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Here is another in our popular 'Stories behind the Pictures' series. Sports historian Peter Seddon discovers that there is far more to this motley bunch of 'middle-aged' footballers than initially meets the eye.

Back row (left to right): Tommy Barbour, Alec Leake, Harry Maskrey, Bob Crompton, Albert Lloyd, Charlie Morris. Front (left to right): Billy Meredith, Steve Bloomer, James Cantrell, Harry Leonard, George Wall.

The photograph above may look like the 'Old Codgers XI' of this article's title, but there is much more to it than a bunch of ageing footballers doing their best to pull in their stomachs for the camera.

The unusual and very rarely published team picture was taken at Derby County's Baseball Ground on 18 April 1923. The line-up was billed as Steve Bloomer's 'Old International' team, who were about to take on Derby County in a charity match.

Former Derby County and England star Bloomer - then aged 49 - had organised the game in aid of the Mayor's 'Derby War Memorial Fund'. It raised the net sum of £350, at that time a tidy total.

As with most such charity games, the enticing team billing proved to be a rather loose reflection of its final make-up, for in the event only 7 of the eleven were former international players, and a number of 'ringers' still in the final phase of their playing careers were brought in.

However, the seven internationals between them boasted no fewer than 152 caps for either England or Wales, and included a number of true 'greats' from football's Victorian age.

Bloomer himself was the greatest 'veteran', having played his first Football League game for Derby County in 1892. The legendary Billy Meredith next to him (48 caps for Wales) had made his League debut a year later - Meredith was a great star at both Manchester United and Manchester City.

Top of the shop for England caps was Bob Crompton of Blackburn Rovers, who played for his country 41 times compared to Bloomer's 23 - Crompton was a real football giant of the Victorian age.

The Derby County and Huddersfield full-back Charlie Morris won 27 caps for Wales, and George Wall played 7 times for England - his League clubs were Barnsley, Manchester United, Oldham and Rochdale.

Alec Leake of Aston Villa and Burnley appeared 5 times for England, and goalkeeper Harry Maskrey just once, but he was well-known to the Baseball Ground crowd as a stalwart between the Derby County posts.

The fill-ins were Derby County's Harry Leonard, James Cantrell of Aston Villa, Notts County and Spurs, another Rams man Tommy Barbour, and the 'mystery player' Albert Lloyd, who it is thought was drafted in from Derby County reserves to make up the numbers.

The occasion was a unique and symbolic one which saw some of the leading players of the Victorian age line up against the young bucks of the 1920s who would take the game on into its 1930s heyday. As such it encapsulated the rapid progress the game was making on a day the 'old guard' put on one last show.

Not surprisingly the oldsters were beaten by the youngsters by a scoreline of 6-2 - Steve Bloomer notched one for the veterans, a penalty.

The game was historic in another way too, for it proved to be the last 'serious' appearance by Steve Bloomer on a football field. Six days later he formalised his retirement as a veteran player with the following quite poignant statement in The Derbyshire Football Express.

'Since playing in the 'Old Internationals' match I have been inundated with requests to play in other charity matches, but we 'old uns' must call a halt some time or other. The arch enemy Father Time wins the battle in the end. I am no longer a youngster although my enthusiasm for the game is as great as ever. But it is not nice to go on to the field with a full realisation that one cannot do the things which came so easily in the days of our youth. I feel that the years of internment in Ruhleben in Germany have hastened the inevitable end, and so I have decided that my last game in public has been played. I have not come to this decision without many pulls at my heartstrings, for the game has always had an irresistible fascination for me and it is with a pang that I realise my playing days are over.'

So the photograph is rather more than Steve Bloomer's 'Old Codgers XI' - it is a small piece of football history in its own right.

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County:  Derbyshire

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