A CRUSH ON SPURS

Unfortunately, I gave up the midday activity of travelling to a local Non-League club for some outside football, and instead opted to avoid the lashing rain and very cold wind and watched Spurs at Chelsea on TV. I have a soft spot for Chelsea mainly because of Frank Lampard, who as an "Independent Schoolboy" footballer was part of the ISFA U16 Representative squad before he completed O Levels, sucessfully (this is why he makes sense when being interviewed on telly) and left school.
Chelsea v Spurs was a must do. So I'm a little disappointed in the end result...however well done Frank, tough luck Jose!

In 1904 football was becoming a favourite Edwardian past time with crowds growing in numbers. Whilst the game had been firmly rooted in the North, it was beginning to grow in popularity in the South. The south's only representative at the time was Woolwich Arsenal in Division One and Brsitol City in Div 2. There was however a professional Southern League established in 1894, with Tottenham and Southampton sharing the glory. Spurs of course were the only club outside the Football League to win the FA Cup, a feat they managed in 1901, beating the northern Sheffield United!
In 1903-4, Spurs had beaten Everton away 1-2 in Round One (last 32).

On February 20th 1904, Spurs were  pitted in a Second Round Cup tie (the equivalent of the last 16 clubs) against five times League champions and 3 times FA Cup winners, Aston Villa. This was a plum draw and many supporters flocked to White Hart Lane. With the admission cost raised to One Shilling (5p now?) the club was not expecting huge crwods-they were surprised. It was estimated that by kick off 50,000 were surrounding the pitch. It didn't take long before the crowd was spilling on to the pitch.With several encroachments the officials had no choice by to abandon the game.
The referee, Mr J.T. Howcroft, allowed the two teams to play a friendly instead. Vlla took the lead and after only 35 minutes the half time whistle was blown. The second half didn't go on for long before the crowd encroached again and the ref stopped the game.

Despite the crowd behaving themselves and the Spurs club doing all it could to manage the situation, the club was fined £350 by the FA and told to play at Villa Park on the next Thursday.  Spurs won 1-0 and they met The Wednesday (Sheffield) at White Hart Lane, two weeks later in Round Three. Planning for the next game, Spurs ran a 5 foot iron fence around the pitch and  drafted in more police, however many supporters, fearful of another crush, stayed away. Spurs managed a 1-1 draw but lost the replay 2-0.

Photo from the Daily Illustrated.



In the Final, Manchester City beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0, at the Crystal Palace on April 23rd, with the lone goal scored by Billy Meredith.