Footballers go to war
Recruiting poster showing a football scene and infantry in a trench, c1914.
NAM 1977-06-81-47.
The outbreak of World War One (1914-1918) presented the football authorities with a problem. Although supporting the enrolment of footballers into the armed forces, they decided to continue with the 1914-1915 season in order to maintain public morale. Once it was completed, both the League Championship and the FA Cup were postponed for the remainder of the war.
Wonderful Woodward
Many footballers joined the Army on an individual basis. For example, 11 members of Tottenham Hotspur were killed during the war fighting with various units. One former Spurs player who survived was Vivian Woodward, who played for Clacton, Harwich and Parkestone and Chelmsford before joining Tottenham in 1902. With 19 goals in 27 matches he was Tottenham’s top scorer in the 1908 season when they were promoted to Division One.
Olympic hero
Woodward later joined Chelsea and played for them until the outbreak of war. In 1914 he joined the Rifle Brigade, but later became a Captain in the 17th Batallion, The Middlesex Regiment. He was wounded in 1916 and never played football again. Woodward won 16 of his 23 full international caps while he was playing for a non-league club. He also played in 44 amateur internationals, including the 1908 and 1912 Olympics, scoring 58 goals. His best performance came in England’s first amateur international against France in 1906, when he scored eight goals.
London Footballers enlist
17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, 1915. F. E. Bullock of Huddersfield and England stands second right and R. McFadden of Clapton Orient is seated centre. Both died in action. NAM 1994-02-180
The formation of the ‘New Armies’ allowed footballers to enlist en masse in ‘Pals' Battalions’. Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient FC) were the first English Football League club to enlist together.
Following the example of club captain, Fred Parker, around 40 players and staff volunteered. They joined the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, which was known as the ‘Footballers' Battalion’.
Leading goal-scorers Richard McFadden and William Jonas were amongst those killed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The 17th Battalion’s second-in-command, Major Frank Buckley, was wounded in the shoulder and lung in 1917. He recovered to become manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers after the war.
McCrae's Battalion
Officers of 16th Royal Scots, 1916.
NAM 1979-09-45
In November 1914 Sir George McCrae, chairman of the Local Government Board in Edinburgh, called for volunteers for his new unit. They became the 16th Battalion, The Royal Scots. Among the first recruits were the entire Heart of Midlothian first team. At the time Hearts were top of the Scottish League. The 16th were the original 'Footballers' Battalion' and Sir George went on to assist in the raising of the 17th Middlesex.
Somme bloodbath
Somme offensive, July 1916.
NAM 1959-11-303
As well as Hearts, volunteers enlisted from the squads of Raith Rovers, Hibernian, Dunfermline and Falkirk football clubs. On 1 July 1916 the 16th Battalion attacked Contalmaison on the Somme. During the operation they lost four officers and 225 other ranks killed and six officers and 341 other ranks wounded.
Career saved
In October 1916, the Hearts right-back Pat Crossan was wounded. Taken to a field hospital, his foot was labelled for amputation. A captured German surgeon, working as an orderly, was called on and saved the limb. Crossan returned to duty and later resumed his football career.
Women players boost morale
The Preston Army Pay Office Ladies’ Football Team, 1918. NAM 1994-07-249
Female players also joined the war effort. The museum has a memoir written by a Miss McLean of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps). The daughter of a Preston North End footballer, she describes playing for the Army Pay Office establishment at Fulwood Barracks, Preston, in 1916:
'Record Office also formed a ladies team and we played each other on the Preston North End football ground. This game was a huge success, the money went to war comforts etc. A match was then arranged for Dick Kerr's Ladies team to play Pay and Record office teams on the Blackburn Rover ground. I think we were the first to beat Dick Kerr's team. This match was a treat for the convalescent soldiers stationed at Whalley Hospital who filled the stands. I was proud to be captain'.
'The Directors of Blackburn Rovers invited us to dinner after the match. The Chairman had known my father, who had played at Blackburn many times. The Chairman said if we were only men he would have signed us for Blackburn. I had been brought up on football as long as I could remember, my father being known as Jimmy McLean who played for Preston and many other teams. The Chairman remarked on the likeness of my play with my fathers'.
World War Two
Football in the desert: 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (RAC), 1943.
NAM 1975-03-63-13-20
During World War Two (1939-1945) domestic football competitions were again suspended for the duration. Although ‘Pals' Battalions’ were not formed, many professional players volunteered or were conscripted into the Army. Several achieved recognition during wartime tournaments.
Sir Tom Finney played for Preston North End, but joined the Royal Army Corps in 1942. He served in North Africa with the 8th Army. After the war he won 76 England caps.
Other players who served in the Army during the war include Wolverhampton Wanderers legend Billy Wright, Arsenal and cricketing hero Denis Compton, Middlesbrough’s Wilf Mannion and Bill Nicholson of Spurs fame.
