A great day out - 1912 style

Hi Jon I have redone your cuttings and made them a bit larger so they can be read better. it sure was a great read and like you said, nothing really changes and footballs fans always feel the pain of defeat, no matter what time of the century they lived in. ;D

The reason I posted this one originally was to show how “the more that things change the more they stay the same”. A great day out, only tarnished by 90 minutes of football is as true today as it was nearly 100 years ago. Looking through the match report and other football stories on that day’s sports page really rams home that “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”.

STROPPY GOALKEEPERS
The key factor in our Cup final defeat was that our goalkeeper Paltridge refused to play as his younger brother had not been selected. The committee moved our star centre-half Gerry Deane into goal and, funnily enough, brought Paltridge junior into the half-back line. Patridge senior never played for the club again. I haven’t been able to access the internet message boards of the day, but I wonder if they contained people bleating that the committee should have pandered to the stroppy goalie to keep him happy and that their poor man-management skills had cost us the Cup and we would never win the League without our star keeper.

RESPECT
You always hear that in the good old days, players conducted themselves with decorum towards opponents and officials. Our left back Jimmy Cudlipp was about to start a suspension for punching an opponent and abusing a referee.

BAD LANGUAGE
Bad language from a player comes as a surprise, what about the fans? According to the report, the result caused “so much picturesque language in Union Street on Saturday night”. It does not mention if this included singing of “The referee is a c***” or what the stewards should do about it.

BAD REFEREES
It must have been the Forest Green ref’s great great granddad officiating at Home Park. I always thought that in the good old days the ref’s decisions were never questioned, but the reporter doesn’t hide from telling it as he saw it – “one or two queer rulings”, “No-one knew the reason except the referee”. There’s no mention of the linesmen being useless – but this may very well be just an omission on the reporter’s part.

SUBCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE
We’ve had this debate recently, but one of the chief gripes about the ref is that “Sutcliffe had only to raise his hand and the whistle blew, and not once did he appeal in vain. The official seemed almost a puppet in his hands”. Sutcliffe, Argyle’s keeper, was a living legend who had played for England at both soccer and at Rugby Union. It appears that the ref was subconsciously intimidated by the great man’s reputation.

LAME EXCUSES
I thought that coming up with weak excuses for under-achievement was a recent phenomenon. Despite the obvious reasons for defeat being our missing goalkeeper, playing much of the game with ten men through injury and a dreadful referee, the reporter adds a couple more classics. We were “playing on a strange ground and with a new and tricky ball”.

SARCASM
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and surely not something that was resorted to in the good old days. “They tell me that Babbacombe escaped defeat on Saturday. I also hear that they had no match on. Perhaps that accounts for it”. Ha ha ha. Very witty.

LATE FIXTURE CHANGES
We are informed that “the great Derby match between Torquay Town and Babbacombe will take place at Plainmoor on either Tuesday or Wednesday”. Why the hell hadn’t they made their mind up yet? Don’t tell me that Setanta hadn’t decided whether they wanted to televise it or not. How on earth would the fans be able to find out when the match was going to take place if no decision had been made by the time the weekly local paper was printed? No text alerts, no website, no message boards, no teletext, no local radio, no TV, no daily local paper. I wonder if you could sign up for carrier pigeon alerts via Townworld?

POOR ADMINISTRATION
"At the East Devon Council meeting, it was reported that Torquay Town and Newton Town had not paid their subscriptions. They were given seven and fourteen days respectively to forward the amounts. Otherwise the clubs and officials would be suspended”. I thought it was only under Roberts that we didn’t pay the bills.

TEAMS FAILING TO TRAVEL
Dropping into the rugby coverage, I note that “A match with Pill Harriers is on the Athletic’s fixture card for Saturday, but at the time of going to press, there is a glorious uncertainty as to whether it will be possible due to the restricted railway arrangements, for the Welsh players to get through to Torquay”. Cue a grumpy old outburst from Merse – outraged at their inability to organise an alternative form of transport.