Real Ray
23 Aug 2005, 06:49 AM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/08/23/sfnwin23.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/08/23/ixfooty.html
Link is from Heny Winter's column in the Telegraph, so you might need to register. He references the book below.
The odd shout of "D-Day dodgers" or "PT commandos" followed footballers around, but all players contributed to the war effort in some form. Spurs' Freddie Cox was a fighter pilot. Cliff Bastin joined the ARP. Ted Drake undertook RAF guard duty. Mortensen was almost strangled by his parachute in 1943. Then his Wellington bomber crashed, killing the pilot. Mortensen was back playing in three weeks.
Manchester City's goalkeeper, Frank Swift, volunteered for the RAF police, and was promptly dispatched on traffic duty. "I got everything so muddled that I walked away, leaving the traffic to sort itself out," he said. "I felt how many full-backs felt when playing against Stanley Matthews."
Nick Collins, of Crystal Palace, joined the Royal Navy and helped ward off a U-boat with small-arms fire. When Cardiff City's Billy James was liberated after four years in Japanese captivity he was so malnourished that doctors feared he might lose his sight. Reg Allen, the QPR goalkeeper and commando, kept being landed from submarines on dangerous raids. He was eventually caught, escaped and when recaptured was sent to a POW camp where he organised six-a-side games. Allen insisted on playing upfront.
Grounds inevitably took a pounding. Highbury and Old Trafford were badly bombed. St Andrew's was hit 18 times by the Luftwaffe during its use as an auxiliary fire station. One stand was burned down when a fireman tried to douse a brazier with a bucket of what he thought was water. It was petrol.
More deliberately, fires were lit on Tranmere Rovers' car park to create smokescreens for Birkenhead docks. A doodlebug exploded outside Wembley close to the greyhound kennels. The fence breached, some of the dogs scarpered and took a week to round up.
Soccer at War; 1939-1945 (http://www.historybookshop.com/book-template.asp?isbn=075531431X)
Link is from Heny Winter's column in the Telegraph, so you might need to register. He references the book below.
The odd shout of "D-Day dodgers" or "PT commandos" followed footballers around, but all players contributed to the war effort in some form. Spurs' Freddie Cox was a fighter pilot. Cliff Bastin joined the ARP. Ted Drake undertook RAF guard duty. Mortensen was almost strangled by his parachute in 1943. Then his Wellington bomber crashed, killing the pilot. Mortensen was back playing in three weeks.
Manchester City's goalkeeper, Frank Swift, volunteered for the RAF police, and was promptly dispatched on traffic duty. "I got everything so muddled that I walked away, leaving the traffic to sort itself out," he said. "I felt how many full-backs felt when playing against Stanley Matthews."
Nick Collins, of Crystal Palace, joined the Royal Navy and helped ward off a U-boat with small-arms fire. When Cardiff City's Billy James was liberated after four years in Japanese captivity he was so malnourished that doctors feared he might lose his sight. Reg Allen, the QPR goalkeeper and commando, kept being landed from submarines on dangerous raids. He was eventually caught, escaped and when recaptured was sent to a POW camp where he organised six-a-side games. Allen insisted on playing upfront.
Grounds inevitably took a pounding. Highbury and Old Trafford were badly bombed. St Andrew's was hit 18 times by the Luftwaffe during its use as an auxiliary fire station. One stand was burned down when a fireman tried to douse a brazier with a bucket of what he thought was water. It was petrol.
More deliberately, fires were lit on Tranmere Rovers' car park to create smokescreens for Birkenhead docks. A doodlebug exploded outside Wembley close to the greyhound kennels. The fence breached, some of the dogs scarpered and took a week to round up.
Soccer at War; 1939-1945 (http://www.historybookshop.com/book-template.asp?isbn=075531431X)