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Old North East Footballers

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Omega Man
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The Omega Man

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I'm currently working with a number of football historians to produce 28 to 32 page individual club books based around a very famous set of football photographic cards that were issued in the 1920's. They dont sell many copies but from a football history point of view its a hugely interesting thing to be involved in.

What struck me as I was producing each teams effort was the number of footballers who came from he North East and the stories that were uncovered. I thought that you might want to read one or two of them and see the cards themselves which are superb.

Some of the players featured in the set for another team (ie not Sunderlands set) either did play for Sunderland or would play for Sunderland so there are loads of clubs that have some sort of SAFC interest.

How about this one to start with. The biographies are written by the individual club historians. Someone from Whitburn might actually know this family:

James Cockburn Hugall (Clapton Orient - the forerunner of Leyton Orient)

Born: Whitburn, Sunderland, 26 April 1889
Died: Sunderland, 23 September 1927, aged 38
O’s career: 1910-1921, 140 League appearances with 0 goals, 3 FA Cup appearances

Jimmy Hugall started his goalkeeping career with Rectory Park Villa of the Hendon District League ( Hendon is a district in Sunderland). In 1907 he joined Sunderland St Stephen’s Co-operative and in 1908 he was with Whitburn of the Wearside League. The 5ft 11ins and 12st 2lbs goalie signed for O’s on 17 June 1910, making his debut in a 1-0 win over Stockport County on 31 December 1910 replacing the injured Billy Bower for his only game of the season but when Bower let in five goals at Derby County on 30 December 1911, Hugall took over the green jersey for the following 18 games, eleven of which were victories. He shared the jersey with Bower over the next three seasons, making 68 League and 1 FA Cup appearances before the onset of War. He enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry and made a Private. In June 1915 he was promoted to a Lance-Corporal and fought with the great black goalkeeper Walter Tull. Hugall received wounds to both his legs and and shoulder and he was a patient in the Denmark Hill in south London.

During the War years he made 1 guest appearance for Leeds City, on 23 November 1917 against Bradford City and 43 Wartime League and Cup appearances for Sunderland. He also appeared for O’s in 1917. After the War remarkably after all his War wounds he returned to Millfields and made a further 72 League and 2 FA Cup appearances. In 1920 he was awarded a benefit match against Tottenham Hotspur, which attracted over 10 000 fans.

He lost his place to Arthur Wood and in September 1922 joined Scottish side Hamilton Academicals, his debut came against Patrick Thistle, making a further 16 consecutive appearances before moving to Durham City in August 1923. The following February he was appointed player-manager, making 35 Scottish League appearances. In September 1924 he moved back to the north-east with Seaham Harbour and ended his career with the Sunderland Co-Op in August 1925, but sadly Hugall died at a very young age three-years later from a heart attack.

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821 R Shields – Ralph Shields (Brentford) – Forward – Born: Newbiggin, 1892.

Career: Newcastle United, Huddersfield Town, Exeter City, Brentford (1921-1922), Sittingbourne, Blyth Spartans.

Ralph joined the Bees in 1921, form Exeter City, but only appeared in 8 League matches, scoring 1 goal, and 1 FA Cup match, before moving on the following season to Sittingbourne, to join several other ex-Bees. Ralph immigrated to Australia in the 1930’s and took on his previous job as miner. During WW2, he joined the Australian Army Service Corps, whilst serving in Borneo he was captured by the Japanese and taken to the Sandakan POW Camp. Here he died, in November 1944, and is buried in Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia.

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Jack Swann - Huddersfield Town


0704: J. Swann

John ‘Jack’ Swann was a forward born in Easington, Durham, on 10th July 1892. He transferred to Huddersfield from Seaham Colliery FC in May 1919, only days before Tommy Wilson made the same move, and he made his début on 25th October in a 2-2 home draw with Fulham. Swann helped Town to win promotion to Division One in his first season and then earned a FAC Runners-up medal in the same year as Town were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. After playing a total of 74 games for Town in all competitions, mostly at inside-left, and scoring 36 goals, he earned a move to Leeds United on 14th November 1921 where he played a further 108 games and scored 47 goals. After Leeds he played for Watford and Queens Park Rangers, his career ending in 1928. In 1972, at the grand old age of 89, Jack was invited to attend the Centenary FAC Final as the oldest surviving footballer of any Final.

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John William Mew - Manchester United


JOHN WILLIAM MEW

b. Sunderland 30th March 1889
d. Manchester 1963

Jack Mew started his career in non-league circles with Church Choir FC, Marley Hill St. Cuthbert's, Blaydon United and Marley Hill United before United 'stole' the promising youngster from under the noses of the local Sunderland scouts. He arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 1912, with Bob Beale the resident guardian and only made four appearances in his first three seasons, winning a Central League medal as he learnt his professional trade in the second string. In 1915/16, with Beale on war duties and Mew working locally in Trafford Park, he was first choice throughout the conflict and chalked up 126 wartime appearances before making the position his own when normal activities resumed.

A keeper of both class and bravery, Mew had incredibly strong hands, wonderful positional sense, and developed a reputation as one of the best shot-stoppers in the league. His form was rewarded with a place on the England touring party to South Africa in 1920, selection for the Football League in 1921 and finally a full England cap v Ireland in his hometown in October 1923. In fact, for six seasons, Mew only missed five games, two of those was when on representative duty. Together with Silcock and Moore, they formed the backbone of the United team for some years and it was a surprise to many that Mew did not win more representative honours.

In addition to his wartime stint between the sticks, Mew featured in 199 league and cup appearances for the Reds until September 1926 when he joined Barrow for a final term before later taking coaching roles in Belgium and Peru.

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Joe Spence - another one from Man United

JOSEPH WATERS SPENCE

b. Throckley, Northumberland 15th December 1898
d. Chesterfield 31st December 1966

A hero of the terraces throughout the 1920's, Joe Spence's name is inked into the history pages of Manchester United Football Club.

A scoring prodigy at schoolboy level, he started his career with Blucher Juniors and Throckley Celtic while working as a coal miner from the age of thirteen. At seventeen he joined the Army and helped the Machine Gun Corps win the Army Cup. However, it was while playing for Scotswood in the Northern Victory League that the eighteen year-old forward first came to United's attention in March 1919. He immediately went into the first team and his four goals on debut against Bury remains a club record to this day.

Over the next 14 years more were records fell as he chalked up 510 appearances, notched 168 goals and was top scorer in seven seasons. The latter record still remains to this day. Spence went on to play once for the Football League and twice for his country, both in 1926 against Belgium and Ireland. Originally a centre-forward he was latter switched to outside-right but could play across the forward line and with his electric pace, direct style, lethal shooting and accurate crossing he was a constant menace for any defence.

During the paucity of the 1920's, with very little to cheer on many occasions it was no wonder that the Popular Side held banners aloft to 'Give it to Joe'. After fourteen years giving his all for the team he left for Bradford City in the summer of 1933 thus missing the ignominy of United's worst season in history in 1933/34.

Spence later moved on to Chesterfield and upon retiring scouted for the Spireites for some years.

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Kevin Arnott's right boot said:
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Wow...where's that come from? Superb.

Randy Ostrich said:
Is Warney Cresswell in there?

World record signing from South f***ing Shields. Can you imagine that these days?
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Warneford “Warney” Cresswell (5 November 1897 – 20 October 1973) was an English international footballer who was described as “The Prince of Full Backs” for his renowned tackling and positional skills in the right-back position. In a seventeen-year career in the Football League he made 571 league appearances, and won seven caps for England.

He began his career during World War I, playing in the Scottish Football League with Morton, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, before signing with English Second Division club South Shields in 1919. Three years later he moved into the First Division when he was bought by Sunderland for a world-record fee of £5,500. He made 190 league and cup appearances and helped the “Black Cats” to a second place finish in 1922–23, before moving on to Everton for £7,000 in 1927. He helped the “Toffees” to win the Football League championship in 1927–28 and 1931–32, the Second Division championship in 1930–31, the FA Cup in 1933, and the FA Community Shield in 1928 and 1932.

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Kevin Arnott's right boot said:
Not mine unfortunately, it belongs to a Manchester United collector. The other side has Billy Meredith of Manchester City on it.
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Be worth a fortune.

Speaking of Billy Meredith, the bloke was a genius of his day:


WILLIAM HENRY MEREDITH

b. Black Park, Chirk, Wales 30th July 1874
d. Withington, Manchester 19th April 1958

The innate talent, the showmanship, the enthusiasm, the longevity, the politics, the controversy, the star quality and the toothpick were all important ingredients that made Billy Meredith not only the star player of his day, but one of the greatest wingers ever to play the game. Born on the Welsh border, Billy started working down the pit while playing for Northwich Victoria in 1892. Two years later he was signed by Manchester City and over the next decade he had helped City to win two promotions and scored the winning goal in the 1904 FA Cup Final.

However, a betting scandal in 1905 led to FA enquiry and it was found that he and other City players had received illegal payments and he was suspended from football from August 1905 until January 1907. His sense of injustice led Meredith to take an active part in the newly formed Players Union. Knowing his suspension was a matter of months away from being lifted, the United manager Ernest Mangnall signed Meredith, and three other City players, from under the noses of their neighbours.

Meredith made his debut for the Reds on New Years Day 1907 versus Aston Villa and started a 15 year career with United that saw him pick up another FA Cup winners medal, two League Championships and two Charity Shield medals and was instrumental in helping United rise to the highest peak in their existence. A bandy-legged outside-right, Meredith had incredible ball control, an amazing body swerve and the ability to cross the ball on a sixpence like no other. Together with his ability to find the back of the net, he was the easily 'the' star player of the day. In addition, his 48 caps for Wales over a 25 year period gave further illustration of his ability to defy father time.

Meredith went on to feature 332 league and cup matches for United, although strangely none during the Great War, and upon reaching the spritely age of 47 he was given a free transfer in the summer of 1921. The mercurial Welshman spent three years as player/coach at City before retiring in 1924 in his 50th year. He took up a number of roles after retiring including a coaching spell back at United in September 1931.

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The Omega Man said:
Wow...where's that come from? Superb.


Warneford “Warney” Cresswell (5 November 1897 – 20 October 1973) was an English international footballer who was described as “The Prince of Full Backs” for his renowned tackling and positional skills in the right-back position. In a seventeen-year career in the Football League he made 571 league appearances, and won seven caps for England.

He began his career during World War I, playing in the Scottish Football League with Morton, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, before signing with English Second Division club South Shields in 1919. Three years later he moved into the First Division when he was bought by Sunderland for a world-record fee of £5,500. He made 190 league and cup appearances and helped the “Black Cats” to a second place finish in 1922–23, before moving on to Everton for £7,000 in 1927. He helped the “Toffees” to win the Football League championship in 1927–28 and 1931–32, the Second Division championship in 1930–31, the FA Cup in 1933, and the FA Community Shield in 1928 and 1932.

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Mint :cool: my favourite player from that era
 
Another Clapton Orient one. they were chocker with NE players. The Leyton Orient historian BTW is from South Africa!


James Jack Henry Forrest

Born: Shildon, 1891
Died: Unknown

O’s career: 1913-22, 126 League appearances with 10 goals, 7 FA Cup appearance, 0 goals

Jack Forrest started off with Houghton Rovers and in 1909 he was up against the the great George Camsell who hit eleven goals for a Middlesbrough X1 in a 14-1 victory, not the way to start your career. In October 1910 he moved to Heswall of the Sunderland & District League and two years later joined Shildon Athletic.

The half-back moved south on trial with O’s during March 1913 and he was soon signed-up. He proved to be a very hard-working half-back with a strong tackle who could defend or attack equally well. He made his League debut on 6 September, a 1-0 win over Fulham and his first goal came on Christmas Day 1913 in a 5-2 victory over Bristol City.

During the war he served as a Gunner and in October 1917 he received a serious wound to his right forearm, he recovered to returned to O’s and played a further 63 League and FA Cup games over the following two seasons before dropping down to the reserves. In November 1922 he left O’s to go on trial with Northampton Town but after two League appearances he was not offered a contract and so joined Spennymoor United in May 1923. They ended bottom of the North Eastern League with six wins all season and conceding 93 goals, not surprisingly he decided to retire rom the game.


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