This is a story that began on the Leicester City forum, foxestalk, but it's as much about Fulham as Leicester, so I'm retelling it here.
It began with an aerial shot of Filbert Street from Historic England's archive:
(https://i.postimg.cc/wMR5S9B1/filbert-air-2.jpg)
If you zoom in you can see there's actually a match in progress:
(https://i.postimg.cc/JnDPWN67/1923-1.png)
The question is, which match is it? Well, the archive tells us it's from January 1923. That was a month when Leicester played three games at Filbert Street - two in the League v Barnsley and Notts County, and a Cup game v Fulham.
It's clear from the packed terraces and the light coloured shirts of the opposition that it's the Fulham game we're looking at. Here's a picture of the game from the Daily Mirror:
(https://i.postimg.cc/3wP2mP17/Mirror-2.jpg)
For both teams, it was the first game that had fans dreaming of Wembley - the new national stadium that would be ready in time for the Final three months later.
Local newspaper reports give a sense of the excitement:
Every type of vehicle capable of moving, from horse charas to Ford one-tonners, turned out to convey the hordes of Fulham fans from Leicester Station to the ground. Others walked, and the path across the recreation ground was soon transformed into a sea of mud, while vehicles dumped their passengers before returning for further loads.
If you zoom in on the photo again you can see those vehicles near the ground:
(https://i.postimg.cc/Twdf7PCc/charas-and-liberty.png)
For those Fulham fans, dreams of Wembley would have to wait. Leicester won 4-0.
But back to that aerial photo.
You can see another sports venue in the picture - the Aylestone Road ground. It was the home of Leicestershire County Cricket Club between the wars. In the Historic England archive is another aerial shot from four years later where you can see the ground very clearly:
(https://i.postimg.cc/bvBfTRSq/original-ayl.png)
And, what do you know, there's a game in progress there, too. If you zoom in you can see the umpires reaching the middle, the fielding side behind them, and the two batsmen walking down the pavilion steps.
(https://i.postimg.cc/3RkY5qQy/ayl1.png)
Is it possible to identify this game too? Well, the archive gives us a precise date - June 10th 1927. It was the final day of Leicestershire v Surrey, a game that the visitors won by ten wickets on that final afternoon.
So there are two aerial shots giving an intriguing insight into sporting events of the 1920s.
But here is where it gets truly remarkable, for there is one man who links the two events.
His name is Andy Ducat.
Have a look at this short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfz78yNDCbw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfz78yNDCbw)
You'll have noted the words 'Fulham' and 'Surrey'.
Ducat was at Fulham between 1921 and 1924. But was he playing in that Cup tie at Leicester? Well, here's the team line-ups:
(https://i.postimg.cc/vZTPzwr6/line-ups.jpg)
So he was playing at right half.
How about the Surrey game in 1927?
Here's the scorecard:
(https://i.postimg.cc/76kMjF29/ducat-scorecard.jpg)
So he was playing in both matches.
Of course, it's impossible to pick him out in an aerial shot. Unless...
We know from the match report that Leicester were attacking the Kop in the first half, which is almost certainly when the photo was taken, given how early the light would start to fade in mid January. That means Ducat would have been playing on the side furthest from the Main Stand.
Look at the photo and while the blue shirts of Leicester are difficult to spot against the background, the Fulham players stand out, and are sticking fairly rigidly to their positions in an orthodox 2-3-5 formation. The player circled is in the right half position, and there's a high probability that is our man:
(https://i.postimg.cc/6qQRXt5r/chick-tsuuu.png)
How about the cricket photo? Well, it shows the players entering the field on the last day, so it could be one of three moments:
i) The start of play, with Leicester 150-4 overnight.
ii) The start of the afternoon session, with Leicester 220-9
iii) The start of Surrey's 2nd innings, the target 97.
If it's either of the first two, then Ducat is one of the fielders in the group heading for the middle. If it's the other one, he's sitting in the pavilion, hoping he doesn't have to put his pads on. If he is in that group of fielders, then this time it really is impossible to say which one is him. We'll have to settle for this photo from Day 1 of the match, with the Surrey players in almost the same position:
(https://i.postimg.cc/435mNq0B/1927-fender.jpg)
Which one Andy Ducat is I'm not sure, but if I had to choose I'd go for the player with his left hand on his hip near the centre.
How did the stories end? Well, after beating Fulham, Leicester's Wembley hopes disappeared in the next round with a home defeat by Cardiff. They would have to wait almost 100 years to lift the trophy- perhaps showing Fulham that there's always hope. Leicestershire had to wait almost 50 years before they won the County Championship - by then Surrey had won it 15 times.
We won't have to wait long for that Andy Ducat book, though. It's out next week.
I thought I recognized Jimmy Hill in a photo!
Very interesting, thanks.
Great read.
Brilliant detective work. Fascinating. I love this sort of thing !
Excellent stuff.
Thanks very much.
Really good read. Excellent first post......maybe Kushiro = Jonathon Northall?
Quote from: Lester Burnham on April 19, 2022, 03:02:30 PM
Really good read. Excellent first post......maybe Kushiro = Jonathon Northall?
Got me!
He's an Aussie, I think. I write a lot of these pieces on the Leicester forum:
https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/articles/ (https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/articles/)
MI5 will be in touch shortly
They need boffins such as yourself good sir
Brilliant post.
This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Good detective work and interesting.
He's in the Merchant of Venice as well- but then you knew that.
Turns out there was even more to this story.
There was a question that needed an answer - was it just by chance there was a game on when the plane flew over that Leicester v Fulham game in 1923? Or was the timing deliberate? I thought the latter more likely, and that looking at other places in the Historic England archive, you should find similar photos.
I did a few checks on other grounds around the country, looking especially if there were other aerial photos that show games from around that period - the immediate post war-years.
After a fairly extensive search, there were only two examples - one of a game at White Hart Lane, and another at Highbury. The remarkable thing was - both photos were taken in January 1923, just like the Leicester v Fulham shot. It looks like all three photos were part of the same project, and might even have been taken from the same plane, by the same team.
Here's the details.
This photo was taken at White Hart Lane:
(https://i.postimg.cc/wvn6s2Xp/WHL-Jan-1923-2.png)
The date in the archive says January 1923, but it's highly likely that, as with the photo at Leicester, this can be pinned down further - to Spurs' Cup tie that month, rather than the two League games White Hart Lane staged.
It was an extraordinary Cup tie. A team of miners called Worksop Town had fought their way through the Qualifying Rounds and made it to the First Round Proper (the equivalent of the modern Round Three). They were given a dream tie - away at Spurs, who were then the only professional side from the South to have won the Cup.
Nine of the Worksop team had been working down the mine from Monday to Thursday in the days leading up to the tie. Surely Spurs would sail through.
But that's not what happened.
Worksop put up an heroic fight and stopped Spurs from scoring, as this Daily News cartoon shows:
(https://i.postimg.cc/7hyZWXfN/Spurs-Worksop-clipped.jpg)
The sad thing is, the directors of Worksop took the decision to deprive home fans of the greatest day in the club's history, allowing Spurs to stage the replay - just so they could make a few more quid from the experience. Who knows what the Worksop players thought. Two days after the goalless draw, Spurs won 9-0.
But is the photo of the original tie, or the replay? That becomes clearer if we look at the Highbury photo.
As Spurs were struggling to break down Worksop, Arsenal were also drawing 0-0 - but that was at Anfield, against the reigning champions. Their replay was four days later, and it is very likely that's the game we can see in this shot of Highbury:
(https://i.postimg.cc/mg3NX6km/Arsenal-Cup-Jan-1923.png)
It's another magnificent shot, if that's a description Fulham fans will permit of a shot taken only a few years after Henry Norris deserted Craven Cottage. No doubt many were cheering when they heard the result - Liverpool won 4-1.
So what can we conclude from these three photos?
As I mentioned, there don't appear to be any other similar shots from other grounds in those early post-war years. So it seems very likely they were part of the same project - perhaps a promotional campaign for the FA Cup. The Football Association were desperate for the new Final venue at Wembley Park to be a success, and were hoping that a London club would reach the final to guarantee a capacity crowd (little could they imagine...)
If the three shots were all taken by the same team, this would have been the timeline:
Saturday January 13th Leicester City v Fulham
Monday January 15th Tottenham v Worksop Town (replay)
Wednesday January 17th Arsenal v Liverpool (replay)
As it turned out, four London clubs reached the Quarter Finals - and they were all kept apart in the draw for the last eight. Two of them, QPR and Charlton were both then in Division Three (South), but both fell at the QF stage, as did Tottenham. West Ham, then in Division Two, made it all the way to the final, no doubt to the delight of the FA (there are numerous aerial shots of that famous Final - though they're not part of this Historic England archive).
Well, I hope this thread has encouraged people to head for the archive to check out Craven Cottage. There are some great shots, though none of a game in progress.
Here are two from 1928:
(https://i.postimg.cc/8cXJn9rr/Fulham-1928-2.png)
(https://i.postimg.cc/TwwTHwjC/Fulham-1928.png)
My favourite is this one from 1949, which I've included the link to so you can play with the zoom facility.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/EAW022276 (https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/EAW022276)
if anyone else fancies checking out other grounds in that archive and extending this thread, that would be very welcome.
Looking at the picture above this, did there used to be a walkway along the river then?
Postscript to this story:
A legendary Leicester City fan called Bernie Henson died recently.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pdLdjhrL/Bernie-at-Sheff-U.jpg)
His closest friends have been looking after his most precious possessions - large quantities of old Leicester scrapbooks, photos and programmes. I'm involved in putting the scrapbook material on line so anyone can see it, and one step is to identify some of the photos that Bernie took long, long ago.
Here are two of them:
(https://i.postimg.cc/05fpRmSV/Fulham-1.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/t4PJyQf9/Fulham-2.jpg)
It didn't take too much detective work to identify the time and place.
April 9th 1960, Fulham 1 Leicester City 1.
I believe that was the only season that Fulham were wearing those distinctive socks.
Looking at match reports, Fulham had to field an incredibly inexperienced forward line that day, as Haynes, Hill and others were out.
In the first photo I think we can see Jimmy Langley (Fulham), Ken Leek and Gordon Wills (Leicester) and Leicester manager Matt Gillies emerging through the policemen.
Anyone know who the Fulham player nearest camera in the second photo is?
Definitely looks like Jim Langley in the first photo, but I found it hard to identify any of the Fulham players in the second photo, possibly centre forward, John Doherty, or maybe Brian 'Pat' O'Connell, who were both playing that day, according to the programme -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164156263271
Great stuff Kashiro - really interesting, thanks.
With the game next Saturday in mind, an updated version of this piece has been published:
https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-aerial-filbert-street-photo (https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-aerial-filbert-street-photo)
Incredible detective work, thank you.
I love this - brilliant work. Thank you
I tried to buy a pair of those socks. I dragged my mum to Eddie Lowe's sports shop which I think was in Epsom. I returned home disappointed as the shop didn't stock them. Probably took about 3 hours to complete the journey by bus.
What a brilliant posting. Featured in that Fulham line up was the name of a player who was involved with the club for 50 years. The legendary Frank Penn. 428 games 52 goals.
Great post, as an American living over here some of the history gets lost on me, this was a great read.
Quote from: bobby01 on April 26, 2022, 09:17:53 AMLooking at the picture above this, did there used to be a walkway along the river then?
No. Looks like there were walls at either end of the ground. The walkway (Part of the Thames Path from source to sea) is a relatively recent invention. There used to be various wharves and industrial units along the river and you had to walk behind them. Opening up the river frontage to public access has been a 'planning gain' over the years (who says the planning system is broken?) and also helps with inspection and maintenance of flood defences.
Thanks for all the positive comments. It's great to get a Fulham perspective. Thanks
@bog for the tip about Frank Penn - you made me look into his story. Thanks also to
@Jaguar2013 for the Eddie Lowe story. Seems like he was running that shop in partnership with Ian Black.
Over on the Fosse Way site where this story has just been republished there's another piece that you might find interesting, with lots of Fulham content:
https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-oars-war-dying-day-fulham (https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-oars-war-dying-day-fulham)