When World War I was declared in 1914, it had a negative effect on association football; in some countries competitions were suspended and players signed up to fight, resulting in the deaths of many players. Frederick Wall, Secretary of the Football Association, famously implied Jimmy Hogan was a traitor for spending the duration of World War I in Europe. [1]
English club Harrogate Town were to play their first ever match on 5 September 1914, but the match was cancelled due to the outbreak of the war. [2]
Between 1915 and 1919 competitive football was suspended in England. Many players signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead. The Football League and FA Cup were suspended and in their place regional league competitions were set up; appearances in these tournaments do not count in players' official records.
League football did continue in Scotland with the aim of maintaining morale, [3] however the Scottish Cup was not held for five years. [4]
Even though the Swiss Football League was not suspended, some 5,800 footballers – out of a total of 8,500 – signed up to fight. [5] However, many of the pitches were destroyed – 420,000 square feet (39,000 m2) out of a total of 920,000 square feet (85,000 m2) had been turned into potato fields. [5] After the outbreak of war in 1914, the Swiss national side did not compete again until 1920. [5]
British players and trainers who were in contract with German professional clubs were among Allied civilians interned at Ruhleben in Berlin. Sports played a major role in the lives of the detainees. Among them were several former professional footballers, including three former England internationals, Fred Pentland, Samuel Wolstenholme and Steve Bloomer; a Scotland international, John Cameron; a German international, Edwin Dutton; John Brearley, once of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur [6] and Fred Spiksley. [7]
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was another enemy Central Power. Jimmy Hogan who had briefly coached Amateure SV between 1911 and 1912, returned to Vienna to coach the Austria national team in 1914. [8]
The Christmas truce, was a series of brief unofficial cessations of hostilities occurring on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day of 1914 between German and British or French troops in World War I, particularly that between British and German troops stationed along the Western Front. During the truce, a game of football was played between the British and German soldiers. [9]
On 6 September 1914, author Arthur Conan Doyle made a direct appeal for footballers to volunteer for service. [10] Many players heeded the calls, and a special Football Battalion was formed, as part of the Middlesex Regiment. [11] The battalion was led by Frank Buckley, who later estimated that over 500 of the battalion's original 600 men had died. [11] There were over 5,000 men playing professional football in Great Britain 1914, and of those, 2,000 joined the military services. [10]
The first of the footballers' battalions was raised in Edinburgh in November 1914 by Lieutenant Colonel Sir George McCrae. The 16th Royal Scots included players and supporters from Hearts, Hibernian, Falkirk and Raith Rovers, and recruitment of 1350 officers and men was completed in only six days. [12] [13]
A number of British footballers received medals for bravery during World War I, including Bernard Vann (MC and VC), Donald Simpson Bell (VC), William Angus (VC), Jimmy Speirs (MM), Tim Coleman (MM) and Davie Glen (MM). [14] Others to receive decoration include Leigh Richmond Roose (MM) and Philip F. Fullard (MC and AFC). [12] Other players who were not awarded medals have also been honoured, such as Walter Tull, who is honoured on both the Arras Memorial and at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium. [14]
Many football players, both amateur and professional, lost their lives. Larrett Roebuck was the first player from the English league to die, on 18 October 1914. [15] Scottish side Heart of Midlothian lost seven players. Another Scottish side, Brechin City, lost six players. [16] English team Bradford City, for example, lost nine players – first-team players Bob Torrance, Jimmy Speirs, Evelyn Lintott, James Conlin, James Comrie, Gerald Kirk, and reserve players George Draycott, Ernest Goodwin, and Harry Potter. [17] William Baker, a member of the Plymouth Argyle team that won the Southern League in 1913, was killed in Serre during the Battle of the Somme. [18] [19] The website created by the Professional Footballers' Association, 'Football and the First World War' currently lists 296 players who were killed in the war. [20]
On 7 November 2004, the McCrae's Battalion Great War Memorial was unveiled in the village of Contalmaison, France after first being proposed in April 1919. It commemorates the men of McCrae's Battalion who were killed during the First Battle of the Somme. [21] [22]
On 21 October 2010, the Footballers' Battalions Memorial was unveiled at Longueval, France, near Delville Wood, to commemorate those from the Footballers' Battalions who had fought and died in the Great War. [23] [24]
In October 2018, it was announced that in November 2018, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the war, a number of clubs would plant trees as part of a 'Football Remembers' campaign. [25]
Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the Scottish capital, was formed in 1874, its name influenced by Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian. The club crest is based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the city's Royal Mile; the team's colours are maroon and white.
Second Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell, VC was an English school teacher and professional footballer. During World War I he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for actions during the Battle of the Somme in mid-1916, becoming the only English professional football player to be awarded the VC.
William Henry Short VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Ruhleben internment camp was a civilian detention camp in Germany during World War I. It was located in Ruhleben, a former Vorwerk manor 10 km (6.2 mi) to the west of Berlin. This area is now split between the districts of Spandau and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. The camp was developed on the site of a harness racing track laid out in 1908 north of the Berlin-Hamburg Railway line.
James Low was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right (winger).
Thomas Gracie was a Scottish professional footballer and, latterly, a corporal in the 16th Battalion of The Royal Scots. He was the joint-leading scorer in the Scottish Football League in the 1914–15 season.
Contalmaison is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Colonel Sir George McCrae was a Scottish textile merchant and Liberal Party politician. In Scotland he is best remembered for the creation of McCrae's Battalion, also known as the Second Edinburgh Pals Battalion and (officially) the 16th Battalion Royal Scots.
McCrae's Battalion Great War Memorial is a World War I memorial cairn located in the village of Contalmaison, France. Designed by the historian, Jack Alexander, it was unveiled in 2004 after being first proposed by survivors of the battalion in 1919. As such, it is the last of the 'original' Great War memorials to be built. It commemorates the dead of the 16th Royal Scots volunteer battalion formed by Sir George McCrae, known as 'The Sporting Battalion', who participated in the First Battle of the Somme, July 1916.
The 17th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was an infantry battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, part of the British Army, which was formed as a Pals battalion during the Great War. The core of the battalion was a group of professional footballers, which was the reason for its most commonly used name, The Football Battalion. The 23rd (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was formed in June 1915 and became known as the 2nd Football Battalion. The battalions fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 among others. Soldiers who fought in the 17th and 23rd Battalions included Second Lieutenant Walter Tull, who was possibly the first black infantry officer in the British Army.
McCrae's Battalion was the affectionate name given by the people of Edinburgh to the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots in World War I, raised from volunteers in 1914 as part of the New Armies called to the Colours by Lord Kitchener. The unit was named after its charismatic colonel, former Liberal MP for Edinburgh East, Sir George McCrae.
Between August and November 1914, sixteen Heart of Midlothian Football Club players enlisted to fight in World War I. In doing so, they became the first British team to sign up en masse. The majority joined the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots, otherwise known as McCrae's Battalion. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the British Army lost nearly 20,000 men, including three of Hearts footballers who had signed up. The war ended up claiming the lives of seven of the Hearts players who had enlisted, with several others returning so severely wounded they were unable to play football again.
Ernest Edgar Ellis was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Barnsley as a right back.
Duncan Currie was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a full back in the Scottish League for Heart of Midlothian.
George McLay MM was a Scottish professional footballer who played in the Scottish League for Raith Rovers as a wing half.
James Scott was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a forward in the Scottish League for Raith Rovers. He scored on his only appearance for Scotland in a wartime international in 1916, during the First World War. He was described as "an all-round forward" and "the most consistent goalscorer Raith have ever had".
Archibald Boyd was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Scottish League for Heart of Midlothian.
William R. Wilson (1894–1956) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside left (winger), primarily with Heart of Midlothian.
James Morton was a Scottish footballer who played in the Scottish League for Kilmarnock as an inside left.
James William Hazeldean was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an outside left in the Scottish League for Heart of Midlothian.