Blackpool F.C. season 1917-18
Encyclopedia
| Season 1917-18 1917-18 in English football The 1917–18 season was the third season of special wartime football in England during World War I.-Overview:Between 1914 and 1919 competitive football was suspended in England. Many footballers signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead... |
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| League | Principal Competition — Football League, Lancashire Section Subsidiary Competition — Football League, Lancashire Section, Group C |
| Manager | None |
| League position | 12th (Principal Competition) 5th (Subsidiary Competition) |
| Top goalscorer | Thomas Hunter (8) |
| FA Cup FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's... |
Competition suspended |
| Highest home attendance | 4,000 |
| Lowest home attendance | 500 |
| Previous season | ← 1916-17 Blackpool F.C. season 1916-17 The 1916-17 season was Blackpool F.C.s second season in special wartime football during World War I. They competed in two Football League competitions spread over the full season — the Lancashire Section, Northern Group Principal Competition, for thirty games, and then in the Lancashire Section,... |
| Next season | 1918-19 Blackpool F.C. season 1918-19 The 1918-19 season was Blackpool F.C.s fourth and final season in special wartime football during World War I. They competed in two Football League competitions spread over the full season — the Lancashire Section, Northern Group Principal Competition, for thirty games, and then in the Lancashire... → |
The 1917-18
1917-18 in English football
The 1917–18 season was the third season of special wartime football in England during World War I.-Overview:Between 1914 and 1919 competitive football was suspended in England. Many footballers signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead...
season was Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
's third season in special wartime football during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. They competed in two Football League competitions spread over the full season — the Lancashire Section, Northern Group Principal Competition, for thirty games, and then in the Lancashire Section, Group C, Subsidiary Competition, for a further six games. The club finished in 12th place in the principal competition and fifth in the subsidiary competition. Thomas Hunter was the club's top scorer, with eight goals (five in the principal competition and three in the subsidiary).
The FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
was suspended for the duration of the war.
Background
As with the 1916-17 season, Blackpool had to rely on a small nucleus of players supplemented by soldiers stationed in the town and the occasional league players as guests to make up the numbers. Again, they had to rely on staff from the Royal Army Medical CorpsRoyal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
Depot (RAMC) based at Squires Gate. Edgar Chadwick
Edgar Chadwick
Edgar Wallace Chadwick was a left-sided footballer who had a long and distinguished career with Everton during the 1890s...
, who had played for Blackpool in the 1904-05 season after a successful career at Everton, made two appearances for them again at the age of 48. George Beel
George Beel
George Beel was a professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as the best centre forward in Burnley's history and holds their records for the highest number of goals in a season and the highest number of league goals ever.He started playing football during World War I...
, who went on to score 178 goals in 316 league games for Burnley, scored two goals in eleven appearances. Two RAMC men, Albert Moorcroft and Edmund Berry, who made their debut during this period, went on to sign professional terms with the club, as did Thomas Hunter, who played in the latter part of the season. Fred Pagnam
Fred Pagnam
Frederick "Fred" Pagnam was an English footballer and manager.Pagnam was born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, and started at Blackpool Wednesday before having spells at Huddersfield Town and Southport Central. He joined Blackpool in 1913 and after a season there moved to Liverpool in 1914...
, who had played for the club before the war, appeared in one Subsidiary Competition match.
Lancashire Section, Northern Group Principal Competition
The Principal competition for the 1917–18 season consisted of sixteen teams, with the same teams as the 1916-17 season:- Blackpool
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Blackpool began the campaign on 1 September 1917, with a home match against Oldham Athletic, which they won 3-2, with all three goals coming from Kirrage, a soldier based at the RAMC depot. The Seasiders also fielded a new full back partnership of Dunn with Horace Fairhurst
Horace Fairhurst
Horace Fairhurst was an English professional football player. He played as a defender.After playing for Darwen for a number of years, Fairhurst joined fellow Lancashire club Blackpool in May 1919 after previously playing for them during the 1916-17 and 1917-18 World War I wartime...
, both based at the RAMC Depot. Fairhurst would go on to sign permanently for the club after the war, before his death in 1921.
Blackpool lost just one of their first five matches, with three guest players scoring. However, they then went on a five-game losing streak from 6 October, when they lost 3-1 at Stockport County, to 3 November when they were beaten at home 6-0 by Liverpool. The Seasiders still struggled to raise a full team, and against Manchester United at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...
on 8 December they could only field ten players, having to borrow a player from the home team. On 5 January 1918, Blackpool beat Everton 1-0 at home, but followed this up with a run of six defeats and one draw, including a 7-2 defeat at Everton, a 4-0 loss to Port Vale, and a 5-0 loss to Bolton Wanderers, in which Edgar Chadwick made his second appearance of the season. Results started to improve, and they ended the season with a run of six matches undefeated (four wins and two draws), including a 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers, with Thomas Hunter scoring all four goals. By this time, Moorcroft and Fairhurst had "gone away on the draft" and the club once again were having to find new players, even though the season was drawing to a close.
For the final match of the Principal Competition, at home to Burnley on 29 March, the Blackpool Committee stated that they had to rely entirely on local soldiers, and even then they could only announce the team just before kick-off. Blackpool won the match 1-0, with Hunter scoring his sixth goal in four games.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th | Blackpool | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 38 | 67 | 24 |
Lancashire Section, Group C, Subsidiary Competition
For the Subsidiary Competition, the Lancashire League was again divided into four, with the games played amalgamated at the end of the season to give a composite table.Blackpool were again placed in Group C which contained four teams:
- Blackburn Rovers
- Blackpool
- Burnley
- Preston North End
Blackpool again had to rely on soldiers stationed in the town for the Subsidiary Competition. The first two matches were held in mid-season during the Principal Competition. The home and away fixtures against Burnley were played with Blackpool losing at Turf Moor
Turf Moor
Turf Moor is a football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire. It is the home ground of Burnley Football Club, which has played there since moving from its Calder Vale ground in 1883. The stadium, which is situated on Harry Potts Way, named so after the club's longest serving Manager, has a capacity of...
3-1 on 24 November, and winning the return fixture 5-1 at Bloomfield Road on 1 December, when Edgar Chadwick made his return to the side at the age of 48. They won both matches against Blackburn Rovers: 2-0 at home on 30 March 1918, and 4-1 at Ewood Park
Ewood Park
Ewood Park is a football stadium in the English town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and is the home of Blackburn Rovers Football Club — one of the founder members of the Football League and Premier League. Rovers have played there since they moved from Leamington Street in the summer of 1890. The...
on 6 April. They ended the season with the two games against Preston North End, losing 3-2 at home on 13 April then winning the final match of the season at Deepdale
Deepdale
Deepdale is a stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C. and, up to 2010, England's National Football Museum. Preston North End are one of the founder members of the Football League.- History :...
4-1 on 20 April. In the combined Subsidiary Competition table Blackpool finished sixth, with Liverpool emerging as champions.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6th | Blackpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 9 | 8 |
Summary
As with the previous season, Blackpool used a lot of personnel throughout the season, with a total of 53 different players being used in both competitions. Harold KeenanHarold Keenan
Harold Keenan was an English professional footballer. He spent his entire professional career with Blackpool in the early 1900s, making over 100 Football League appearances for the club. He played as a defender....
made the most appearances, with 34 (28 in the Principal Competition and six in the Subsidiary Competition). Dunn was next with 32 league appearances (27 in the Principal Competition and five in the Subsidiary Competition), followed by Horace Fairhurst with 27 (25 in the Principal Competition and two in the Subsidiary Competition).
Military international
On 2 January 1918, Bloomfield RoadBloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road is an all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901 and is named after the road on which the stadium's main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000...
hosted a military international between England and Scotland. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with a number of the RAMC men who played for Blackpool appearing in the match. For England, Monaghan (who had just started playing as Blackpool's goalkeeper), Bates, Kinsella, Grice and Moorcroft (who scored the English goal) all played. Robb and Sperrin, together with Englishman Horace Fairhurst, turned out for the Scots.