Eric Gibson
master brummie
Too early for the man I was named after.
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Aston Villa history
- Thread starter Old Boy
- Start date
Back (left to right): Tommy Lyons, Arthur Layton, J. Hogan, Billy George, Arthur Cartlidge, Alfred Freddie Miles, John Kearns, John Grierson (trainer).Now name them all.
Second: George B. Ramsay (Secretary), P. W. M. Bate (Club Director), John Devey (Club Director), F. Cooper (Vice Chairman), Fred W Rinder (Chairman), Howard Spencer (Director), J. E. Margoschis (Vice President), D. R. Jessop, E. W. Strange (Asssistant Secretary.
Sitting: William Billy Gerrish, George Hunter, E. Etre, Joe Bache, George Tranter, Chris Buckley, Albert Hall.
On Ground : Joe Walters, Arthur James Moss (trophies). Harry Hampton, Charlie Wallace.
A little more on this Eric:Too early for the man I was named after.
Following on from that game, our own FA urged Villa to do as they were told, and reluctantly Villa stood on the pitch and raised their arms, but at the last minute turned it around and began flicking the "V" to the crowd (the British version of "flipping the bird"). Perhaps luckily, the Germans had no idea what this meant and cheered anyway.
Eric Houghton said the following about this later, "we went to the centre of the field and gave them the two-finger salute instead. "They cheered like mad. "They thought it was alright. They didn’t know what the two fingers meant."
boilerman
master brummie
From a blues fan, that was a brilliant gesture, shame the Jerrys didn't know their historyA little more on this Eric:
View attachment 203923
Following on from that game, our own FA urged Villa to do as they were told, and reluctantly Villa stood on the pitch and raised their arms, but at the last minute turned it around and began flicking the "V" to the crowd (the British version of "flipping the bird"). Perhaps luckily, the Germans had no idea what this meant and cheered anyway.
Eric Houghton said the following about this later, "we went to the centre of the field and gave them the two-finger salute instead. "They cheered like mad. "They thought it was alright. They didn’t know what the two fingers meant."
PhilSummers
New Member
Welcome, Phil. I've moved your post to this thread as it's a nice addition here.
Lovely item. If you feel there's more of interest in the book, please post. I'm sure others will be interested. Thanks for posting.
Lovely item. If you feel there's more of interest in the book, please post. I'm sure others will be interested. Thanks for posting.
Martyn
master brummie
Could you upload a few of the other inside pages?
PhilSummers
New Member
I will do as soon as I can find it. We moved recently and it’s packed in a box somewhere.
Nice to see that the city will be hosting another major sporting event in 30 months time, when Euro 2028 comes to Villa Park, along with many thousands of European football fans. The stadium will host the following 4 games:
11/06 Group stage: C3 vs C4
15/06 Group stage: B2 vs B4
20/06 Group stage: D4 vs D1
27/06 Round of 16: Group D winners vs Group F runners-up.
Eric Gibson
master brummie
Would it be breaking the 'history' rule to suggest that earlier sporting events sponsored by the city ran at a pretty big financial loss to the taxpayers?
Some photographs from previous international games staged at Villa Park (during Euro 96): 1 - Scotland v Switzerland, 2 - Scotland's winner against the Swiss, 3 - Scotland v Holland, 4 - A match ticket £35. (during 66 World Cup): 5 - Argentina v West Germany, 6 - Spanish fans on the Witton End, 7 - Beckenbauer & Rattin at VP, 8 - Argentina v Spain and 9 - QF Match ticket 7/6d.
Some history, back to the beginning. Their first official ground - now under Willmore Road.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
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Keith R
master brummie
Wow thanks for this. I always thought the 1st ground was where Alexander Stadium is. You live and learn....
1) Villa fans at Euston on their way to the 1920 FA Cup Final at Stamford Bridge (the first held after WWI), which we won beating Huddersfield 1-0, 2), 2) Frank Barson's winners medal and (3) Villa's captain, Andy Ducat (who played both football & cricket for England) shaking hands before the game:
An interesting piece is coming up for auction next month. An official programme dating back to 23rd October 1909, when Villa beat Bradford City 3-1 with their goals coming from Albert Hall, William Gerrish and Harry Hampton. Villa finished league champions that season. 18,000 were at the game and I wonder how many programmes were sold for 1d? The price of a season ticket (10/6 - £2/2/-) was also a little less than they are priced at today. I had a little look at the players from that match and found that five of them were still with us in the 60's & 70s, namely Joe Bache (1960), Harry Hampton (1963), James Logan (1968), Charlie Wallace (1970) and Chris Buckley (1973). Sadly, one of the scorers that day Billy Gerrish, died of wounds that he sustained at Delville Wood (or Devil's Wood as my grandfather referred to it) on 8th August 1916 and his name is among those on the Thiepval Memorial.
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Martyn
master brummie
When I was a bit younger, and before the days of health & safety, I loved taking my life in my own hands and running down the embankment at the back of the Witton End after a match.
I remember that too, we often used to come back from the game as muddy as the players were.