Tales from Grandad's Tool Shed
A Tale Of Two Cup Ties – January to December 1924
Published by Eccles on December 27, 2007
Although Gillingham’s first decade as a Football League club was one of almost continual struggle both on and off the field, the one golden memory of those days was handed down to future generations in one word – “Cardiff”. Even as late as the 1960′s, supporters would puff themselves up and say “I’ve followed Gillingham all my life, I was there when they played Cardiff”. To uninformed newcomers, like me at that time, it seemed as though Gills must have beaten them, or as Cardiff had won the Cup in 1927, perhaps Gills that year had been within an ace of turning them over, like we almost did sixty years later with Everton. Sadly, it wasn’t quite like that, and Grandad put me right.
“Before the Great War we’d had a pretty regular diet of FA Cup thrills – Arsenal, Sunderland, Manchester City, Liverpool – but in the 1920′s even our luck with the velvet bag had dried up. Blimey, West Stanley away doesn’t exactly get the pulse racing, even if you know where it is! That was the first season after the War, then we had Maidstone and Dulwich Hamlet before we lost at Northampton, and in 1921/22 Northfleet and St Albans City before we lost 3-1 at home to Oldham. They were in the Second Division and pulled in a crowd of 11,000. We should have got at least a replay, but they punished us for a couple of goalkeeping errors. Then in 1922/23 we beat London Caledonians, and lost 4-1 at home to Blyth Spartans. An amateur side comes all the way down from the other end of the country, and thrashes us. Disgraceful.
“So on 1st December 1923, no-one was expecting much when we went up the line to play Nunhead. As always with Gills though, you never can tell, and we gave them a 6-0 hiding. Centre-forward Joe North scored five, and equalled the individual goal-scoring record shared by Arthur Rule, five against Chesham in Southern League Division Two in 1895, and John Taylor, five against Royal Engineers in the Cup in 1910. Joe North was on target again two weeks later when we squeezed past Tranmere Rovers. 9,128 were at Priestfield to see that one. Then, for the First Round Proper on January 12th 1924, we were drawn away to Cardiff City.
“In those days, Cardiff were a big First Division club. They had half the Welsh national side playing for them, and when we took them on they were actually the league leaders. They finished the season as runners-up to Huddersfield, with the same number of points. Huddersfield were managed at that time by the great Herbert Chapman, and it was the first of their hat-trick of League titles. So you can see Cardiff were pretty much the best team around, and we of course were bottom of the Third Division South. The biggest mismatch you could think of. No-one gave us a prayer, and it was more a question of how many they would get. A whole group of us went down on the train and when we arrived in South Wales it was raining steadily, and had been for about the past three days. We got soaked walking to Ninian Park, and weren’t surprised to find the pitch was a quagmire. There was a crowd of 18,000. Our team was:-
Freddie Fox; Jock Robertson (Captain); D i c k Hendrie; Norman Jones; Jock Henderson; Arthur Read; Wally Battiste; George Smith; Joe North; Tommy Hall; Henry Allen.
“They were all over us from the start, but the pitch soon cut up and they were forced to attack more and more down the wings. That played into our hands. Full-backs Jock Robertson and D i c k Hendrie were magnificent, and their wingers just couldn’t shake free of them. Freddie Fox was superb in goal, and Jock Henderson had the measure of their Welsh International centre-forward. It was a brilliant rearguard action all round, and the Cardiff simply couldn’t find the answer. I kept thinking that our luck would run out, but it didn’t. We nearly scored at the end when Wally Battiste broke clear and shaved the post with a shot across goal. We came away with a 0-0. The following day the papers were full of it – look here are the cuttings.”
He had plenty to show me, and they made great reading. “Gills defy First Division Leaders” “Bluebirds’ wings clipped”, talk of “muddy heroes” “Rourke’s Drift defence” “magnificent” “valiant” – it went on and on. But not too much about Gillingham attacking. “I think we had about three attacks, with the best chances falling to Joe North just before half-time and Wally Battiste at the end. Coming home on the train with the players, I got the impression that Harry Curtis had set his stall out for a replay, especially when he saw how much of a quagmire the pitch was. Mud – the great leveller. I’m certain he thought we could hold out in defence in the replay, and snatch a win. We’d soon find out.
“Wednesday, January 16th 1924 was the biggest football day Gillingham had ever seen. The town pretty much closed down for the 2.00pm kick-off. The boys’ schools closed, and they were allowed to go to the game. Women’s libbers wouldn’t accept that these days. Freddie Fox lodged a few doors down from us in Barnsole Road, and he got me and your dad two passes for the Main Stand. He met up with us before the game, and took your dad into the dressing-room to get the autographs of both teams in his book.” “Yes,” I said “I remember him telling me that, and how some years later he leant the book to someone and never got it back.” “Well don’t look at me SunBoy, I told him at the time, neither a borrower nor a lender be.
“Anyway, the biggest-ever crowd of 19,472 packed into Priestfield that afternoon. “We picked exactly the same team as played at Ninian Park and captain Jock Robertson, with his young son, led ‘em out through an enclosure packed to the gunnels.”
Enter the Gladiators
The pitch was almost perfect, and Cardiff made the most of it. They scored two goals in the first half hour, and we had a mountain to climb. Harry Curtis’ defensive plan was out the window, and we had to carry the game to them. We had a few chances, particularly in the second half when Wally Battiste set a couple up for Tommy Hall, but on the day they were simply too good for us. They should have been really I suppose, there were sixty-four league places between us.” He grinned “The bloke we needed was Charlie McGibbon!”
But if the 1923/24 Cup campaign ended with a legendary tie which would burn itself into the minds of Gills fans for generations, the 1924/25 Cup campaign would end with a tie in the record books. The campaign began in the Fifth Qualifying Round at Kettering.
“That was the season that we had our best defensive record, but couldn’t score too many. Not exactly what you want for winning cup ties, but we scored early on at Kettering through Fred Brown and everyone thought that was it. They equalised in the second half, but in the replay we ran riot and beat them 6-2. The Sixth Qualifying Round saw us drawn at home to Third Division North Barrow. Talk about a marathon.
“The first game was played on Saturday December 13th. Very disappointing – we were all over them, couldn’t score, and it finished 0-0. Then on Wednesday December 17th we were up at Barrow, grinding out a 1-1 draw after extra time, Norman Jones getting our goal in the second half. There was a league match on the 20th , we lost 2-0 at Newport, then on Monday December 22nd we were at Wolverhampton to play Barrow in the Second Replay. Another 1-1 draw after extra time, George Smith getting an equaliser in the first half. Then three league games on successive days – Christmas Day we were home to Southend and beat them 3-1, Boxing Day we were away to Southend and lost 4-0, and then on Saturday December 27th we were home to Luton and beat them 4-1. Tuesday December 30th it was Barrow again in the Third Replay of the Cup Tie, played at Highbury. Another 1-1 draw after extra time, Tommy Hall getting our goal in the first half, and then the following day the Fourth Replay was staged at Millwall. Barrow scored two early goals, and although we pulled one back in the second half when Frank Marshall scored a penalty Barrow held out and went through.
“Five games, nine hours football, and a record which wasn’t broken until 1955 when Stoke and Bury extended it to nine and a half hours. That record held until 1971, when Alvechurch finally beat Oxford City 1-0 after six matches and eleven hours football. Gills played a league match on Saturday January 3rd 1925 away at Watford and won 2-1. Incredible really. In three weeks they had played ten games, and with three lots of extra time that effectively added another one to make it eleven. Wonder what those whingers like Alex Ferguson who are always moaning about how many matches they play these days would make of that!
“Sadly, for Gills those games were the high water mark in the FA Cup for many a year. The next season introduced the modern format of the Associate Members of the League coming in for the First and Second Rounds played before Christmas, and the 44 Full Members joining for the Third Round played on the first Saturday in January. That was the target each season, and we only did it once before the Second World War, in 1927/28, when we beat Plymouth and Southend both at home and were drawn away at Second Division Stoke City. We got soundly beaten 6-1. Two seasons later, we pretty much hit rock bottom – beaten 2-0 at home in the First Round by Margate. Cardiff was a hell of a long way away that day, I can tell you.”
(Next – Change Of Colours, Change Of Luck?)
Eccles
Tales from Grandad's Tool Shed
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