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A History Thread

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
I was there too! Made sure I got my ticket. I think I sneaked out to queue overnight for that one, much to my mum's shock - she made me go straight to bed for a few hours to catch up on my sleep when I got back home. :grin:

My mum put her foot down very firmly over that one. My dad and grand-dad went, but I had to stay at home.

Now, am I imagining that I watched it on the telly? Is my memory muddling it up with the Atletico game?
 

adidave

Member
Sep 20, 2005
39
12
I was there too! Made sure I got my ticket. I think I sneaked out to queue overnight for that one, much to my mum's shock - she made me go straight to bed for a few hours to catch up on my sleep when I got back home. :grin:

and me, the atmosphere at that game was amazing,You could almost cut it, and we was robbed!
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
It's too easily forgotten that we won the game, although we lost on aggregate. And yes, we were robbed and I cried all the way home.
 

Houdini

No better cure for the blues than some good pussy.
Jul 10, 2006
56,725
78,457
I spent a bit of time on that site, thanks for the link, Spursphil....:grin:
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
22,383
I spent a bit of time on that site, thanks for the link, Spursphil....:grin:

I know I'm in some of those shots but too far away to be seen and two of my friends from secondary school (girls) are in one of the photos. It's a fascinating site and I dip into it again and again - it was well worth positive rep.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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There are some Tottenham players I can't include in the Footballers' Birthday thread because I can't find their dates of birth recorded anywhere. They are legends in their own right and deserve to be remembered.

Here's the first - there will be many more.

A Spurs legend from yesteryear - not only can I not find a record of his birthday but not even the year he was born. Nevertheless, he is worthy of a place in this thread.

Tom Morris played during the 1890s and 1900s, initially for Gantham Rovers and Gainsborough Trinity before making a name for himself as a half back with Spurs.

He was part of our team in the first game ever played at White Hart Lane on 4 September 1899, a friendly, against Notts County when 5000 spectators turned up to see us win 4-1. In 1901 he was part of our FA Cup winning team which beat Sheffield Utd 3 -1 in the replay at Burnden Park after drawing 2-2 in the first match at Crystal Palace. This was also the first and only time a non-league team won the FA Cup.

Tom Morris made 523 appearances for Spurs including 63 (scoring 3 goals) after the club was elected to the Football League. His playing career lasted 13 years after which he retired but remained a member of the ground staff until his death on 25 April 1942.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Bobby Buckle (1869 - 1959) was one of the twelve schoolboys who founded the Hotspur Football Club in 1882. A man of firsts in Spurs history, not only was he one of the founders but he was also elected the first ever captain of the club at its inception, just seven weeks before his 14th birthday, was featured in the club's first known line-up, and is Tottenham's first recorded goalscorer on 20 October 1883.

He served in varying capacities and was involved in many of the landmarks of Tottenham's early history. He served on the committee from 1884, was appointed honorary secretary and treasurer in 1890 and was elected to the first board of directors in 1898.

Just two years later, at the turn of the century in 1900, he resigned from the board after overseeing the adoption of professional status, the formation of the Limited Company and the move to White Hart Lane from Tottenham Marshes.

During his Tottenham career between the years of 1882 and 1895 he has a recorded 25 goals in 53 appearances although it is likely that this number is higher with unrecorded games taken into consideration.

 

PT

North Stand behind Pat's goal.
Admin
May 21, 2004
25,468
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His playing career lasted 13 years after which he retired but remained a member of the ground staff until his death on 25 April 1942.
Was it of natural causes or in some way cut short by the war?
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Was it of natural causes or in some way cut short by the war?

Assuming he was born some time late in the 1870s or early 1880s, as he played from the 1890s, probably some kind of illness. He was still on the ground staff when he died, so not to do with the war I should think.

Life expectancy was much shorter then with medical expertise and care not being what it is today.

I have to do a lot of searching and research to get all this early stuff. It's fascinating and time-consuming but frustrating when I can find very little on record. So I'm often left wondering too.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Another from days gone by - full back Alexander "Sandy" Tait (1873 - 1949) began his career at local club Glenbuck Athletic in Scotland, where he was born. He later played for Ayr, Royal Albert, Rangers and Motherwell. In 1894 he joined Preston North End and played 76 matches up till 1898.

He then joined Spurs and was a member of our 1901 Cup Final winning side. He later moved on to Leyton before finishing his career at Croydon Common.

 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Jack Jull was regarded as one of the finest footballers of the late Victorian era and usually played at full back. It is recorded that in his earlier days with Spurs, in particular during 1882, he was still at boarding school so was not always available for fixtures.

A man of many firsts, he was one of the founders of the club and made his first appearance against Brownlow Rovers on 6 October, 1883 which we won 6-0 and this was the first Tottenham game to be reported in the local newspaper, the Tottenham & Edmonton Weekly Herald.

Jack played in the club’s first London Association Cup tie which we won 5-2 on 17 October, 1885. The game was against St. Albans, at that time a well-known London-based "Beer House" team.

He was the first Spurs player to receive representative honours when he played for a Middlesex team in 1891, he played in Tottenham’s first League game in 1892 and its first FA Amateur Cup match in 1893. In 1894 he was in the team which contested the 1st Qualifying Round tie of the FA Cup against a West Herts side which was later to become Watford. Spurs won the game 3-2 and progressed by successively beating Wolverton and Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient). In the 4th Qualifying Round we were knocked out by Luton in a replay. 1894 was also the year Jack scored his last goal for Spurs when he scored the second goal in a 2-2 draw away to Chesham FC on 27 January that year.

He was made Club President in 1895 and continued playing until 1897 by which time he had made 159 appearances for Tottenham (scoring 24 goals). As a measure of the esteem in which he was held, on his retirement as club captain in 1896 he was made an honorary life member of the club. He died in 1920.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Born in Islington on 16 January 1924, Horace John Woodward joined Tottenham Juniors and signed amateur forms during March, 1939. He featured for the Juniors in the North London Alliance and YOC leagues before being lent to develop at Finchley, progressing through the junior ranks and then featured prominently in the Tottenham immediate post-war side.

Originally a centre forward he had switched to centre half by the time he made the first of his 63 Tottenham League appearances. In 1949 he transferred to Queens Park Rangers for a sizeable fee, spending two years there. Horace, also known as Johnny during his time at Tottenham, later played in the League for Walsall and was then involved at non-league level for many years. His love of the game continued until illness took a hold.

He made his senior debut in a London War League game against Queens Park Rangers on September 27, 1941, playing at centre forward in a 3-1 home win, but had to wait a further five years before reappearing in the Spurs first team.

During the war he worked as a gunner on Merchant Navy vessels and also played in services football. It was during this time that he switched to the position of centre half which he retained for the remainder of his playing career.

Soon after leaving the Services he turned professional with us in May, 1946. Later that year, on 19 September, he made his Football League debut, replacing the unavailable Bill Nicholson for the 4-2 second division victory over Newport County.

The 1947-48 campaign was his most successful in Spurs colours, making 35 second division appearances plus three in the FA Cup. On 14 February 1948 he scored his only senior competitive goal for Tottenham in a 1-1 draw at Doncaster Rovers. By the end of the following season he had taken his tally to 63 Football League games plus four in the FA Cup to add to his single wartime outing. In addition he played 37 league and cup games for Spurs second string, netting one goal.

In 1949 he joined Queens Park Rangers for a £10,500 fee. His two years there yielded 57 league appearances until signing for Tonbridge during the summer of 1951. He also had a stint with Snowdon Colliery Welfare before returning to league action with a five game spell at Walsall from July, 1953.

A brief stay at Stourbridge was followed by a spell as player/manager of Horsham plus managerial stints at Willesden and Kingsbury until 1971. He also turned out regularly in charity matches for the Ex-Spurs XI during the 1960s and managed the Maccabi club. Resident in Willesden, he combined his football with working for Schweppes and then the British Oxygen Company until retiring in 1988.

One of John's cousins was the former Arsenal player Charlie George.

Horace John Woodward died in a Cricklewood nursing home on 3 August 2000 aged 76 following a long illness.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
51,069
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Born on 22 June 1915, full back Bert Sproston played for England (11 caps and two wartime caps) and Leeds, Manchester City and Spurs. He came to the Lane in 1938 for a fee of £9,500 but left for Manchester City after just six months, unable to settle in London.

Interestingly, in May 1938 Sproston was selected for the England tour of Europe and the first match was against Germany in Berlin. Hitler wanted to make use of this game as propaganda. While the England players were getting changed an FA official went into their dressing-room and told them that they had to give the raised arm Nazi salute during the playing of the German national anthem.


As Stanley Matthews later recalled, "The dressing room erupted. There was bedlam. All the England players were livid and totally opposed to this, myself included. Everyone was shouting at once. Eddie Hapgood, normally a respectful and devoted captain, wagged his finger at the official and told him what he could do with the Nazi salute, which involved putting it where the sun doesn't shine."

The FA official left only to return some minutes later saying he had a direct order from Sir Neville Henderson, the British Ambassador in Berlin. The players were told that the political situation between Britain and Germany was now so sensitive that it needed "only a spark to set Europe alight". As a result the England team reluctantly agreed to give the Nazi salute.

Bert Sproston died on 27 December 2000.
 

spursphil

Tottenham To The Bone
Aug 8, 2008
517
98
Thanks again Phil.

Loved that American commentator - "The Hotspurs"
cheers mate, it was a very succesful tour for spurs that year and here are some of the results.


In June 1952 we beat Manchester United 5-0 (in Toronto) and 7-1 (in New Yorks Yankee stadium) in the space of 24 hours while touring North America at the end of the season. Len Duquemin scoring four times in the second game after Jack Rowley had given United the lead. The full details of that tour make for interesting reading;

22-May-52 Toronto & District FA 7 - 0
Walters (2), Bennett, Duquemin (2), Harmer (2)

28-May-52 Saskatchewan FA ----- 18 - 1
McClellan (9), Bennett(3), Duquemin (2), Uphill, Adams (3)

31-May-52 British Columbia FA - 9 - 2
Ramsay (pen), Walters (2), Bennett (4), Duquemin (2)

02-Jun-52 Victoria & District - 7 - 0
Walters, Adams, Baily (4), Medley

04-Jun-52 British Columbia FA - 8 - 2
Walters (2), Duquemin, Baily (2), Bennett (3)

07-Jun-52 Alberta FA ---------11 - 0
Wetton, McClellan (2), Baily, Duquemin (2), Harmer (3), Uphill (2)

09-Jun-52 Manitoba FA -------- 5 - 0
Walters, Bennett (3), Duquemin

14-Jun-52 Manchester United --- 5 - 0
Walters, Bennett, Duquemin, Bailey, Medley

15-Jun-52 Manchester United --- 7 - 1
McClellan, Bennett (2), Duquemin (4)

18-Jun-52 Quebec FA ----------- 8 - 0
Wetton, McClellan (3), Bennett (3), Medley


Played 10, Won 10 scored 85 and conceded 6.
 

TheChosenOne

A dislike or neg rep = fat fingers
Dec 13, 2005
47,874
49,706
cheers mate, it was a very succesful tour for spurs that year and here are some of the results.


In June 1952 we beat Manchester United 5-0 (in Toronto) and 7-1 (in New Yorks Yankee stadium) in the space of 24 hours while touring North America at the end of the season. Len Duquemin scoring four times in the second game after Jack Rowley had given United the lead. The full details of that tour make for interesting reading;

22-May-52 Toronto & District FA 7 - 0
Walters (2), Bennett, Duquemin (2), Harmer (2)

28-May-52 Saskatchewan FA ----- 18 - 1
McClellan (9), Bennett(3), Duquemin (2), Uphill, Adams (3)

31-May-52 British Columbia FA - 9 - 2
Ramsay (pen), Walters (2), Bennett (4), Duquemin (2)

02-Jun-52 Victoria & District - 7 - 0
Walters, Adams, Baily (4), Medley

04-Jun-52 British Columbia FA - 8 - 2
Walters (2), Duquemin, Baily (2), Bennett (3)

07-Jun-52 Alberta FA ---------11 - 0
Wetton, McClellan (2), Baily, Duquemin (2), Harmer (3), Uphill (2)

09-Jun-52 Manitoba FA -------- 5 - 0
Walters, Bennett (3), Duquemin

14-Jun-52 Manchester United --- 5 - 0
Walters, Bennett, Duquemin, Bailey, Medley

15-Jun-52 Manchester United --- 7 - 1
McClellan, Bennett (2), Duquemin (4)

18-Jun-52 Quebec FA ----------- 8 - 0
Wetton, McClellan (3), Bennett (3), Medley


Played 10, Won 10 scored 85 and conceded 6.


Blimey - them stats ! Must have been great for the players, a brilliant close season tour..
 
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