POLIO STRIKES HALL

With the "Virus" still in the air and with some football getting out and about, I turned my reference books to June to see what was going on around this time of the year. It's normally World Cup time and I have done that to death.....so with illness in mind and hopefully avoiding death, I remember being taken to Fratton Park one Saturday and hearing an annoucement about a footballer from Birmingham City, called Jeff Hall, who was very ill. These sorts of announcements were not common thank goodness but this one seemed important as it involved Polio.

The date was March 1959 and I was not very old. Just tall enough to see over the wall at the front of the far terrace.

One Sunday in March Jeff fell ill, sore throat, didn't make training and soon was paralysed and taken to Birmingam hospital. He was placed in an "iron lung", he had three throat operations but two weeks later, his condition had deteriorated so much that he died on April 4th.

He was one of England's great full backs and of course a stalwart of the Birmingham side.

Once this condition had been had been diagnosed the doctors immediately sent out a warning that anyone who had been in contact with Jeff should report to their doctor immediately. There was immediate "panic", Birmingham's three Easter games were cancelled and Midlands clubs and City's recent opposition were medically checked out.

The Football League recommended vaccinations and a panic set in knowing that if a fit 29 year old footballer like Hall could be struck down by the illness, then it was likely to affect anyone. Hall's wife, Dawn, spoke on TV and to the media and her story forced the country's newspapers to "up" their coverage of the illness. News of Halls' untimely death, created a national outcry which encouraged, subsequently, the "salke" vaccination programme which saved many lives. I remember the jab well which became a routine for children!

Hall made his debut for Birmingham in 1951, played 227 games for City:
He was an FA Cup Finalist 1956, in white, losing to Manchester City at Wembley. 3-1

and won 17 caps for England. His debut was in 1955 against Denmark and was never on a losing side wearing an England shirt.

The Daily Mirror reported the illness and the condition of his health on 25th March 1959.

"If Gill Merrick, (Birmingham and England's goalkeeper) was an emperor among goalkeepers, then Jeff Hall and his other full back Ken Green were his worthy paladins....(look it up!)" (Sunday Times)

There is a memorial clock sited at the club's St Andrew's Stadium.