WESLYANS AND WELSH WRESTLERS

January 19th 1933

The club known now as Mansfield Town FC, was formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and entered the Mansfield & District Amateur League in 1902, before changing its name to Mansfield Wesley and joining the Notts & District League in 1906. They then finally became Mansfield Town in 1910, and moved from the Notts & Derbyshire League to the Central Alliance the following year. Crowned Alliance champions in 1919–20, they joined the Midland League in 1921 and would win this league on three occasions – 1923–24, 1924–25 and 1928–29 – before they were admitted into the Football League in 1931. 

In only their second Football League season, 1932-33, Mansfield Town suffered what is still their record League defeat, on Thursday 19th January 1933, when losing 8-1 at Walsall in a Third Division (North) encounter. Amazingly just a few matches earlier - on Tuesday 27th December 1932 - Mansfield  beat Rotherham 9-2 at Field Mill, to record what is still their record League victory. 

A month between a club recording their long-standing record League win and record League defeat is very much unique! Mansfield had some more amazing results in 1932/33, with the sequence of League results around those two matches being very strange - 3-6, 0-3, 9-2, 2-5, 0-6, 2-1, 1-8, 1-3, 2-0, 0-7, 2-5. You were never going to get bored watching them, were you! OR perhaps there were other forces playing their part?

NOTE that the Football League divisions lower than Division Two were selected regionally, into Division Three North and Div Three South until 1958.

The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the EFL in 1920-1 and again from 1958-1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division became the fourth tier level after the PL, The Championship and The Football League Division One. In 2004, following the formation of the Football League Championship, the division was renamed Football League 2.

The Sky Bet Championship was:

Founded	1892; 131 years ago, as Football League Second Division 1992; 31 years ago, as Football League First Division 2004; 19 years ago, as Football League Championship 2016; 7 years ago, as EFL Championship

and on 19th January 1952
Oldham Athletic beat Chester, 11-2, at Boundary Park in a Football League Division 3 (North) match, Eric Gemmell scoring seven of them, which remains a club scoring record. Amazingly though Oldham weren't good enough to win promotion that season and Chester weren't bad enough to have to seek re-election. Just two run-of-the-mill teams sharing 13 goals, having fun-those were the days!

Personal information
Full name	Eric Gemmell
Date of birth	7 April 1921
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Date of death	23 February 2008 (aged 86)
Position	Centre Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1945–1946	Manchester Utd
1946–1947	Manchester City
1946	Ashton Utd
1947–1954	Oldham Athletic	195	(109)
1954	Crewe Alexander	14	(5)
1954–1956	Rochdale	65	(32)
1956	Buxton
1960	Nantile Vale
Total		274	(146)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

His final club was Nantlle Vale, sited at Penygroes in the (Ardal) North-west League of Wales, near Caernarfon. The club was notorious in the early 1970s for its very robust style of play, when the team featured noted hard men such as player-manager Orig Williams – a professional wrestler by trade, who fought under the stage name El Bandito – and defender Idris Evans, better known by his nickname of Tarw Nefyn (the Nefyn Bull). 

Williams was once famously sent off in only the third minute of a match at Bangor City. Williams spent his National Service with the RAF; and on discharge he became a professional footballer. He played for several notable teams around North Wales and the north of England, including Bangor City, Shrewsbury Town, Oldham Athletic and Pwllheli. He later became the player-manager of Welsh team, Nantlle Vale and the club, under his mentoring, became known as a very dirty and overly violent team. Williams himself was one of the worst members of his team, and would often be sent off for his repeated fouling. After a particularly rough game, he received an injury, which forced his retirement from football