and amber stripes

Hull's prompt elevation to The Football League reflects the way in which the League actively promoted clubs in Yorkshire in order to challenge the dominance of Rugby League and get a share of a lucrative market.

City played their first League match on September 2nd 1905, beating Barnsley 4-1 at The Circle.

Here's the Hull line up: 

GK	Martin Spendiff
	From North Shields, Spendiff joined City from Grimsby Town.
FB	Ambrose Langley
	This was Langley’s last season in the Football League- he joined Hull from The Wednesday, where he had spent 11 seasons. He featured in the League Championship winning sides of 1903 and 1904. He was player manager and was in charge of City until 1913. He later managed Huddersfield Town.
FB	Tom Jones
	This was Shropshire born Jones’ only season of League football.
HB	Bill Martin
	Just 4 League appearances for Londoner Martin in 1905-06. He joined from Millwall Athletic and moved back south to join Clapton Orient for the following season.
HB	William Robinson
	Robinson joined Hull having made just 1 League appearance for Manchester City. He played 119 League matches for Hull before moving on to Bolton Wanderers in 1908.
HB	Davy Gordon
	10 seasons at Hull having joined from Leith Athletic. Played 270 games for Hull and later managed Hibernian and Hartlepools United.
OR	George Rushton
	Previous League experience with Burslem Port Vale.
IR	George Spence
	The second Scotsman in the team, Spence started off at St Mirren. He played League football for Gainsborough Trinity and Preston North End, punctuated with spells with a variety of Southern League clubs.  Returned to Scotland (Clyde) after one season at Hull, Scored Hull’s first ever league goal.
CF	David 'Soldier' Wilson
	Boer War veteran Wilson began his professional career in Scotland (he was an Englishman), Transferred to Leeds City in December 1905. Died of a heart attack he suffered when playing during the Leeds City v Burnley match on 27.10.06.
IL	Peter Howe
	15 goals in 32 League matches- later joined Leeds City.
OL	Andrew Raisbeck
	Scotsman- was at Liverpool along with his legendary brother, Alec, but never made the first team.  Emigrated to Canada after 2 season at Hull.

19th Century Attendances

Fallowfield

In the dingy nineteenth century towns the proletariat found little opportunity for enjoyment.

Eric Dunning

In terms of social class, crowds at Football League matches were predominantly drawn from the skilled working and lower-middle classes... Social groups below that level were largely excluded by the admission price...the Football League, quite possibly in a deliberate attempt to limit the access of poorer (and thus supposedly "rowdier") supporters, raised the minimum adult male admission price...

Dave Russell 

ENGLAND

season	FA Cup Final	England v Scotland	Football League Clubs
			Highest Average	Highest
1871-72	2,000 The Oval, London
1872-73	3,000 Lillie Bridge, London	2,500 to 4,000 The Oval, London
1873-74	2,000 The Oval, London
1874-75	…quite 1,000 (1) Replay=unknown The Oval, London	2,000 The Oval, London
1875-76	3,500 1,500 The Oval, London
1876-77	3000 The Oval, London	2,000 to 3,000  The Oval, London
1877-78	4,500 The Oval, London
1878-79	a much larger company than been seen at Kennington Oval in the present season The Oval, London	4,500 The Oval, London
1879-80	Upwards of 2,000 The Oval, London
1880-81	c. 4,000 The Oval, London	8,500 The Oval, London
1881-82	6,000 The Oval, London
1882-83	c. 7,000 The Oval, London	7,000 Bramall Lane, Sheffield
1883-84	12,000 The Oval, London
1884-85	12,500 The Oval, London	8,000 The Oval, London
1885-86	15,000 The Oval, London
	12,000 Racecourse, Derby
1886-87	15,500 The Oval, London	12,000 Leamington Street, Blackburn
1887-88	19,000 The Oval, London
1888-89	27,000 The Oval, London	10,000 The Oval, London	7,260 Anfield, Liverpool (2)	15,000 (Preston North End) Anfield, Liverpool
1889-90	20,000 The Oval, London		10,110 Anfield, Liverpool	18,000 (Preston North End) Anfield, Liverpool
1890-91	23,000 The Oval, London	10,000 Ewood Park, Blackburn	11,375 Anfield, Liverpool	16,000 (Accrington & Preston North End) Anfield, Liverpool
1891-92	25,000 The Oval, London		10,730 Anfield, Liverpool	16,000 (Blackburn Rovers, Accrington & Preston North End) Anfield, Liverpool
1892-93	45,000 (3) Fallowfield Athletics Stadium,  Manchester	16,000 Richmond Athletic Ground, London	13,230 Goodison Park, Liverpool	27,500 (Preston North End) Goodison Park, Liverpool
1893-94	37,000 (4) Goodison Park, Liverpool		13,520 Goodison Park, Liverpool	27,500 (Sunderland) Goodison Park, Liverpool
1894-95	42,560 Crystal Palace, London	42,500 Goodison Park, Liverpool	17,420 Goodison Park, Liverpool	35,000 (Sunderland) Goodison Park, Liverpool
1895-96	48,836 Crystal Palace, London		16,080 Goodison Park, Liverpool	30,000 (Aston Villa) Goodison Park, Liverpool
1896-97	65,891 Crystal Palace, London	33,715 Crystal Palace, London	15,840 Goodison Park, Liverpool	40,000 (Liverpool) Goodison Park, Liverpool
1897-98	62,017 Crystal Palace, London		17,390 Villa Park, Birmingham	50,000 (Sheffield United) Villa Park, Birmingham
1898-99	73,833 Crystal Palace, London	25,590 Villa Park, Birmingham	23,045 Villa Park, Birmingham	41,000 (Liverpool) Villa Park, Birmingham
1899-1900	68,945 Crystal Palace, London		18,765 Villa Park, Birmingham	60,000 (Sunderland) Villa Park, Birmingham

(1) Italicised estimates come from contemporary press reports 

(2) Anfield was Everton's ground at this time

(3) Chaotic scenes: official attendance was 45,000, there were probably 60,000 in the ground, affecting the progress of the match.

(4) Again, the official figure. Probably far more in attendance. 

For the League highest the visitors are shown in brackets.

Crystal Palace

SCOTLAND

season	Scottish Cup Final	Scotland v England	League Clubs
			Highest  Average	Highest
1871-72		5,000 Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
1872-73
1873-74	2,500 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow	4,000 Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
1874-75	7,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1875-76	6,000 Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow	12,000 Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
	10,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1876-77	8,000 15,000 12,000 Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow
1877-78	5,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow	10,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1878-79	9,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1879-80	4,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow	12,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1880-81	15,000 10,000 Kinning Park Glasgow
1881-82	12,500 14,000 Cathkin Park, Glasgow	10,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1882-83	15,000 12,000 Hampden Park 1, Glasgow
1883-84		10,000 Cathkin Park, Glasgow
1884-85	3,000 5,500 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1885-86	7,000 Cathkin Park, Glasgow	11,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1886-87	15,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1887-88	10,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow	16,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1888-89	17,000 13,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1889-90	11,000 13,000 Ibrox Park, Glasgow	26,379 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow
1890-91	10,836 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow		5,673 Rangers	12,000 Rangers (Dumbarton)
1891-92	40,000 26,000 Ibrox Park, Glasgow	20,000 Ibrox Park, Glasgow	7,636 Celtic	16,000 Celtic (Heart of Midlothian)
1892-93	18,771 13,239 Ibrox Park, Glasgow		9,111 Celtic	15,000 Celtic (Renton)
1893-94	17,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow	45,107 Celtic Park, Glasgow	7,188 Celtic	14,000 Celtic (Leith Athletic)
1894-95	10,000 Ibrox Park, Glasgow		7,889 Celtic	24,000 Celtic (Heart of Midlothian)
1895-96	17,034 Logie Green, Edinburgh	51,345/56,500 Celtic Park, Glasgow	10,367 Celtic	25,500 Celtic (Rangers)
1896-97	14,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow		11,333 Celtic	25,000 Celtic (Heart of Midlothian)
1897-98	13,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow	40,000 Celtic Park, Glasgow	13,056 Celtic	50,000 Celtic (Rangers)
1898-99	25,000 Hampden Park 2, Glasgow		12,241 Celtic	44,868 Celtic (Rangers)
1899-1900	15,000 Ibrox Park, Glasgow	63,000 Celtic Park, Glasgow	11,889 Rangers	48,000 Rangers (Celtic)

For the League highest the visitors are shown in brackets.

Celtic Park