1 Professional Footballers As 'Terrace Heroes'
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Terrace Heroes The 1930s saw the birth of the football idol, the ‘terrace hero’ prototypes for today’s powerful media sport stars. The players of the 1930s were the first generation of what we now regard as ‘professionals’, yet until recently the lives and careers of footballers of this era have been little studied. During the 1930s British football became increasingly commercialised, and the rise and development of both local and national media, in particular broadcast media, enabled players to become widely recognised outside of their immediate local context for the first time. Tracing the origins, playing careers and ‘afterlives’ of several First Division players of the era, Graham Kelly’s revealing history explores the reality of living in Britain in the 1930s and draws comparisons with lives of our contemporary ‘terrace heroes’, the football stars of today. Graham Kelly is Head of Postgraduate Programmes and Research at the Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire, UK. He is also a founder member of the university’s International Football Institute. Sport in the global society General Editors: J.A. Mangan and Boria Majumdar The interest in sports studies around the world is growing and will continue to do so. This unique series combines aspects of the expanding study of sport in the global society, providing comprehensive- ness and comparison under one editorial umbrella. It is particularly timely, with studies in the cultural, economic, ethnographic, geographical, political, social, anthropological, sociological and aesthetic elements of sport proliferating in institutions of higher education. Eric Hobsbawm once called sport one of the most significant practices of the late nineteenth century. Its significance was even more marked in the late twentieth century and will continue to grow in importance into the new millennium as the world develops into a ‘global village’ sharing the English language, technology and sport. Other Titles in the Series British Football and Social Exclusion Sporting Nationalisms Edited by Stephen Wagg Identity, ethnicity, immigration and assimilation Football, Europe and the Press Edited by Mike Cronin and David Mayall Liz Crolley and David Hand The Future of Football The Commercialization of Sport Challenges for the Twenty-first century Edited by Trevor Slack Edited by Jon Garland, Dominic Malcolm and Shaping the Superman Michael Rowe Fascist body as political icon: Aryan Football Culture fascism Local contests, global visions Edited by J.A. Mangan Edited by Gerry P.T. Finn and Richard Giulianotti Superman Supreme Fascist body as political icon: Global France and the 1998 World Cup fascism The national impact of a world sporting event Edited by J.A. Mangan Edited by Hugh Dauncey and Geoff Hare Making the Rugby World The First Black Footballer Race, gender, commerce Arthur Wharton 1865–1930: An absence Edited by Timothy J.L. Chandler and of memory John Nauright Phil Vasili Rugby’s Great Split Scoring for Britain Class, culture and the origins of rugby International football and international league football politics, 1900–1939 Tony Collins Peter J. Beck Women, Sport and Society in Modern China The Race Game Holding up more than half the sky Sport and politics in South Africa Dong Jinxia Douglas Booth Sport in Latin American Society Cricket and England Past and present A cultural and social history of the Edited by J.A. Mangan and Lamartine P. inter-war years DaCosta Jack Williams Sport in Australasian Society The Games Ethic and Imperialism Past and present Aspects of the diffusion of an ideal Edited by J.A. Mangan and John Nauright J.A. Mangan Terrace Heroes The life and times of the 1930s professional footballer Graham Kelly First published 2005 by Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Taylor & Francis Inc 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2005 Graham Kelly All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Every effort has been made to ensure that the advice and information in this book is true and accurate at the time of going to press. However, neither the publisher nor the authors can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. In the case of drug administration, any medical procedure or the use of technical equipment mentioned within this book, you are strongly advised to consult the manufacturer’s guidelines. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog for this book record has been requested ISBN 0-203-50102-0 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-58295-0 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-714-65359-4 (hbk) ISBN 0-714-68294-2 (pbk) To the memory of my parents, Joan and Laurie Kelly and with thanks to my wife, Jenny, and our son, Ben Contents List of illustrations ix Acknowledgements x Series editor’s foreword xi 1 Professional footballers as ‘terrace heroes’ 1 2 The career path of professional footballers 6 3 Footballers as employees 16 4 Directors, managers, trainers and coaches 25 5 Footballers’ lifestyles 36 6 Footballers and the media 43 7 Jack Atkinson – Bolton Wanderers 53 8 Bob Baxter – Middlesbrough 61 9 Harry Betmead – Grimsby Town 69 10 Jack Crayston – Arsenal 79 11 Billy Dale – Manchester City 91 12 ‘Jock’ Dodds – Sheffield United and Blackpool 103 13 Harold Hobbis – Charlton Athletic 113 14 Joe Mercer – Everton 125 viii Contents 15 Cliff Parker – Portsmouth 135 16 Bert Sproston – Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester City 145 17 Conclusion 153 Notes 156 Select bibliography 165 Index 169 Illustrations 1 Jack Atkinson 52 2 Bob Baxter 60 3 Harry Betmead 68 4 Jack Crayston 78 5 Billy Dale 90 6 ‘Jock’ Dodds 102 7 Harold Hobbis 112 8 Joe Mercer 124 9 Cliff Parker 134 10 Bert Sproston 144 Acknowledgements My thanks go to each of the following football club historians and statisticians, whose valuable contributions have assisted me in the research for this book: R. Briggs of Grimsby Town FC; I. Cook of Arsenal FC; D.K. Clareborough of Sheffield United; R.J. Owen of Portsmouth FC; and B. Dalby of Denaby United FC. Series editor’s foreword After the ball was centred, after the whistle blew, Dixie got excited and down the wing he flew, He passed the ball to Lawton and Lawton tried to score But the goalie took a dirty dive and knocked him on the floor! This passionate partisan piece of doggerel in support of past Everton heroes chanted en masse in my boyhood primary school playground, has continued to reverberate in my head down the years. Heroes sometimes achieve immortality in odd ways! Dixie Dean and Tommy Lawton were ‘Terrace Heroes’ of my north-western childhood. Graham Kelly has added to this small but sacred pantheon with his study of the lives and times of his Topical Times Ten. He places them in their cultural context, explains their social purpose and explores their common sig- nificance. This makes good sense. His Heroes, in part or in whole, personified period values. Such Heroes came in more than one form: ‘local’ heroes – embedded in their communities, loyal to their team and parochial symbols of success for the proletarians packed on the home terraces with precious few life chances; ‘moral’ heroes who for some epitomised middle class missionary ‘fair- play’ in a rougher working-class world; ‘anti-heroic’ heroes who were admired for tilting at such conventions and offered vicarious escape from ethical rigidity. These ‘heroes on a muddy field’ were actors on an outdoor stage, who offered their audience momentary release from drudgery, restriction and boredom. Roland Barthes put this point well when he commented that modern sports are analo- gous to the theatre of antiquity – contemporary dramatic contests with epic heroes from whose exploits the sporting public derives concentrated substitutional excitement which compensates for drawn-out everyday monotony.1 Such cul- ture heroes allow the non-heroic ‘access to catharsis in culturally consecrated ceremonies.’2 Norbert Elias pushed his analytical probe deeper, and arguably put the point even better: xii Series editor’s foreword If one asks how feelings are aroused . by leisure pursuits, one discovers that it is usually done by the creation of tensions . mimetic fear and pleasure, sadness and joy are produced and perhaps resolved by the setting of pastimes. Different moods are evoked and perhaps contrasted, such as sorrow and elation, agitation and peace of mind. Thus the feelings aroused in the imaginary situation of a human leisure activity are the siblings of those aroused in real-life situation – that is what the expression ‘mimetic’ indicates – but the latter are linked to the never-ending risks and perils of fragile human life, while the former momentarily lift the burden of risks and threats, great or small, surrounding human existence.3 Women, we are told, passionately venerated icons in early Christianity.