Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2011 18:29:36 GMT
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon leafing through Tony Mason's Association Football and English Society 1863-1915, a book of mine which has been gathering dust for almost thirty years. It's a pretty scholarly work and I'm not sure if I've ever read it cover-to-cover. Nonetheless it covers many of the themes we've discussed in the history room over the last year or two.
One example is the geographical growth of English football in the years between the first FA Cup competition in 1871-72 and the Great War. Tony Mason tackles this by using a series of maps based around three themes.
FA CUP
The first map refers to the competition’s inaugural season and you can see how the majority of entrants came from the London area with the exception of Queen’s Park (Glasgow) and a school in Spalding.
Next, there’s a map of the teams that made the second round draw in 1883/84. By now most of the competing teams came from a belt extending from Kent to Lancashire. No sign yet of anything west of Reading.
Thirdly, we’re up to 1913-14 by which time there are far more entrants including healthy clusters around Bristol, South Wales, Yorkshire and the North East. Look carefully and you can see dots around Exeter, Plymouth and – I think – St Austell. Maybe this is for an advanced stage of the competition because our centenary history records that Torquay Town lost to Welton Rovers in an early round:
FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Here we start with the original twelve clubs in 1888-89, all of which came from the north or the midlands. It’s a different Accrington club to the current one but all the rest are still with us, seven being in last season’s Premier League.
By 1892-93 a second division has been added but, again, there’s no sign of any club south of Birmingham. Note the clubs which became something else – Ardwick, Newton Heath and Small Heath – and one or two who fell by the wayside.
Then, at the outbreak of the Great War, you can see a cluster of clubs around London as well as Bristol City somewhat out on a limb:
SOUTHERN LEAGUE
The Southern League is important because it was the strongest competition outside of the Football League prior to WW1. The first map shows the founder members which were made up of half-a-dozen future long-standing Football League clubs and another group which made more modest progress.
Then, by 1913-14, you can see how the Southern League has increased to include fifty-six clubs including Exeter, Plymouth and – rather oddly – Stoke. Note too the thirteen clubs from South Wales:
One example is the geographical growth of English football in the years between the first FA Cup competition in 1871-72 and the Great War. Tony Mason tackles this by using a series of maps based around three themes.
FA CUP
The first map refers to the competition’s inaugural season and you can see how the majority of entrants came from the London area with the exception of Queen’s Park (Glasgow) and a school in Spalding.
Next, there’s a map of the teams that made the second round draw in 1883/84. By now most of the competing teams came from a belt extending from Kent to Lancashire. No sign yet of anything west of Reading.
Thirdly, we’re up to 1913-14 by which time there are far more entrants including healthy clusters around Bristol, South Wales, Yorkshire and the North East. Look carefully and you can see dots around Exeter, Plymouth and – I think – St Austell. Maybe this is for an advanced stage of the competition because our centenary history records that Torquay Town lost to Welton Rovers in an early round:
FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Here we start with the original twelve clubs in 1888-89, all of which came from the north or the midlands. It’s a different Accrington club to the current one but all the rest are still with us, seven being in last season’s Premier League.
By 1892-93 a second division has been added but, again, there’s no sign of any club south of Birmingham. Note the clubs which became something else – Ardwick, Newton Heath and Small Heath – and one or two who fell by the wayside.
Then, at the outbreak of the Great War, you can see a cluster of clubs around London as well as Bristol City somewhat out on a limb:
SOUTHERN LEAGUE
The Southern League is important because it was the strongest competition outside of the Football League prior to WW1. The first map shows the founder members which were made up of half-a-dozen future long-standing Football League clubs and another group which made more modest progress.
Then, by 1913-14, you can see how the Southern League has increased to include fifty-six clubs including Exeter, Plymouth and – rather oddly – Stoke. Note too the thirteen clubs from South Wales:
