English football in 1912

T

Tarn Stephanos

Member
I was lead to believe the British regard David Beckham as one of the greatest football players in British football history-he was to football what the Beatles were to rock and roll-(Thats at least how some in the American media painted it-perhaps the Americans are 'playing up' his importance to the game))

Shows how little I know about the topic...But I do love the game..

Pele' stands as my favorite player in history..
 
John Lynott

John Lynott

Member
Hi Tarn and Sam. I think you are both partially right. Beckham as brought on and laid the decisive pass for Crouch to score what could have been the crucial levelling goal in the Euro Championship qualifier against Croatia. Croatia spoil the party by winning 3-2. We were in the States in August for first time and were taken by the interest in Beckham. He was past his best but, like a gridiron goalkicker (think I'm right here) could be brought on for last 15 minutes or so to change the game. Sadly his post-marriage glam lifestyle did him no favours with his Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and he ended up leaving Old Trafford and enjoying only limited success with Real Madrid. Interestingly enough, Tarn, the English Football Association is under fire over here for allowing an American Football game to be staged at Wembley and leaving the pitch badly cut up. On TV broadcasts you could still see the gridiron markings on the pitch. No excuse though for England's general woeful performances. Meanwhile, back on the Titanic, the Irish crew would have been unaware that on the day before the collision, Saturday, April 13, Ireland beat Wales 3-2 in Cardiff in the old Home International series. This heralded the start of a mini golden aged for Irish (32 county) football. The following season they beat England for the first time (2-1 in Belfast) and in 1914 the beat England 3-0 in Middlesbrough, going on to win the Home International Championships for the first time in their history. As I type these words it is being announced that Steve McClaren has been relieved of his post on the bridge.
 
Sam Brannigan

Sam Brannigan

Member
Looks like Beckham will be stranded on 99 caps.

Sums up the "nearly man" image of his generation of English footballers.

Wee Northern Ireland were still in with a shout of qualification with 45 minutes to go of their match last night with Spain - alas, it was not to be. Still, a magnificent campaign - if only we hadn't blown it against Iceland and Latvia!

Scotland also did really well, but England? The performance last night was a disgrace, the first half in particular was indescribably poor.

John - there are calls for the Home International Championship to be resurrected next summer - could be fun!

A bit of a weird Irish Cup campaign in 1912 - Linfield were awarded the cup after the other three semi finalists withdrew from the competition to set up the "New Irish FA" and a new competition, the Gold Cup. The teams rejoined the Irish FA the following year and the Gold Cup (first won in 1912 by the legendary Belfast Celtic)became a fixture in the local football scene for almost a century.
 
B

Bob Godfrey

Member
Tarn, back in the '60s the 'fifth Beatle' was George Best. Beckham? Glam Rock, perhaps. With a bit of added Spice!
 
Sam Brannigan

Sam Brannigan

Member
Hi Tarn,

If you want to see what George Best was capable of, check out this goal he scored for LA in the ill fated NASL in the 70's. Pure genius.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ytSt7EnHhXc

And of course Bob will be delighted to see this astonishing goal by Diego Maradona against England in the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup - still the finest player I have ever seen (it could be worse, Bob. I could have posted the "Hand of God"!)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-rW-lK9F6TU
 
Sam Brannigan

Sam Brannigan

Member
...and just to bring it all full circle, Best was the son of an iron worker at Harland & Wolff. If you ever fly in to Belfast, your first port of call is George Best City Airport.

Beckham might make it on to a list of the top 1000 players of all time, but George is a regular in most people's top three, with Pele and Maradona. The only thing missing from his CV was an appearance at a World Cup Finals, but coming from Northern Ireland it's no surprise he never made it.

Pele has described him as the greatest player he has ever seen.
 
B

Bob Godfrey

Member
Drifting back again into the mists of time, Britain's football icon in my youth (and arguably still the most worthy of fame) was Sir Stanley Matthews, who started playing in the 1930s and was still in the game at top level in the '60s, right up to the age of 50. He wasn't the most skilled player of all time, but he was consistently reliable and a true and modest gentleman from an era where players entertained millions and were happy to do so for £20 a week. Pele described him as "The man who taught us the way football should be played".
 
Stanley C Jenkins

Stanley C Jenkins

Member
I was interested in the reference to Ireland the "old Home International series". Was football popular in urban centres such as Dublin and Cork in 1912? Presumably the campaign to denigrate football by calling it a "Protestant game" began after 1921?
 
John Lynott

John Lynott

Member
I was interested in the reference to Ireland the "old Home International series". Was football popular in urban centres such as Dublin and Cork in 1912? Presumably the campaign to denigrate football by calling it a "Protestant game" began after 1921?

I don't think it was ever denegrated as a 'Protestant game' but as a 'Garrison Game' ie brought in and played by the British Army (which numbered thousands of Irishmen). The GAA barred members of the RUC and the British forces from playing Gaelic football, hurling etc and barred their own members from playing football, cricket, rugby etc. This was the Ban - now rescinded. In the late 1930s the GAA barred President Douglas Hyde from attending a fixture at Croke Park as he had been guest of honour at Dalymount for an Ireland-Poland football (soccer)match. However, Eamon de Valera, was a great rugby fan all his life so nothing in life is black and white. As for football in Dublin, Bohemians date from 1890 and Shelbourne of Dublin were the last team to win the Irish Cup while it was still an all Ireland competition. Shels were also the first Dublin club to win a national competition when they beat Belfast Celtic 2-0 in the Irish Cup Final in 1906.
 
Stanley C Jenkins

Stanley C Jenkins

Member
A point that might have been mentioned earlier in this thread concerned the famous incident early in World War I, when a British regiment went “over the top” kicking footballs (presumably because they had been told that the German trenches in front of them had been obliterated by a recent artillery barrage). I believe that the regiment concerned was The London Irish Rifles — originally socially-superior volunteer unit, but one which, by 1914, would have included large numbers of Southern Irishmen in its ranks.
 
John Lynott

John Lynott

Member
FA Cup semi-final draw Monday March 10

Barnsley v Cardiff
Portsmouth v West Bromwich Albion

Which means that Barnsley could face West Brom in the final at Wembley in May. And the last time these two met in the final was in.....?
 
Sam Brannigan

Sam Brannigan

Member
Just a little heads up for anyone who is fond of Southampton Football Club.

They are due to celebrate their 125th anniversary next year, but the club is in dire straits financially and is in serious danger of going out of business.

This is a horrendous state of affairs, especially since the club reached the FA Cup final as recently as 2003, and for decades was a solid member of the very top flight of English football.

Terrible financial mismanagement and poor team performances have now seen them relegated to the third tier of English football.

I think it's appropriate to post a link to the campaign to try and pull the club out of its black hole here:

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=11682
 
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