Sporting the colours of Oxbridge, I think it is a bit of a coincidence and as far as I can find, this is not promoting a link with the two "elite" universities, although the Walthamstow Avenue football club might have considered itself top notch in the world of Amateur Football.
Here's a bonus extra from from last year! and if you read it, you will understand why it is being used; it's an anniversary present for you. The Word Press link also will take you to a very nice website that will document a little bit more on WAFC.
Founded 1900-Played in the London League from 1901-Joined the Athenian League 1929-Reached First Rd FA Cup 1930-1 lost to Watford 1-5......1936-7 First Round FA Cup beat Northampton Town 6-1 (lost in next round 1-2 to Exeter City).......Joined Isthmian League post WW2......1951-2 Won FA Amateur Cup at Wembley v Leyton 2-1 (100,000 crowd).....1952-3 Won Isthmian League and reached 4th Round of FA Cup (beat Wimbledon, Watford, Stockport County and then drew with Man Utd at Old Trafford 1-1, losing 2-5 in replay at Highbury (Avenue's allowed use of the stadium for their replay).
The following season saw the club defeat Gillingham in the first round of the FA Cup before losing to Ipswich Town in a second round replay. In 1954-5 they won their third and final Isthmian League title, and also reached the second round of the FA Cup again after defeating QPR in a second replay in the first round, the last time they defeated a Football League club. In 1960–61 the club won the FA Amateur Cup, defeating West Auckland 2–1 in the final at Wembley (45,000).
In 1986-7the club finished bottom of the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, and were relegated to Division One.The 1987-8was the club's last one, with the club merging into Leytonstone and Ilford FC who were later renamed Redbridge Forest. Redbridge Forest then merged with Dagenham FC who
then became Dagenham and Redbridge FC. The old club was diluted!
A modern-day Walthamstow Avenue was formed on what would have been the original Walthamstow Avenue's centenary anniversary in 2000. Playing at Town Mead in Waltham Abbey, they competed in the London County League for three seasons, before switching to the MIddlesex County League for the 2003–04 season. In 2005 they merged with Walthamstow Pennant to form Walthamstow Avenue & Pennant. The new club merged with Mauritius Sports* in 2007 to form Mauritius Sports and Pennant Since the previous revival, Walthamstow Avenue, nostalgically, has been revived as an Amateur Sunday League Side based in Leyton playing at Green Pond Road!
* a club formed by the Mauritian population in London.
I was reflecting on how little our young Hepworth United Football Club members (or indeed some of our grown ups!!) will know about the Geography of Britain (or indeed anywhere else). So what better than to bring a little illumination into their day, as I consider a couple of football derbies from over the Pennines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJ1e1Sqle8 This is a 4th Tier game, the Manchester "suburban" derby at Moor Lane, The Peninsular Stadium (known as this for advertising reasons), between Salford City FC and Oldham Athletic FC. Their previous game on 25th January 2020, ended 1-1, with the "new boys", Salford City taking the lead, only for Oldham to reply later in the game.
This derby attracted over 3,000 at the Peninsular Stadium, a neat little ground, with a capacity of 5,000. The owners of the club, you will remember are the Man Utd lot; Project '92; the Nevilles, Giggs, Scholes BUT Peter Lim seems to be the real money behind the club. A Singaporean, having been educated at the University of Western Australia, with a Business degree! (hard to believe). He has invested in a variety of commodities, from palm oil to medicines. He also owns CF Valencia, although all is not well with this financing at the mo. The Australian link at Oldham strenghtens with Harry Kewell, appointed as Head Coach.
Salford City, of course, have only been a Football League club since 2018-19. The two clubs therefore, will only have met four times, following today's game. Their first meeting, a seasonable derby, was on 29th December 2019 at Oldham, with Salford winning 1-4. The return game was a 1-1 draw. The two met earlier this season, on 31st October 2020, at Salford, with the home team winning 2-0.
The two met this afternoon (30th January 2021) at Oldham, who were 15th in Division One, with 13 points, at the start of the day. Salford were 7th in the Division with 7 points. Today's result was a 2-1 win to Oldham, (scoring a 90+2 minute winner) so those division places will be adjusted a touch.
The Oldham Athletic club, whose home ground is Boundary Park, was founded in 1895, originally known as Pine Villa FC, changing to their present name in 1899.
They joined the Football League in 1907-8. Their closest neighbours are; Rochdale, Manchester City, Man Utd, Bolton W, Accrington S, Blackburn R, Burnley, Bury and due to the M62 Derby-Huddersfield Town, though thankfully they don't meet all of these two often. Bolton and Salford are closest geographically.
Below are the Oldham chaps in 1905, playing in the Lancashire Combination, their first competition.
The other "historic" derby today, was in League One today with AFC Wimbledon hosting MK Dons (remember the history between the two clubs??) at AFC's Plough Lane, with the Dons winning 0-2. MK stands for Milton Keynes of course, so you will need to check their geographical location too.
Since it's January 29th and we are all exhausted after another week of lock I'm keeping this shorter, to appease some of my more elderly readers. Phew! The programme cover should be interesting but try to find a date, fixture, reference to the FA Cup........on it!
72 years ago, on January 29th 1949, lounging mid-table in the Southern League, Yeovil Town, beat the "mighty" Sunderland, 2-1, on the Town's famously sloping, Huish Athletic Ground pitch, in an FA Cup Round 4 game. Sunderland with many fine players were known as the "Bank of England club " due to their spending and wages. Len Shackleton bought for £20.500, was their gold star player, whereas,Yeovil's goalkeeper was making his first appearance. Yeovil playing "mind games" would not allow their famous visitors to train on the sloping pitch before the game.
The Glovers completed this giant killing with 10 fit players, when winger, Jack Hargreaves, was injured after 10 minutes from the start of the game. There were no subs in those days, so the crowd of 17,123 saw Yeovil score through player-manager Alec Stock-see below, (after 28 mins) and then Eric Bryant (105 minutes), while Sunderland could only manage a goal from Jackie Robinson (62 mins). Video below!
The game had to be finished on the day due to fuel shortages, following the War, so there was only extra time offered by the FA on the day.
On the anniversary day of this cup feat in 2009, an attempt to celebrate the Sunderland cup victory was postponed by the Huish waterlogged pitch, despite past and present players making themsleves available. Some more words about Yeovil.
Yeovil Town FC, as a "non-league" club, has beaten 20 Football League clubs in the FA Cup-a record. The club joined the Football League in 2003.
On their way to the Sunderland fixture, Yeovil had beaten Lovells Athletic away 2-3 (Qual 4) having been 2-0 down at half time. Then Romford 4-0 at home (R1), then Weymouth away 0-4 (R2), followed by Bury FC, a club near the top of the Second Division at the time, 3-1 at home, in Rd3.
In the 5th Round Yeovil drew Manchester United at Maine Road (played there due to war damage at Old Trafford) and lost 0-8. 80,000 turned up to see this. United lost in the semi-final to Wolves after a replay. The Wolves beat Leicester in the Final 3-1.
Alec Stock played 30 times for QPR before the war and then managed clubs in over 1600 games, from 1946 to 1980. He was born in Peasdown St John, in Somerset. No wonder then, he spent his first 3 years playing and managing at Yeovil. Stock then looked after Leyton Orient (10 yrs), AS Roma (briefly), QPR (9y), Luton, Fulham, QPR again and Bournemouth.
Ron Manager, on the Fast Show and acted by Paul Whitehouse is based on Stock. See this.......
This fashionable "souvenir" football programme was published by Berwick Rangers on 28th January 1967, when they entertained the very classy Glasgow Rangers in a Scottish FA Cup 1st Round tie at their home ground Shielfield Park. Berwick of course is in England! But you knew that.
13,365 watched Sammy Reid score the only goal of the tie and brought the downfall of the Scottish big wigs who had been Scottish Cup winners in the previous season. The home team's player-manager was goalkeeper Jock Wallace who in his career also played for Hereford United in both the English and Welsh FA Cups. Wallace later went on to manage Glasgow Rangers, with some considerable style and success.
Gary Lineker, broadcaster and former England captain, recalls the terror he felt when Jock Wallace, then manager of Leicester City, "pinned me against the dressing room wall at half-time and called me a lazy English this and that. We were 2–0 up and I'd scored both goals. I didn't score in the second half – I was still shaking!"
Mark Warburton, who later went on to also manage Rangers, said of his time as a youth player at Leicester City, that he took a dislike to the training methods of Wallace, later saying "he was a Marine". We had runs on sand-dunes, running until we threw up. I learned a lot from that.... never treat a player like that again"!
That season 55 matches were played by Glasgow Rangers who came second in the Scottish League Div 1 (top one), lost 3 matches in the league; once to Celtic and to Dunfermline Athletic TWICE.
ALSO in 1966-7: lost in the Final of the Scottish League Cup to Celtic 0-1, lost in the Final of European Cup Winners Cup to Bayern Munich 0-1.
Kenny Dalglish walked over to Jimmy Carter in the Liverpool dressing room and handed him his new shirt. It wasn't just any shirt - this was the number 7, one with a special place in the club's history. Then Reds' manager, Dalglish, had worn it. So too had Ian Callaghan and Kevin Keegan, celebrated players dear to Anfield hearts. It was 12 January 1991, and Carter had only signed for the reigning English champions from Millwall two days earlier. The winger, aged 25, was about to make his debut. But there was something many did not, and still do not, know about him: he was a player with Indian heritage. You can imagine, every single one in that Liverpool dressing room was an international. "To think that Kenny had just come up and given me that seven shirt - this skinny little Indian boy who grew up in Stoke Newington."
Sadly Carter's move to Liverpool in 1991, did not work out. after only 5 apps, Dalglish left the club soon after the signing and his successor, Graeme Souness, deemed Carter surplus to requirements. (left is Carter and Jan Molby)
Carter joined Arsenal and when he made his debut for the Gunners in August 1992, became the first British Asian to play in the Premier League. He lasted 25 games and parted company with the Gunners, in 1995.
It would take 11 years for another Asian to follow in his footsteps. None of the handful of the British Asian players since Carter have scaled to the Premier League. Now aged 55, Carter admits his Indian background still comes as a "shock" to many when they learn of it and, because of his surname and light skin tone, "no-one really identified" him as being of Asian origin during his career.
Carter explains that his surname dates back to an English ancestor from the 17th Century who, after moving from London to India, married an Indian woman and settled in the country. His father, Maurice, was born to Indian parents in Kanpur and brought up in Lucknow in the north of India, where he attended La Martiniere College, a prestigious private school established in 1845 under colonial rule. Maurice was orphaned at the age of 14 and, left "lost" with "no family to speak of", joined the Indian merchant navy when he was 16. "He sailed the seas and loved his sport, he was a boxer in the navy and turned out to be one of their leading boxers of all time. He had 38 fights and never lost one."
Maurice eventually came to England and married an English woman but, after having two boys, the pair divorced. Maurice took custody and brought his sons up in Hackney, east London, "essentially as Indian kids". Carter had a "tough" upbringing during the 1970s and 1980s. Suffering racist abuse was a common part of a far from regular life, the beginnings of a rags to riches journey that would not be out of place in a Bollywood script. He would be woken at 6am by his father on frosty winter mornings and ordered to go out running in his local park to "get one over" the other kids trying to make it as footballers. He would also be told to get some milk off someone's doorstep on the way back if they had none at home.
His father also liked to gamble and would sometimes tell Carter and his brother, who were "free dinner school kids like Marcus Rashford", not to run around at playtime as there would be no evening meal because he had lost his money on the horses. Sometimes, though, Carter says, "he won and we'd go up to Drummond Street in Euston and we'd have a curry and buy Indian sweets".
On the pitch, despite "getting kicked all over the place" and dealing with "major abuse" playing for his youth team, Carter was picked up by Crystal Palace when he was 14. "Whenever I got abuse, I always wanted to prove the person who instigated that racism wrong," he says. "I wanted to humiliate him on the football field."
Carter's dream of making it big took a hit when he was released by Crystal Palace at 19. He worked his way back into the game at Queens Park Rangers before making his name at Millwall. Aged 22, Carter was part of a Lions side that won the old Second Division title in 1988 (1987-91). With Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino in the team, they were promoted to the top flight for the first time. Still, only those closest to him - such as Sheringham, who had played in the same Sunday team growing up - knew about his Asian background. "Hardly any of my team-mates knew of my Asian heritage apart from Teddy. I always felt welcomed at Millwall but I'd sometimes get a few racial comments from the opposition just because I looked a bit different. "It was all about getting your head down and making sure you stayed in that first team to better your career." Carter did just that as Dalglish came calling and he moved to the reigning English champions Liverpool.
British Asians to have played in the Premier League since Carter include Michael Chopra, who made his debut for Newcastle United in May 2003, and Zesh Rehman, whose first appearance for Fulham came against Liverpool in 2004.
At present, there are 10 British Asians among 4,000 professional footballers in the UK - that is 0.25% compared with 7% of the population as a whole.
"I was very lucky to get my second chance in football and what I didn't want to do - looking back - was bring anything to attention which could possibly be seen as a detriment to me. There were no Asian players back then. "People would still talk about black players saying they didn't like it in the cold, or that Asian players were too lightweight. I couldn't afford for anything to be brought up where it was going to be a detriment to my career.
"If I had highlighted my British Asian heritage it would have, perhaps, shone a light on being the first one to ever play for Liverpool and Arsenal. "It could have given that belief to youngsters up and down the country, that they too could make it. But, on the whole - even taking that into consideration - I still don't have any underlying regrets. "There is part regret that I wasn't able to feel strong enough or have the conviction at the time to actually come out and shine a spotlight on it. But outweighing that was the fact that, to do that would be pointing myself out as someone different, when it shouldn't be like that. It shouldn't be about the colour of your skin. "It has to feel right in all aspects for you to disclose something. It wasn't a conscious decision that: 'I'm going to keep this a secret.' It was nothing like that.
"If people came up to me and said, 'I spoke to your dad the other day, I didn't know you were Asian', I was pleased as punch. I would never be one to hide that."
Carter's playing career ended in 1999 with a final stint (16 apps) at Millwall, following spells at Oxford and Portsmouth 72 apps (1994-8). He now works as a co-commentator for radio and does some work for the English Football League, as well as playing in Charity games for An Arsenal XI. He lives in Hertfordshire, on the outskirts of London, with his wife and two children.
Rashid Sarwar (1984-7) might be considered the earliest (in history) Asian to play in Britain-at Kilmarnock with 24 apps. He also played at minor clubs; Maryhill, Glenafton Athletic and Largs Thistle.
I am using an article from Daniel Schofield in the Daily Telegraph, as the basis of this day's blog. He begins with some names of some founding "clubs" of the Rugby Football Union. These exotically named clubs were Flamingoes, Gipsies and Mohicans; three out of 21 clubs that came together to form the Rugby Football Union, 150 years ago today. The first meeting was held in Regent Street's Pall Mall Restaurant. Harlequins and Blackheath still exist from that meeting, many do not. Once the World Rugby Museum is reopened to celebrate the 150th Year, the minutes of this meeting will be on show.
The main participants were not bearded gentlemen with top hats, but fresh faced school leavers with an average age of 23. Rugby was still confined to the schools. The meeting was called being connected to an unofficial football match played between England and Scotland in March 1870. The Scottish authorities did not officially recognise the match, preferring rugby football to association. A challenge was laid down by five Scottish clubs inviting England to play a rugby match at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. A letter inevitably was published in "The Times" inviting rugby footballers of England to form a team and there was a codified set of rules produced. The main issue in the laws was centred around the practice of "hacking". This is when you were allowed to kick the shins of your opponent when somebody tries to run past you. This was a real and nasty feature of the game at Rugby School. Nails would be inserted into the boots to cause major damage. The rugby players at the Football Association in 1863 left when the FA decided that hacking should not be allowed as well as an important law, regarding "handling the ball" which was banned.
Eventually hacking was banned and you will note that the word "laws" instead of "rules" because the majority of those at the meeting were solicitors. So the "clubs" that formed tended to be made up from mates from school, hence the generation of "mates" clubs with names like "Gipsies", former boys from Tonbridge School in Kent. The club did not have a set ground to play on, hence the reference to a "wandering nature". By the way, this explains the famous soccer (association football) club known as The Wanderers, a team that won 5 out of the first seven FA Cup Finals. They played away. (The is also a cricket team known as The Izingari, that had no home ground, playing away fixtures only).
The Old Boys' rugby teams could not get established grounds and the attraction of more competitive "town" clubs left them short of players. Sportsmen from these fledgling clubs found themselves influencing sport through out the country, with Montague Shearman (above) of the Nomads becoming the secretary of the AAA, won a Blue in Athletics for Oxford and was a soccer player who represented The Wanderers and Clapham Rovers. He played rugby for the university and football alternative weeks.
Reginald Birkett (of Lancing College) highlighted below, won one international cap at football v Scotland on April 5th 1879 and scored England's first ever rugby try in 1871. He also played in goal for Clapham Rovers in two Cup Finals, winning one v Oxford University in 1880. Another Clapham Rovers' member, William Percy Carpmael, went on to found the Barbarians Rugby club. They were of course "gentlemen sportsmen", many of whom who had time on their hands to play both codes and probably some cricket too!
A few years ago, the "sportsman" mentioned yesterday in the Blog, and I were playing in a boys and teachers friendly game against a visiting adult side from Liverpool! Very amateur I would admit; our goalkeeper was a tall, rangey sixth former whose surname was Horsfall. Nice boy, half decent keeper! We played on a full size pitch in a very strong gale blowing downpitch. We were kicking into the wind and it was a nice even game. Robert, the goalie, took a goal kick into the wind and the ball travelled smartly towards the centre circle. It then met the gale and like a glider rose up and then "over" itself, retracing its path back towards the goal kicker. By this time he was beyond his penalty spot supporting his lengthy kick, only to find the ball rushing back to him falling out of the sky from about 20 feet on its arc. It then bounced on a firm pitch and raced over the goalies' outstretched arms into his goal. The ball had left the penalty area, he of course got a touch on the ball trying to save it and therefore it might have been an own goal! We think! Well the ref did....we all fell about...so did Robert, bless him. Have a look at this link.....
Newport County goalkeeper, Tom King, scores a 105 yard goal kick v Cheltenham (as if the Robins haven't had enough publicity!)
Here are the "latest Laws regarding goalkicks:A goal kick is awarded when the whole of the ball passes over the goal line, on the ground or in the air, having last touched a player of the attacking team, and a goal is not scored.
A goal may be scored directly from a goal kick, but only against the opposing team; if the ball directly enters the kicker’s goal, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents if the ball left the penalty area. This was changed in 1997; before there had to be a touch by a player following the kick and the ball had to leave the penalty area.
Procedure The ball must be stationary and is kicked from any point within the goal area by a player of the defending team. The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves. Opponents must be outside the penalty area until the ball is in play.
Offences and sanctions If, after the ball is in play, the kicker touches the ball again before it has touched another player an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposition;
if the kicker commits a handball offence, a direct free kick is awarded
a penalty kick is awarded if the offence occurred inside the kicker’s penalty area unless the kicker was the goalkeeper in which case an indirect free kick is awarded
If, when a goal kick is taken, any opponents are inside the penalty area because they did not have time to leave, the referee allows play to continue. If an opponent who is in the penalty area when the goal kick is taken, or enters the penalty area before the ball is in play, touches or challenges for the ball before it is in play, the goal kick is retaken.
If a player enters the penalty area before the ball is in play and fouls or is fouled by an opponent, the goal kick is retaken and the offender may be cautioned or sent off depending on the offence. For any other offence the kick is retaken.
I am making no apologies for staying in the Western Peninsular following on from the amazing Truro City blog yesterday. Talking to an old colleague, a cricketer, footballer, allotment owner, who lives down that way, we got on to "cocks". This stemmed from a conversation about a cricket match he played in for Dorset against Cornwall in a Minor Counties' game, where he was a bit slow in the slips and as bowler Graham Cock unleashed a belter, the batsman nicked it, the ball nipped through the slip's waiting mits and hit the poor lad "lower midrift". With batsman dropped and as ususal a considerable amount of sniggering from his colleagues, the slip fielder was carried off the pitch in that same slip catching position, only to be treated with ice, while the rest of the field got on with the game. Result?? who knows? but it must have hurt!!
Cornish old boy, Mike Trebilcock, was brought to my attention, when we chatted about his success in the 1966 FA Cup Final. 21 year old Mike became a hero on behalf of the "Toffee men", Everton FC. Trebilcock scored twice to beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2, Everton having been 0-2 down with a 2/3rds of the final gone. Mike had only played a handful of reserve games before he became one of those heroes of the FA Cup. Signed from Argyle on New Year's Eve in 1965, this was only his second cup tie. Everton's winning goal? Scored by Derek Temple.
Trebilcock is also known as the first "black mixed heritage" footballer to score in an FA Cup Final.
Born in Gunnislake in 1944, Trebilcock played at Tavistock in 1962 with his career moving onto Plymouth Argyle(71apps/27goals), looks like a good buy! Then Everton 1965-8 (11apps-3goals), Portsmouth (109/33), Yeovil Town (4-3) Weymouth Town and Western Suburbs in Sydney 1976. He finished his football career coaching in Darwin-another equatorial "pointing" peninsular.
Time to make up the "hat trick", often known as "Trebil"cock in Cornwall; two more serious Cornish footballers include Donald James Cock and Jack Gilbert Cock, and also Herbert...not so serious.
Donald (below) was the younger brother of Jack, both born in Hayle, near Penzance. Donald played for Fulham in 1919 (86 apps/43goals), Notts County (85/32), Arsenal (where he broke his leg in his second game, ironically against his former club Notts County, and never played for the Gunners again), then he went on to Clapton Orient (64/28), Wolves and to Newport County in 1927.
Jack, also of Hayle, (b.1893- d.1966) well below! was a centre-forward. He was the first Cornishman to play international football (for England) as a centre forward. His career was interrupted by the War, in which he also led the way, winning the Military Medal.
He later turned to the stage where as a "tenor", he sang in music halls and as he walked on to the pitch to play. He also appeared in two films; "The Winning Goal" 1920 and "The Great Game" 1930. Later, inevitably, he ran a pub in New Cross, London.
His clubs were: West Kensington, Forest Gate, Old Kingstonians, Brentford, Huddersfield, Brentford (for whom he scored 6 hat tricks) and Croydon Common. THE WAR! Then after the war, Chelsea (99/47), Everton (69/29), Plymouth A (90/72), Millwall (115/77) for whom he was manager from 1944-48. Prolific!
His first goal for England was against Ireland (25/10/1919) when after 30 seconds he scored, what is the third fastest English international goal in history. He won 2 caps and scored twice. The other on 10/4/1920 v Scotland at Hillsborough 5-4, scored first goal. The ref was Scottish! Here is Jack:
The youngest Cock brother is Herbert (b Slough May 1900) who played once for Brentford against Plymouth Argyle in May 1921 and had a dabble at QPR and Arsenal-no senior appearances.
I wrote about York City recently and the club's issues with their Stadium. All seems to be calm at the moment. At the other end of the country, Southern Premier League, Truro City, is also having ground development problems. With the various disturbances to the season, Truro are fourth in their division, which takes them on journeys to Hendon, Chesham and Swindon. The club's greatest achievement was in 2007 when they beat AFC Totton 3-1 in the FA Vase Final at Wembley, with a crowd of over 36,000.
Truro City, known as the White Tigers, played their home games at Treyew Road, Truro, (see below) a ground that has been their home since the mid-1900s. A council road widening scheme resulted in their covered stand behind a goal being removed. In recent years the club has added to their old stand and erected two new stands on opposite sides of the ground lifting the capacity to approximately 3,000.
In 2005 the club planned to build a new 16,000-seater stadium in Truro as a new home for the city's football club.However, the £12m plans were opposed by some residents who live near the proposed site at Treyew Road.In 2006, the club revealed plans for a £7m football training complex. The club wanted to build two new pitches and a club house on land in Kenwyn, Truro with a 60-bed hotel and offices at its present Treyew Roadbase. However, in 2007, Carrick District Council rejected the plans for the new 16,000-seater stadium. In 2011 the Councilstarted developing a business plan for the proposed Stadium for Cornwall, which would host both Truro City and the Cornish Piratesrugby union team.
In 2014, the club sold Treyew Road for redevelopment, with the intention of using the money as their share of the development costs for the planned new stadium. The club received three extensions allowing them to stay at the ground following its sale, but in the summer of 2018, the development company announced its plans to begin work on the project immediately, forcing Truro City to find a temporary location. Eventually, the club came to an agreement with South-west rivals Torquay United, to groundshare their Plainmoor stadium, a ground that was 2 hours away from Truro.
In October 2018 it was revealed that the deal with Helical Retail, who were going to redevelop the Treyew Road site into a supermarket, was off. In January 2019, Truro returned to Treyew Road, but insisted that they still planned to share the proposed Stadium of Cornwall with rugby union club Cornish Pirates and provide facilities for the local, Penwith College.
In January 2021 it was announced that the club will finally leave their Treyew Road ground and groundshare with Plymouth Parkway FC at Bolitho Park, in town, until 2022, when the Stadium for Cornwall is scheduled to be finished at Langarth, where a Garden Village is planned with around 2,700 homes. Bolitho Park has to be upgraded. Parkway play two levels below City in the Western Premier League.
The whole development should bring much investment to the City and its region.
P.s. Truro-comes from three rivers (tri-veru) probably the Kenwyn, Allen,Truro River, leading to the Fal.
This short video shows Real Madrid being humiliated by 3rd Tier club, CD Alcoyano (from Valencia), playing in Segunda B, in the Round of 32 of the Copa del Rey. Manager, Zidane, brought a strong squad including Benzema, Marcelo, Vinicius, Isco and Vasquez. Alcoyano were as strong as they could be.
From the lower leagues in Spain and playing at their home ground, Estadio El Conao, Alcoyano went behind to Militao's header after 45 minutes. It looked as though it might be a whitewash, but Solbes scored at 80 minutes to take the game into Extra Time. When Olivan was red carded and the home team down to 10 men, Casanova brought much love to the game with a giant killing winner at 115 minutes.
Prior to this humiliation, Real had played and lost to Athletico Bilbao 1-2 in the semi-final of the Spanish Supercopa de Esspana.
Alcoyano is famous across Spain for a "proverbial match" in which they were facing a very adverse score. When the referee was about to blow for full time, the Alcoyano players kept asking for more time to score back and reach a draw. Thus the phrase tener más moral que el Alcoyano ("to have greater morale than Alcoyano") is common place in Spain's language.
More fun below, especially with the commentary. Fouling or been fouled, footballers always pull their socks up!
The Alcoyano defeat rates as the worst result for the giants, Pellegrini's Real Madrid, since their embarrassment on 27th September 2009, when they lost to AD Alcorson, 4-0. 2,997 watched the game!
The Cup tie was two legged and Madrid could only reply with a 1-0 win at their place. They went on to lose to Racing Santander 2-3 in the next two leg round.
AD Alcorson, fondly known as "Alfareros" The Potters...Spain's Stoke City, was founded in 1971.They played in the same division, Segunda B, as the Real Madrid Youth side. The best selling LOTTERY ticket in Spain at Christmas that year was number 27109, the date of the humiliation. Nothing superstitious about that. An average salary for the Potters' players was 36,000 Euros, as much as Ronaldo of RM earned in a day that season.
This evening our FA Cup brings together Premier Leaguers, Wolves, who visit, minnows (this season's giant killers) Chorley FC from the Sixth Tier.
Having been formed in 1908 as a amateur club, The Minstermen, were a non-league club until 1917 and eventually reformed as a new club 1922 playing in the Midland League. They were elected to the Football League in 1929, replacing Ashington (the birthplace of the Charltons and many other great footballers) to join the Third Division North. In 1958-9 season the club was promoted for the first time
The club's longest cup run came when they reached the semi-final of the 1954-5 FA Cup, a campaign in which Arthur Bottom scored eight goals. (at York City 1954-8: 137 apps/82 goals) He ended up at Alfreton Town FC.
In the semi-final, York drew 1–1 with Newcastle Utd at Hillsborough, before being beaten 2–0 at Roker Park in the replay.This meant York had become the first third-tier club to play in an FA Cup semi-final replay. With a 13th-place finish in 1957-8, York became founder members of the new Fourth Division, while the clubs finishing in the top half of the North and South sections formed the new Third Division. In the 1970s the club did spend two seasons in the Second Division and memorably in 1975, played Arsenal in an FA Cup 4th Rd tie that went 4th Jan: drew 1-1 at Arsenal; replay 7th Jan lost 1-3.
THEN 26th Jan 1985 with 10.840 at Bootham Crescent beat the Gunners 1-0 in the FA Cup 4th Rd. Arsenal: Lukic, Anderson, O'Leary, Sansom, Caton, Robson,Talbot, Williams, Mariner, Nicholas, Woodcock.....no average side.
they played at Wembley in 1993 in the "get promoted to the" Third Division Play off final which they won. They were relegated from Division 3 in 2003-4 and to the Conference the following season. To "celebrate" the end of 72 years of the Football League at Bootham Crescent, the ground was named KitKat, with Nestle sponsoring £100,000 to the club coffers. This sponsorship ended in 2010. York returned to the Football League in 2012-13 and then was relegated to the National League in 2016-17. The last game at Bootham Crescent was held on December 28th, a 1-0 win over Guiseley; 627 watched. It is now in the hands of Persimmon Homes and English Heritage. The community owns 25% of the club. 75% to JM Packaging.
Plans are to save part of the Popular Stand Terrace and tunnel providing a lasting legacy creating a memorial. The David Longurst Stand is named in memory of a player who tragically died from cardiomyopathy, on pitch in 1990 having played only 6 games for the club. Roads, walkways and apartments built on site will pay respect to past club legends. There is a Memorial Garden planned and the old centre circle will be an open green space. The "Five minute flagpole" will remain, a unique feature of the ground when its lowering signifies five minutes before the end of the game. Do have a look at this video also.
Most recent, the club hoped to play its first games in the New York City Stadium, known as the LNER for sponsorship reasons! Covid has delayed that move, though the stadium is ready. The video is above! The next fixture is due against Curzon Ashton on January 30th.
Note the famous York City shirt, from 1974-5! and don't forget York City Knights Rugby League club who ground share.
With the Yom Kippur War affecting oil supplies to Britain, from the Middle East and the Miners' Strike in February, the UK was subjected to a 3 day working week, to save energy. There was a floodlight ban at the nation's stadia, with earlier kick offs appropriate and even a proposal to suspend the league was suggested or to postpone matches and extend the competition to June. These ideas were rejected.
On January 6th 1974, four Third Round FA Cup ties, were played on a Sunday. There was the Sunday Observance Act 1780, in place, which meant there would be no entrance fee charged! The clubs got round this by selling programmes.
Match 1: At Bolton, where they took on Stoke, for a Sunday 2pm ko, the 40,000 crowd was far too large for the number of programmes printed- Bolton won 3-2. Some fans saw this for "free". Bit like 2020-1!
Match 2: On the same day, Cambridge United played Oldham at 11.15am drew 2-2 and 8,000, a huge crowd relatively, saw it. On the 8th the two met again in the replay at Oldham 3-3! Then for the third time, on the 14th at Cambridge, Oldham won 1-2. Burnley stopped Oldham's run, reaching the semi-final, losing to Newcastle.
Match 3: Nottingham Forest beat Bristol Rovers at 2pm 4-3 (23,000 watched);
Match 4:Bradford City beat non-league Alvechurch 4-2 in front of 15,000. Plenty of goals.
By Sunday January 20th, 12 grounds hosted Football League matches, including the first ever, a morning kick off (11.30) between Millwall (1) and Fulham (0) at The Den, in the Second Division. How the Millwall fans managed to avoid Church on the Sunday morning, heaven knows?
Big crowd, waiting to get into The Den.
Bob Wall the Arsenal Chairman stated that "Playing football and making profits on a Sunday is wrong." "We will not disturb the peace and quiet of the neighbourhood of Highbury on that day."
Despite this plea, the next week, on January 27th 1974, a First Division match, between Stoke and Chelsea ended 0-1 with Geoff Hurst scoring the only goal, a penalty. Nearly 32,000 saw this.
Over that weekend Darlington hosted Stockport County on the Saturday (26th) in Division 4 1-1. The next day, Sunday, Darlo hosted Torquay Utd in Div 4 0-0: 3,054 suffered this.
A friend and ex-colleague, an art teacher and art historian, footballer, Leeds fan!! has been, over recent weeks, enlightening us with detailed explanations and histories of well known paintings. One artist that "got me" was Rene Magritte, a "Surrealist" and to the left is one of his pieces, "Representation", a football match, painted in 1962. (there is another piece by him called "La Representation", which is another "ball game" so to speak.
Whatever, Brian got me going on a topic for today's "blog" which is famous paintings with football as the main subject.
It will be worth looking up Magritte's range of topics-for your education! There are several footy related pieces of work by him. The long link below may help....
The Football Museum in Manchester has football paintings on display too. Worth a visit when all this Covid business is GONE! See link at the bottom.
Thomas Webster painted this "mob game" in 1839. The ball is just out of the "maul" on the edge of the path, kicked by the lad in light clothes. Games stretched over miles! and involved 100s of participants usually between villages, usually on a day of celebration such as Shrove Tuesday.
Left is Laurence Stephen Lowry's "The Football Match". He lived in industrial Manchester and supported Man City, painting several football events, one of the best known called "Going to the Match" and "Football Ground" based on Burden Park, Bolton. The painting is owned by the Professional Footballers Association who bought it for a record £1.9 million in 1999. It has been on long-term loan to the gallery for the last four years. Lowry painted the picture in 1953 for a competition run by the association and shows fans going to Bolton Wanderers game at their old home ground, Burnden Park.
It is Jack Charlton’s favourite painting and forms the centrepiece for the exhibition that includes other drawings and memorabilia as well as video diaries. Jack Charlton says, “This is just like it was in those days when I was young: all wooden open stands, cinders underfoot, terrible conditions in the toilets. It reminds me of Newcastle United years ago. Everyone turning up 15 minutes before kick-off, seeing your uncle Billy or your school mates in the crowd… there’s so much in it, it’s fabulous.”
This blog is determined to bring an all round education to you readers, especially during this "unprecedented" period. There you are, that's the first word that we all had to look up a few months ago, but we know it now; what a difference a Covid makes. So here's another sporting gem for you:
Baily Harper finishes with a 9 darter, while practising today, though the event was not officially recorded! Not a World Record, because there is no video film of it. However, Baily can take some pride in that he is younger than Leighton Bennett from Norwich, who at 13 years old in 2019, on camera, set the record with a 9 darter. There was a televised success by Michael van Gerwen, who at 17 years old, in 2007, set the world alight, throwing a "prefect leg"! Where is this all going?
Baily is enrolled at the Staffs Dart Academy. Some of the lads on profile in the website have sensible christian names by the way! I think the "academy" is just a regular darts' club rather than an "academic institution" where the youngsters get school exercises and homework as well as being allowed to chuck darts.
The county of Staffordshire is located in the "Black Country", named by a Mr Simpson, the Town Clerk in Lichfield in 1841, describing the state of the landscape as "blackened by smoke during the day and red from fires glowing at night". The "flag" below depicts the generalised daytime view and it reflects the influence of the local coal seams, mining and associated industries during the Industrial Revolution. The Black Country region runs through the West Midlands, see map below.
The Flag of the Black Country (left), represents "black by day and red by night".
Towns in the region are West Bromwich, Bilston, Tipton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. So there are three "top flight" clubs who compete in Black Country; West Bromwich Albion, Wolves and Walsall.
WBA and Wolverhampton Wanderers first met in January 20th 1883, in a Birmingham Senior Cup 3rd Round tie, which the Albion won 4-2. There were two cup meetings before the Football League was founded; in January 1886 in an FA Cup tie which The Baggies won 3-1 at Stoney Lane, a ground they used from 1885 to 1900. And in 1887 another WBA win 2-0 at Stoney Lane.
In 1888, they both became founder members of the Football League. The two clubs met in Division One from then until 1906 when met each other in Division 2; then back to League Div 1 in 1932, into League Division 2 from 1989, League Division 1 from 1993, then The Championship 2006 and the Premier League from 2011. In March 1950, the two met at The Hawthorns, 60,945 watched, the largest crowd for this Black Country Derby.
Latest meeting was on January 16th 2021 at Molineux, Wolves 2-3 Baggies. The next league meeting is in the Premier on 1st May 2021-will there be a loud crowd allowed?
To date: West Brom has won 65 meetings, Drawn 43 and Wolves have won 53. I would include Walsall in the Black Country Derby but that may be a subject on this tomorrow, if I can't find anything more interesting to write about. Nickname of Walsall?
Do have a look at West Brom and Wolverhampton Wanderers FA Cup exploits from the 1886-96.
Head to Head: West Brom v Walsall: W5 D4 L6: first meeting at Walsall; Jan 27th 1900 FACup 1-1.
Head to Head: Wolves v Walsall Town Swifts: W7 D5 L4: first meeting at Wolves; Feb 16th 1889 FA Cup 6-1.
Howard Webb, the FIFA Referee, officiated at Charterhouse School when the school hosted and played in the Independent Schools' FA Cup Final v Millfield, March 12th 2008 which the home team won! Webb was brilliant, making the most of refereeing a "minor" match as though it was a World Cup Final. David Elleray, the ISFA Chairman arranged this and with Millfield's consent, arranged for Charterhouse to host the match when there had been various postponements at the traditional "Football League venue", Leicester City FC. Below is Howard taking charge of the game which went to 0-0 aet and a penalty shoot out, won by Charterhouse following 20 (twenty) penalties.
16.30 TODAY-LIVERPOOL PLAY MANCHESTER UNITED a game first played on April 28th 1894 which Liverpool won 2-0 against Newton Heath in what was described as a "test match".
This match has been played on January 17th ONCE before in 2016. Liverpool 0 v Man Utd 1
On Sunday, January 9th 2011, Manchester United played Liverpool in a Third Round FA Cup tie at Old Trafford. It was Kenny Dalglish's first match back as manager.
Referee Howard Webb gave Manchester United a penalty in the second minute, which was converted by Ryan Giggs, and it proved to be the winning goal.
Liverpool's Gerrard was sent off 30 minutes later, United's Fletcher and Anderson were yellow carded, so the Old Trafford crowd of 74,000 were well entertained. Surely, the referee did not deserve the "Twitter" comment by Liverpool's Ryan Babel, a 60 minute substitute, who said, "And they call him one of the best referees, that's a joke!" This "doctored" picture of Webb, by Babel, didn't go down too well with the FA, who fined Babel £10,000.
I have been attending, by zoom, a friend's lecture on his (and ours) favourite subject-Alpine plants. He's a bit of an expert, published and all that and as I type this, Charlton Athletic's result has just been read out, which is a coincidence; so good luck David Charlton-a man who has his roots in Sleaford Town, near Lincoln City and his flowering Alpines in Derby (County). I shall not be giving you an account of the lecture, but here are some plant nicknames for football clubs and others.
You may not be able to read the classification diagram, which is sad but you can find it on the www. So I shall rely on these typed words to enlighten you:
Plants & Animals The natural world runs wild in English football team nicknames, though flora are in short supply as compared to fauna.
The Tricky Trees (Nottingham Forest) might be uncommonly used by fans who prefer the Reds or Forest, but surely close proximity to Sherwood Forest is something to be celebrated and enjoyed rather than forgotten about.
The Tangerines (Blackpool), are, regrettably, named for bright orange kits rather than the citrus fruit of the same name, but let’s not split hairs.
The Cherries (Bournemouth), on the other hand, really are named for the fruit, though opinion is split as to whether the name originates with cherry red shirts or having played near a cherry orchard.
Don't forget Shamrock Rovers, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Linlithgow Rose FC (Scotland), Montrose Roselea FC and in Ghana "The Hearts of Oak", Accra and the Sugar Boys FC from the British Virgin Islands!
CLUB BADGES MAY SPORT FLORA IN DIFFERENT FORMS-see below for a couple.
Animals
have played a serious role as mascots, with mammals dominating, though by
no means being the only types of creatures to grace team crests. As popular as
they are in heraldry, they are very popular in football. Cats appear time and time again
in the form of Lions (Aston Villa, Millwall), Tigers (Hull City) and Black Cats
(Sunderland). Scottish influence at both Villa and Millwall seems to have
resulted in the borrowing of a lion from the Scottish coat of arms, whereas
Tigers comes from an obvious reaction to black and orange striped kits. The
Black Cats boast two origin stories, one involving a black cat that became good
luck when it ran across the pitch and one involving a local artillery unit known
as the Black Cat Gun Battery.
Canine
enthusiasts need not worry as dogs and their brethren are also well
represented. In the running for cutest nickname in football are the Terriers
(Huddersfield Town), unromantically bestowed on the team by a promotions' man
within the club. Elsewhere on the Canidae family tree are the Foxes (Leicester
City), alluding to Leicestershire as the birthplace of modern fox hunting, and
Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers), an obvious syllabic reduction but one too
classic to file with the rest of the short forms.
Rounding
out the animal kingdom are horns and hornets. The Rams (Derby County) take
their name either from an existing city symbol or an old regimental folk song
called “The Derby Ram,” depending on who you ask. Like the Tricky Trees before
them, the Stags (Mansfield Town) make their home near Sherwood Forest but are
named for the beasts within rather than the foliage. The Hornets (Watford) and
the Bees (Barnet) are both named for kits featuring black and gold stripes, but
the Bees (Brentford) emerged as a result of homophonous confusion over
19th-century fans chanting a song called “Buck Up B’s.”
Hands
down, birds are the animal that more football team nicknames are named after
than any other. There are multiple Magpies (Newcastle United, Notts County), at
least three Robins (Bristol City, Cheltenham Town, Swindon Town), but
surprisingly few Eagles (Crystal Palace). Seagulls provide a key soundtrack to
any seaside visit, so their connection with Brighton & Hove Albion is an
absolutely natural fit. The Bantams (Bradford City) are not named for the
boxing weight class but the alleged similarity of their claret and gold kits to
the feathers of a small but mighty bantam chicken. The Canaries (Norwich City)
have zero association with their role as the harbingers of coal mine disaster;
rather, they trace back to Renaissance-era weavers who brought the birds with
them when emigrating from Flanders to Norwich.
There are
even a handful of teams with bird names that are not technically named for our
feathered friends. Owls (Sheffield Wednesday) is a shortening of Owlerton, a
suburb of Sheffield, with Swans (Swansea City) following a similar approach.
Though it’s fallen out of use as a sobriquet since the introduction of an
all-white kit, the Peacocks (Leeds United) stemmed not from the regal bird but
the original name of Leeds’ ground, the Old Peacock Ground, which in turn was
named after the neighbouring Old Peacock pub.
But the most obscure among the
bird-inspired names are the Bluebirds (Cardiff City), named not for the club
switching to a blue kit in 1910 but for a play called The Bluebird of Happiness
by Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck that found incredible success when it
was mounted in Wales in 1911. Theatre!
A fair few
clubs take their nicknames from the world of architecture. The Spireites
(Chesterfield) are named for the famously crooked spire of the Church of St
Mary and All Saints. Others opt for references to their home ground, with the
Cottagers (Fulham) nicknamed not for the cottage built at the stadium in the
early 20th century but for an earlier cottage built on the same site 125 years
earlier.Despite their name, the Millers (Rotherham United) do not have a
history of grinding grain, but rather evolved from the name of their ground, Millmoor.
The Riversiders (Blackburn Rovers) are, unsurprisingly, named for the River
Darwen that runs adjacent to the stadium. (see badge)
There are
some clubs that truly defy classification, but it’s in their idiosyncrasies
that some of football’s best nicknames are found. There are the Wombles (AFC
Wimbledon), taking their name from a series of environmentally conscious
children’s books about creatures called Wombles. Then there are the Trotters
(Bolton), which is allegedly local slang for someone who likes to play practical
jokes (not Dell Boy), but a story involving players trotting off to retrieve out-of-bounds
balls in muddy pig pens certainly demands consideration as well. The Shakers
(Bury) are not the church team of a local religious sect but an immortalization
of the club’s first chairman’s threat to an opposing team: “We shall shake ’em.
In fact we are the Shakers.” The Toffees (Everton) reflect a 1950s tradition in
which a woman distributed toffees to fans waiting inside the ground for the
match to start, a brilliant piece of promotion for a nearby confectioner.
Posh
(Peterborough United) has zero connection to Victoria Beckham but was named
with about as much thought when the club’s 1920s manager said he was looking
for “posh players for a posh team.” At the opposite end of the spectrum, the
Smoggies (Middlesbrough) hold the distinction of being the only team nicknamed
for industrial pollution, a dubious honour at best but one that is slowly being
embraced by locals as they try to reclaim the pejorative term.
No such obvious
origin exists for the Baggies (West Bromwich Albion), who could be named for
the men who would carry box office cash in large bags through the stadium to a
central office, or they could be named for a bunch of theories revolving around
the loose trousers worn by local ironworkers who frequently attended matches or
even players in kits in sizes far too large for them. There might also be a nickname of "Throstles", after the thrush that diligently sang in a tree near the ground.
Perhaps
the most colourful nickname of them all is the Monkey Hangers (Hartlepool
United). Whether it’s the stuff of legend or the genuine truth, the tale told
over the years involves a shipwreck on the shores of Hartlepool during the
Napoleonic Wars with France. Hartlepool’s patriotic citizens put the only
survivor, a monkey, on trial and when the monkey could not answer their
questions owing to its lack of ability to speak English, it was promptly
declared a French spy and hung. As you do when you encounter a shipwrecked
monkey in the Napoleonic era. “Monkey Hangers” is, of course, meant to be
rather derogatory, but the club embraced the name and introduced a monkey
mascot named H’Angus, his name a portmanteau of “hang” and “Angus.”
There’s still time left to mine
the depths of the football pyramid should a name like the Red Imps (Lincoln
City), the Avenue (Bradford Park Avenue) or the Little Club On The Hill (Forest
Green Rovers) pique your curiosity.
