In 1905, Scottish centre-forward Sandy Turnbull played for Manchester City when the entire squad was suspended for accepting illegal payments! When the ban was lifted, Sandy started to play for Man Utd and was the hero of the 1909 FA Cup Final, scoring the only goal in the 1-0 win against Bristol City.

Disastrously, Sandy and some others were again accused of match-fixing when they played Liverpool in 1915. Several players were punished with a lifetime ban. Some of the men managed to clear their names, but sadly, Sandy was killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917 before he had the chance.

How he is remembered by the CWGC

Donald Bell was a defender for Bradford Park Avenue FC. In November 1914, he joined the army. Two days after his marriage in 1915 he was sent to France. On July 5th 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, he won the Victoria Cross for outstanding bravery, by stuffing his pockets full of grenades, creeping up on an enemy machine-gun post and capturing it. He wrote to his mother “I must confess that it was the biggest fluke alive and I did nothing. I only chucked the bomb and it did the trick.....” Five days later, he died, trying to repeat the same feat.

How he is remembered by the CWGC

Some firsts for Walter Tull! He was the first British-born black army officer and the first black officer to lead white British troops into battle. As a footballer, he played for Spurs and Northampton Town. He wasn’t the first black professional football though, he was the second! (Arthur Wharton signed for Preston North End in 1886)

He made a great impression as a talented footballer and as a soldier, quickly promoted to sergeant. Towards the end of the war he was leading his troops in an attack on German trenches when he was killed instantaneously with a bullet through his head. In the carnage of the battle, his body was never recovered. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

How he is remembered by the CWGC

It wasn’t only young men who died in the First World War. Richard Moore, an Irish International, played left-half for Linfield FC, in Northern Ireland in 1890-1892, when they were league champions.

Tragically, he died, aged 50, just 13 days before the end of the war, in Greece. It’s reported he was killed in an air attack, but it’s also possible it might have been the ‘flu! A terrible epidemic like bird flu was raging across the world in 1918, and 75% of the men buried in the same cemetery as Richard Moore were victims of this disease, not of enemy action.

How he is remembered by the CWGC

Leigh Roose was a bit of a character! A Welsh International, he was goalie for a number of clubs, with 144 appearances for Stoke City. He often arrived at a game driving a horse and carriage, and on one occasion, thinking he might be late for an away match, he hired a train to get him from Stoke to London – then charged it to the club!

Footballs in those days were heavy leather but he could kick one the entire length of the pitch, and punch one well over the halfway line. With this skill, as a soldier he became a noted grenade-thrower, and was awarded the Military Medal the very first time he saw action.

He was killed, aged 38, at the end of the Battle of the Somme and his body was never found. He is commemorated (his name wrongly-spelt) on the Thiepval Memorial.

How he is remembered by the CWGC

William Jonas Played for Clapton (later Leyton) Orient. He was very popular with the ladies and received 50 fan letters a week! He was very worried about this as he was happily married, and asked the club to put a notice in a programme thanking the ladies very much but please would they stop!

He served in the army alongside team mate Richard McFadden, who reported William’s last moments:

“Both Willie and I were trapped in a trench near the front in Somme, France.

Willie turned to me and said ‘Goodbye Mac. Best of luck, special love to my sweetheart Mary-Jane and best regards to the lads at Orient’ Before I could reply to him, he was up and over. No sooner had he jumped out of the trench, my best friend of nearly 20 years was killed before my eyes.”

Richard McFadden was killed 3 months later.

How William Jonas is remembered by the CWGC
How Richard McFadden is remembered by the CWGC

Propaganda in use!

According to this poster, a German newspaper, the Frankfurter Zeitung, reported that “The young Britons prefer to exercise their long limbs on the football ground, rather than expose them to any sort of risk in the service of their country.”

It’s interesting to wonder how many footballers joined up as a result of this (alleged) taunt.

It’s also interesting that war was described as ‘a game.’

There were Prisoner of War camps in the First World War too. Ruhleben, near Berlin, was for civilians who happened to be in Germany when war was declared, either working or on holiday. (Unlucky!)

Happily, they were quite well treated. Letters, books, sports equipment and a printing press were all allowed into the camp and the detainees organised their own police force, magazine, library and postal service.

Amongst the prisoners were several ex-footballers and they organised games – one of them the ‘Great International Match’ between England and The Rest of the World.

They actually, printed a programme, as you can see, and in the minutes of the FA in 1915, there’s a request to send footballs to Ruhleben for them!

Women formed football teams too! This picture is of the Preston Army Pay Office Ladies Football Team. The captain was a Miss McClean, whose father played for Preston North End. They played teams from other sections of the army, and even the famous Dick Kerrs’ team – in fact they were the first ever to beat them!

The matches were a huge success and money raised went towards ‘war comforts’ for servicemen. Games were also ‘a treat for the convalescent soldiers stationed at Whalley Hospital who filled the stands.’

After one match, the chairman of Blackburn Rovers said ‘If only they were men, I’d sign them!’

At a Preston factory called ‘Dick, Kerr,’ where tramway and railway equipment was made, women had taken over the men’s work while they were away at war, so it was no surprise that they took up football too! Dick, Kerr Ladies played matches to raise money for war charities and made £600 in their first game in 1917. Within three years, over 53,000 fans were watching them play at Goodison Park.

They played abroad as well going to France and Holland, where they were greeted like superstars.

Lily Parr was the captain, and here’s a verse of a poem dedicated to her and her team:

“They flocked in awe to wonder at
young women in the war
and cries of "get 'em off love"
rang loud when they did score
for back in nineteen seventeen
they'd come from near and far
to see the Dick Kerr Ladies team
led by young Lily Parr”

Even though the First World War had started, there was still a FA Cup Final in 1915. It was between Chelsea and Sheffield United, and was held at Old Trafford, to avoid any difficulties in London. Sheffield won 3-0!

The match was known as The Khaki Final’ because so many of the crowd were in uniform.

The War Office thought it would be a good opportunity for enlistment too, so after the match, the Earl of Derby made a speech, saying, ‘It is now the duty of everyone to join with each other and play a sterner game for England.’

The photo shows all the Spurs players and staff recruited in 1915 as Sappers to form No 1 Section 22 Field Co Royal Engineers. They enlisted together, fought together and some of them died together as well.

In the Spurs handbook after the war, 11 deaths were recorded.

"On the combined effort to achieve victory in the great game of war we can look with solemn pride. Naturally, our thoughts revert to those who fought and fell. It is rather a long list…(of men associated with Spurs) …who made the supreme sacrifice. They were:-