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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Football in the Great War


peter__m

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Just wanted to say that this year in school I introduced my pupils to the CWGC website and of course the football links on the page got them totally enthralled.

They ended up researching ancestors, parents came in and asked me all about how to do it. We downloaded some MICs and I ended up with an original WW1 uniform in the classroom from one of the pupils. He brought in his great grandfather's medals. The pupils just totally loved it. I loved it! The stuff kept coming. For any Ulster folk out there, I ended with an original photo of Carson and Craigavon inspecting volunteers and letters from POW. Children are fantastic.

Great idea to use football to generate interest. Really worked.

We take penalties every Friday on the big screen.

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Sandy Turnbull played for Hurlford Thistle, Manchester City and Manchester United where he had a formidable scoring record. 28427 L/Sgt. Alexander Turnbull was KIA at Arras 3/5/1917 while serving with 8/East Surrey Regt.

David

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  • 8 months later...

Have just ordered a book from Amazon called 'When the whistle blows' - the story of the footballers battalion

worth a look at £13-99

regards

John

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A different code but football none the less from an Australian perspective.

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It was the champion country footy team that went away to "play the game" of war for the British Empire.

Nearly all of the 1914 premiership side at Warracknabeal, in the Wimmera-Mallee wheat belt, would become part of the ANZAC legend.

Town workers and farmers' sons alike heard the powerful call of patriotism, and obeyed the prevailing codes of honour and duty to join the bountiful harvest of strapping young men from western Victoria.

Undefeated all year against the "enemy" of nearby country towns such as Rupanyup, the Warracknabeal team (formerly known as the Imperials) did not have its own way at Gallipoli or on the Western Front.

Of the 14 who went abroad, just one man returned unscathed.

One of the team's stars, former captain-coach and all-round sportsman Bert Glasson, and useful player Charlie Thewlis (bottom right), would be among the 8000 Australians killed at Gallipoli. The death of Lieutenant Glasson, one of the town's most popular figures, was felt as a grievous loss.

Another player, Archie Bickers, died of illness before he could take part in a landing there.

Six men were wounded seriously enough to see them repatriated to Australia, some with horribly disfiguring injuries and serious disabilities. One of them, Alex McDonald, received a Military Medal for gallantry.

Cheers,

David

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Name: TULL, WALTER DANIEL JOHN

Initials: W D J

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Regiment/Service: Middlesex Regiment

Unit Text: 17th Bn. attd. 23rd Bn.

Secondary Unit Text: (formerly 5th Bn.)

Age: 29

Date of Death: 25/03/1918

Additional information: Son of the late Daniel Tull; brother of Edward Tull-Warnock, of 419, St. Vincent St., Glasgow. Former professional footballer with Tottenham Hotspurs and Northampton Town. He played more than a hundred first team games for Northampton Town before the First World War intervened.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Bay 7.

Memorial: ARRAS MEMORIAL

A booklet about Walter Here.

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One of my local teams Newtongrange United had a proud tradition of service during the Great War,by the end of the war 3 Committee men, 13 players and over 50 members joined the colours. Four of the players did not return, and a number were decorated. The club did not survive the war they suspended play in 1917 when most of the young lads you see in the 1917 photo were conscripted. In 1919 all their players signed for Newtongrange Star and they marched into history.

The Team of 1915

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The Team of 1917 (including Bob the dog)- contrast the ages, but they had swept the board this season

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Hi my gt uncle played for barnsley,rotheram,wrexham,but have not been able to find much on him regarding the war.

his name was rees(rhys) lloyd born 1897 rhostyllen nr wrexham,

cheers julie

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  • 4 weeks later...

My Great Grandfather was a local footballer. I don't know much about him, but i've attatched his Obituary. He was also Private 26660 Charles Herbert Hallam of the Sherwood Foresters. I'm not sure whether his football career continued into his military career though. He was born in 1886 Bamford, Derbyshire

Joanne

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Serjeant 23245 Billy Fiske 8th Bn.Border Regiment was Nottingham Forest's Blackpool-born goalkeeper. His regiment had been sent to Soissons near the River Aisne in France to rest and refit, but on Monday of 27th May 1918 they suddenly found themselves facing the German's last major offensive of the war.The Allies were pushed back with huge losses. Among them was Sergeant William Fiske who was seen going over the top in his shirt sleeves. They never found his body and today, the man who only played five games for Forest in 1914, is remembered on the Soissons Memorial alongside 4,000 others officers and men who were lost forever.

He was the son of Charles and Sarah Fiske and husband of Bessie Fiske, of 57, Bank Hey St., Blackpool.

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  • 5 weeks later...

More information on Sandy Turnbull who in 1905 played for Manchester City when the entire squad was suspended for accepting illegal payments! When the ban was lifted, Sandy started to play for Man Utd and was the hero of the 1909 FA Cup Final, scoring the only goal in the 1-0 win against Bristol City.

Disastrously, Sandy and some others were again accused of match-fixing when they played Liverpool in 1915. Several players were punished with a lifetime ban. Some of the men managed to clear their names, but sadly, Sandy was killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917 before he had the chance.

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  • 1 year later...

My great-uncle William 'Tommy' Fiske was born in Beccles, Suffolk. In his youth he played for Bungay FC, and for Suffolk County. He enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment in 1903, serving, and playing in goal for the Army in South Africa. After transferring to the Reserve in 1906 he played briefly for Norwich FC, and then moved to Blackpool FC in 1908, making 217 appearances. The Directors of the club gave him a benefit match in 1913. Tommy left Blackpool in May 1914, transferring to Nottingham Forest. However, he played only four games for them before being mobilized. He kept goal for Forest in January in the Cup Final against Norwich. Lancejack.

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Here you go, football at the front the 8th Royal Scots who had an excellent football team in action, this goalie obviously had more than sun in his eyes to bother about. B)

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And check the boots

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All good clean fun!

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In my previous post re William 'Tommy' Fiske - I forgot to add that the circumstances of his death at Soissons are as 'aged' described. Lancejack.

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Yes excellent.

Donald Bell - Bradford City?

This is the only footballer to ever win the VC?

Just to clarify Donald Bell played for Bradford Park Avenue and not Bradford City (Avenue beign the bigger club at the time). Donald came from Harrogate and completed teacher training at Westminster College in London where he played for Crystal Palace. He moved back to Harrogate to take up a teaching position at Starbeck School where he played for Newcastle United on amateur terms. He was offered a full time playing contract with Avenue in 1913.

He was the first professional footballer to join up at the outbreak. Donald died during an attack on a machine gun nest near Contalmaison. He was awarded a VC for an attack on another machine gun nest on the 5 July 1916 near La Boiselle.

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Memorial to those who served and died from Newcastle United can be found at St James Park

Newcastle United Memorial

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I'll add this fellow seeing as he had the misfortune to play for my team Leeds United's predecessors Leeds City.

James Speirs

James Speirs was born in Govan, Glasgow, on 22nd March, 1886. He worked as a clerk but was a talented footballer and played for Maryhill in the Glasgow Junior league before joining Glasgow Rangers. His debut in the Scottish League came in September 1905. He scored six goals in his first season at the club. The following year Speirs signed for Bradford City. He became captain and scored the only goal when the team won the FA Cup final against Newcastle United in 1911. The following year Herbert Chapman managed to persuade Leeds City to pay £1,400 for his services. He developed a fine partnership with Billy McCleod and in the 1912-13 season Leeds broke the club record with 70 goals.

On the outbreak of the First World War Speirs enlisted in the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. He was posted to France in March 1916. After winning the Military Medal for bravery in the field he was promoted to the rank of sergeant.

James Speirs was killed at Passchendaele on 20th August 1917 and is buried at Dochy Farm New British Cemetery in Belgium.

bigjimmyspeirsjpg.jpg

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_detail...casualty=161211

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  • 2 years later...

One from my collection (previously mentioned on this thread) - Peter Quinn of the LIverpool Scottish.

Played for Blackpool and later moved to Preston for a near record fee of £3000. Described as 'a crack left-winger' he also played for The British Army of Occupation.

Neil

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This is from a Palace fans forum. here some information on a few players, it doesn't include Donald Bell but he has already been mentioned a few times.

There are at least 12 players who played for the Glaziers (Crystal Palace FC) that lost their lives

during World War 1 (and I'm currently checking to see if that figure is higher),

HARRY HANGER

Harry Hanger was born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire and was a left centre half who signed for Palace in May 1909. Prior to signing for Palace, Harry began playing his football at amateur local side Kettering, and from there moved just down the road to Northampton. A spell at Bradford City followed, before he made the switch to Palace. In all he played in 168 games for Palace, plus 10 in the FA cup and was a great servant to the club and a regular in Edmund Goodman's side with 8 goals to his credit over his six years. He was also Palace's captain for several seasons. Harry left Palace and enlisted at Northampton in 1915 and was sadly killed in action in Flanders in March 1918.

ARTHUR HOOPER

Born in Manchester and originally with Manchester Utd, Arthur joined Palace in 1914 and spent one season with us making a total of 18 league appearances, scoring 2 goals. He left Palace the following year in 1915 when he enlisted in Manchester with the Royal Lancaster regiment and died of wounds received on 4th April 1916 in Flanders.

JOSEPH BULCOCK

Born in Burnley in 1884, Joe Bulcock was a versatile defender who could operate anywhere along the backline and began his footballing career with the virtually unknown amateur outfit Bryn Central. Joe then moved to Bury before moving to Macclesfield and then Exeter City. Signing for Palace in 1909, Joe went on to turn out in almost 140 games for Palace both in the Southern league and the FA cup over the next five years, before moving on to SWansea Town. He was capped twice by England and died of war wounds on 20th April 1918 in France.

NORMAN WOOD

Born in Streatham in 1890, Norman Wood spent one season with Palace, appearing only once for the first team in an away fixture at West Ham in March 1909 at inside left. There is no definitive record of him turning out for

any other Southern or football league side prior to that, so it's possible that Palace plucked him from the ranks of local amateur football. After leaving, he joined Plymouth the following season and played 13 times for them during 1910/11 before moving back near to his former base in London by joining Palace's rivals, Croydon Common. With the Robins he played 38 times and scored a very reasonable 18 goals, before after only another single season he moved to Chelsea in 1912. He failed to appear for their first team and

then spent 1913/14 on Stockport County's books, and during that and part of the following season he played 58 matches, and scored a dozen times. Around this time he enlisted with the army in Chester, and rose to the rank of Sergeant in the Middlesex regiment (the famous footballer's batallion). At the age of 26, Norman was killed in action in France during July 1916.

ERNEST YORK

Ernie York was a versatile player who could feature either as a half back, or also at forward and was born in Moulton, Northamptonshire (not far from Harry Hanger's birthplace). Prior to signing for us, he was another Palace player who spent some time playing at Kettering, and he also won medals in cup and league competitions for amateur sides in the Northamptonshire area. Ernie scored 6 times for Palace in 54 southern league matches between 1912 and 1915, and also played 3 games for us in the FA cup. Ernie most likely

joined the army sometime in 1915, as there is no record of him playing football for any other side, and after enlisting in the Reading area he was killed in action two years later (in April 1917) whilst involved in a campaign in Salonika, Eastern Europe.

JOHN BOWLER

Born in Newcastle, Staffordshire, James was a back (defender in current terms), and first appeared at Palace in August 1914 when he played in a blues vs whites pre-season trial match for us (such games were advertised to attract players and run the rule over them in football's early days). Although he came out on the losing side, he was commended for his performance and must have impressed the Palace hierarchy as he was signed shortly after. Before he made his Palace first team debut though, he was involved in a more serious matter when he became one of the first two Palace players to sign up for national service and recruitment into the army for the first world war, in December 1914. This may have been prompted by the death of a family member in the army's service, as it looks like he may

have had an older brother who was killed in action in October 1914. James however wasn't called up football wise by Palace until February 1915, when he made his only first team appearance in a 4-1 home Southern league win against Reading. He made no further appearances for us or any other side after that, and it's likely that he was called into service in Europe by the army and possibly killed in action.

WILLIAM MIDDLETON

Born in 1892, along with John Bowler, Bill Middleton became the first Palace player to sign up for WW1 service, when he joined the army in December 1914 following the creation of the "footballers batallion". Hailing from Boldon Colliery in Tyne and Wear, and an outside right by trade, he was another player that rose from the ranks of amateur football. After starting off at Boldon and then Newcastle City, he played amateur football in the

Birmingham area and signed for Aston Villa, although he did not make an appearance for their first team and then went to Brighton in 1912, whom he played for 10 times. He came to Palace in late 1913 but didn't make his first team debut until March 1914. He played 21 times the following year in the Southern league, but was then absent from Palace while on duty in Europe for the next few years. After returning home safe, he then re-appeared in the first team during 1919-20, and then left Palace to have stints in Scotland with Ayr Utd and Aberdeen. In 1923 he moved back down South to Southend, and played 30 times for them before having a short stint in Scotland once more, this time at Dumbarton. He finished by playing

at Folkestone, where he settled at the end of his football career.

JAMES (JOHN) "GINGER" WILLIAMS

"Ginger" Williams is a bit of an oddity, in that between both Palace and Birmingham historians (two of the clubs he played for) there is some confusion over his first name, which is generally believed to be James (Palace records of 1913 list him as this). Born in North Wales in May 1884, and a forward or inside left, his interest in football started by playing at local league level in Wales. Early in 1904 he signed for Bury, scoring 7 goals in 15 games during his first season and in 1907 he moved on to Accrington Stanley.

A year later however, he was off to Birmingham City in mid-1908 just in time for the new season, but after 12 games with them he returned the following February to Accrington. From there he came to Palace in 1909 during the pre-season period for 1909-10, and spent five years with us clocking up 142 appearances in the Southern league, with 56 goals to his name. He was also capped twice by Wales whilst with the Glaziers, playing in ties against

Scotland and Ireland. After leaving us in February 1914 he moved on to Millwall, and was with them for around a year before enlisting in the 17th batalion of the Middlesex regiment. He was reported as missing presumed dead on 5th June 1916, and his name is commemorated on the Arras monument, near the French town of the same name.

Edward Bell MC & Bar

During the First World War, he joined the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment (the "Footballers' Battalion"), achieving the rank of captain. In October 1916, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during operations: the citation stated:

Finding himself in command of the battalion he repelled a counter-attack with great determination. On another occasion he rescued several men from a blown-in dugout.

In 1918, he received a "bar" to his Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. The citation read:

While holding a section of the front line he located and supervised the formation of forward dumps of ammunition and material. He carried out the work in daylight close to the enemy, and often under very heavy shell and machine-gun fire.

He was killed on 24 March 1918 in the Battle of the Somme and buried at the Albert Communal Cemetery.[2] He left a widow, Edith Anne Bell.[

John Brearley

he never fought in the WW1 but was in a civilian detention camp!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brearley

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in the book 'when the whistle blows' it lists the first men to enlist in the footballers battlion the 17th Middlesex.

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and here are some who survived the war.

http://en.wikipedia....orace_Colclough

http://en.wikipedia....i/Jack_Alderson

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Dick_Allman

also Crystal Palace fc have a record in WW2 where we fielded 186 different players during the 7 wartime seasons.

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i have just read an account of how 400 men, footballers and officials from the top clubs in London were requested to a meeting. Sportsmen to sportsmen appeals were made with men given the oportunity to enlist which four playes from brighton did and many others.

The players would be allowed saturday off, to live at home and be paid for the end of the season. Until the call to bear arms. It was noted as well that a form of insurance would be investigated should players not be able to continue careers..40 men enlisted from various clubs.

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i have just read an account of how 400 men, footballers and officials from the top clubs in London were requested to a meeting. Sportsmen to sportsmen appeals were made with men given the oportunity to enlist which four playes from brighton did and many others.

The players would be allowed saturday off, to live at home and be paid for the end of the season. Until the call to bear arms. It was noted as well that a form of insurance would be investigated should players not be able to continue careers..40 men enlisted from various clubs.

please see post #95 this is talked about in the book and lists the first 40 players.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know whether there's yet beeen any mention of any of the following on this thread, but here's a small handfull of German players who partook in the Great War ...

Fritz Baumgarten (goalkeeper for BFC Germania - 1 international cap) - survived

Fritz Becker (Kickers Frankfurt - 1 international cap) - survived

Albert Bollmann (Schwarz-Weiss Essen - 1 international cap) - survived

Walter Borck (MTV Munich - 1 international cap) - survived

Hermann Bosch (Karlsruher FV - 5 international caps) - killed July 16th 1916

Max Breunig ( 1.FC Pforzheim - 9 international caps) - survived

Rudolf Droz (BFC Preussen - 1 international cap) - believed to have been killed in 1914

Fritz Fuerst (Bayern Munich - 1 international cap ) - survived

Karl Hansen (FC Altona 93 - 3 international caps) - killed 13th September 1916

Julius Hirsch (SpVgg Furth - 7 international caps) - survived the war , but died in Auschwitz in May 1945

Georg Krogmann ((Holstein Kiel - 3 international caps) - killed January 9th 1915

Otto Thiel (BFC Preussen - 2 international caps) Killed July 10th 1915

I also have to mention one more who survived the war to become an SS officer in the second world war (who also served at Ahlen camp (Neuengamme KZ) for a period - a service for which he was sentenced to 15 years for war crimes post WW2 (sentenced repealed in 1951))...this was Otto Harder of Hamburger SV (with 15 international caps)... his nick-name was a pearler for a man with his beliefs... he was always known as 'Tull' Harder!!!!

Dave

(PS ...Does anyone know whether Sepp Herberger (manager of the world cup winning team of 1954) saw any WW1 service?)

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JOSEPH BULCOCK

Born in Burnley in 1884, Joe Bulcock was a versatile defender who could operate anywhere along the backline and began his footballing career with the virtually unknown amateur outfit Bryn Central. Joe then moved to Bury before moving to Macclesfield and then Exeter City. Signing for Palace in 1909, Joe went on to turn out in almost 140 games for Palace both in the Southern league and the FA cup over the next five years, before moving on to SWansea Town. He was capped twice by England and died of war wounds on 20th April 1918 in France.

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