Bit of fun on CWGC, Glory Days Football In Times of War.

[Owen]

I never look at the CWGC hompage, only the search page.
Just had a look and found this about Footballers in wartime.
Bit of fun whilst remembering.
>>> The Glory Days - Football in times of war

I learnt something about a STFC player I didn't know, look on the Hall of Fame.
Alan Fowler of 4th Dorsets.

Alan was very small for a professional footballer standing just 5’6” and weighing less than ten stone. He signed for Leeds United on his 16th birthday, but went on to play for Swindon Town. He was a fantastic striker, and in a match against Luton in 1935 he scored a hat-trick in the first six minutes ! (Believed to be the fastest in the club’s history)
His career total at Swindon was 101 goals in 223 appearances and he was top scorer in 3 of his 6 seasons at the County Ground.
He was killed shortly after the D-Day landings, on July 10th 1944
Alan’s father Joe was assistant groundsman for Swindon. He never got over the death of Alan and he died in November 1947.
How he is remembered by the CWGC

Also

Nine Arsenal players died while serving in the forces in the Second World War.

See here
Football Hall of fame - Second World War

I like the story of the German POW guard who joined in a game only to pull his pistol and say
‘The next one who tries to score will be shot!’ , He was joking.

[stevew]

Owen,

I saw this one afternoon when I was bored at work. I missed the bit about the Gunners. To the best of my knowledge there wasn't any memorial at Highbury, which is/was a shame.

A rather bit of useless info' is that Man U's highest ever attendance was against Arsenal in 1947 (IIRC), some 84000 and something which was at Maine Road as Old Trafford was still suffering from bomb damage.

Steve

[smc]

Soccer at War by Jack Rollin

An interesting read. Football was initially banned then encouraged to raise morale. Local leagues were set up and clubs were allowed to field guest players from the forces if they were stationed nearby, briefly turning Aldershot into one of best teams in the country! Games were interrupted by air raids with occasions when fans and players would run for cover to avoid being strafed. Getting teams together could be a problem, my team, Brighton's, heavies defeat, 18-0, occured during the war years when they turned up at Norwich with just 5 players and had to borrow a couple of the opposition's reserves and a few volunteers from the crowd.

As mentioned Old Trafford was badly bombed but the only professional club to go under due to the war, was King's Park in Scotland when the only bomb to hit the city of Stirling landed on their ground. Stirling Albion were formed post 1945 to replace them.

[CROONAERT]

Originally Posted by Owen D

I
I learnt something about a STFC player I didn't know, look on the Hall of Fame.
Alan Fowler of 4th Dorsets.

The fastest? You mean that STFC players have scored more than that one hat-trick in their history?????!!!

[john549]

Looking at the date of his death, it is a fair bet to say that he was KIA on Hill 112. Can you confirm if the 4th Dorsets were part of 43rd Wessex Division ?

[Owen]

Originally Posted by john549

Looking at the date of his death, it is a fair bet to say that he was KIA on Hill 112. Can you confirm if the 4th Dorsets were part of 43rd Wessex Division ?

Yes they were and yes he was.