Burton: Town in vanguard of sporting endeavour

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Stuart Haywood reveals the Burton area’s leading role in the early years of some of our country’s most popular sports.

Burton Football Club first XV in the 1905-06 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1889 featured two of the Evershed family, S H Evershed (seated, second left) and E Evershed (seated far right

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A drawing from the Midland Express of 1904 showing Burton Rugby Ground with, it is believed, Marston’s Brewery in the background

A drawing from the Midland Express of 1904 showing Burton Rugby Club player, F T Dallison, who was described as a good hard working forward

I was brought up in the Swadlincote area, in the mining village of Newhall to be exact, and, like colliery areas all over Britain, football was almost a way of life. A walk down to Newhall Recreation Ground after tea, and a game of football was assured. Provided a minimum of two boys were present a game would be in progress.

For two players the game was what we knew as “shooting in”. Jackets or other items of clothing were placed on the ground to represent goalposts. One boy played in goal and the other tried to score. When he had scored five goals the positions were reversed.

The dimensions of the playing area were only limited by the available space. The ball could be anything from a tennis ball. When a pig was slaughtered we would beg the bladder of the unfortunate animal as this made a good substitute ball. We always knew when a pig was being killed because its squeals could be heard over a wide area.

The two playing “shooting in” did not have to wait long before they were joined by other boys.When a sufficient number had assembled, two captains selected a boy in turn to play for them. If there were a dozen players I was usually about number 11 to be picked!

Latecomers were designated a team and we played through dusk until dark. Men going to work or to the “local” would also join in.

This was how football, as a game, started. What I have described is the “kicking” game, or soccer, as some of us know it.

The other form of football, or the “running” game, came later. Tradition has it that this was started when William Webb Ellis, playing in a soccer match at Rugby School in 1823, picked up the ball and ran with it.

Whether this incident was the start of rugby is difficult to tell, but the game became popular, particularly in southern England public schools.

In 1848, a meeting at Cambridge University between the public schools of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Marlborough, Westminster and Shrewsbury formulated what was known as the “Cambridge rules”. These were the most widely used but were not the only ones.

In 1861, Blackheath met Richmond in a game played under “Harrow rules”. There were also local modifications to the rules.

The adherents of the “kicking” and “running” games met in 1863 to try to come to a compromise in order to unify the rules. Agreement could not be found over “hacking” and “tripping”. “Hacking” was the deliberate kicking of an opponent’s shins.

Blackheath walked out of the meeting and, as a result, the “kicking” game formulated the rules which are the basis of our present laws of association football.

The Football Association instituted its first competition, the FA Cup, in 1871 with mainly southern clubs taking part.

The year 1871 was also the year in which the “running” game codified its separate laws and, four years later, the Hospitals Cup was first contested.

Locally, in Burton, at a meeting convened at the Swan Hotel, in 1870, a resolution was passed unanimously to form a rugby club, to be known as Burton Football Club. W F Warren was appointed its first secretary and H Trafford Nadin (a member of the family of local coalmasters) became its first captain.

It was common practice at the time for rugby clubs to call themselves football clubs. Some still have the word “football” in their names, for example, leading Midlands’ rugby club Leicester Football Club.

Burton was in the vanguard of organised sport and the rugby club was an example of its forward thinking.

The town was also one of the first places to form a football association. At the Rising Sun, Horninglow Street, in 1871, the Burton and District Football Association was formed. It used to claim to be the oldest in the country but a more accurate claim would be that it was one of the first.

Another example of the town’s eagerness to be at the forefront of sporting endeavour was its participation in a floodlit football match played at Outwoods in 1878.

An article written by G Morland Day gives some idea as to how rugby was played in Burton in the early 1870s.

He says that the rules observed locally were, at that date, dominated by the rules of association football. Handling was allowed to stop the ball but throwing or knocking on were not permissible.

Catches could be made and a free kick taken by the catcher. The goalposts were eight yards apart with a tape between them 14 feet above the ground. One contentious rule was the change of ends on the scoring of each goal.

When the ball went out of play, the kicker or last man to touch it had to go and collect it and hand it to an opponent who kicked the ball into play from the touchline at right angles to the line.

If the ball went behind the goals and someone from the attacking side touched down, the player was awarded a free kick at goal from 25 yards. Free kicks were awarded for various infractions of the rules but goals could not be scored from penalties.

Tripping, hacking and pushing were not allowed but hipping (throwing an opponent over the hip) and shouldering were.

Teams consisted of 15 players generally, but this was not strictly enforced, the main criteria being that each side had the same number of players.

In the laws of the game the reduction of players in a team from 20 to 15 did not come about until 1876.

A match was won by the side scoring the most goals but, should both teams score the same number, then tries decided it.

In the second season Burton met, among others, Derby Grammar School, Derwent Rowing Club, Spondon School, Ockbrook Church Union and Derby Trinity Football Club.

The Midland Counties Union was formed in 1879 and they met and beat Yorkshire in their first representative match which was hosted by the Burton club.

The following season, Midland Counties defeated Gloucestershire with a side which included seven Burton men.

S H Evershed captained the Midlands side and was also chosen to represent the North versus the South.

The year 1883 was a great season for Burton as they carried off the Midlands Challenge Cup.

The final was played at Coventry and their opponents were the very powerful Moseley side. They had gone undefeated for two seasons over which period they had scored 67 goals and 85 tries to their opponents, one goal and five tries.

Nevertheless, Burton ran out winners by two goals to Moseley’s one goal and two tries.

The team was enthusiastically received on their return to Burton.

Burton again won the cup in 1888 beating Coventry in the final by two goals to nil.

The first overseas side to tour England was the Maori side in 1889 and they met Burton on the Peel Croft (Burton’s first game there). Burton ran out winners. My grandfather was present at the match and related to me, many years later, how he went mainly to see “men of colour” as he had not come into contact with any.

Peel Croft was the home of Burton Swifts Soccer Club from 1892-1901 and Burton United from 1901-1907. Burton Swifts were founder members of the Football League (Division Two).

The rugby club played at Shobnall, on a ground rented from Marston’s Brewery from 1901-1910. The development of the club was hindered somewhat during this period as the ground was a long way out of town and did not attract big crowds.

Committee meetings were held at the Saracen’s Head Hotel in Bridge Street. Mine host, Mr F T Lake, took on the duties of hon s ecretary and Mr B C Newbold, a member of the well-known firm of solicitors of Drewery and Newbold and captain of the Burton XV, assisted him.

Mr Newbold formed the St Modwen’s Rugby Football Club in 1906 with its headquarters at Regatta Lane, Branston Road. There appears to have been bad spirit between St Modwen’s and the Burton club and, when they met in 1908, play was described as “vigorous”. Mr Newbold was asked to use his influence to foster friendship between the clubs. In 1910 the clubs amalgamated and Peel Croft became the headquarters.

The ground became available after Burton United Association Football Club dropped out of the Football League and the stand had burnt down.

Frank Evershed was the outstanding player, winning 10 England caps. I believe that he is the only Burtonian to achieve international status.

In the January 16, 1904 edition of the Midland Express it states that J J Robinson and E M Baker both played for England. They certainly did but were they playing for Burton at the time?

The greatest name in Burton sporting circles at the time was Mr S H Evershed. He was president, secretary, skipper and committee man of the rugby club. In addition he captained Derbyshire County Cricket Club and was a big noise in rowing circles. His father, Sydney, was president of the rugby club for 20 years prior to his death in 1903.

The Eversheds did all this in their time of running a successful brewery. Around this time they were taken over and became Marston, Thompson and Evershed.

Another popular sport in Burton in early Victorian times was rowing. Leander Rowing Club was established in 1847 and catered for the professional classes. Trent Rowing Club came into existence in 1863 with a membership consisting of manual workers and, two years later, Burton Rowing Club was founded for gentlemen.

The three clubs joined together and arranged the Burton Regatta, a highlight of the Burton sporting year. Unfortunately, in 1882, the National Amateur Rowing Association deemed that manual workers had an advantage over sedentary workers and so should not compete against them.

Trent joined the National Amateur Rowing Association which was founded to support clubs like Trent and competed in the regatta but not against Leander.

On the cricket field, Burton Gentlemen were well established by 1830 and part of their ground was the first home of Burton Rugby Club. One of the great influences at the cricket club were the Evershed family, in particular S H Evershed, who, as previously stated, captained Derbyshire County Cricket Club in the 1890s and guided them back to first class status which they had lost in 1888 but regained in 1894.

Swimming has a long tradition in Burton. The public baths were built in 1873 and presented to the town by Robert and Richard Ratcliffe (of Bass, Ratcliffe and Gretton Brewers). The Burton Amateur Swimming Club came into being in 1878.

When the English National Water Polo Championship was inaugurated in 1888, Burton was so advanced that they won the title three times out of the first four years it was contested and were finalists in the other year.

This is a taste of sport in Burton prior to the First World War. It would be nice to see Burton with a football team in the league again.

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