Matchday Memories: On This Day 1913 – A Load Of CCFC Cobblers But An Eight Goal Thriller!
On this Day (March 29th) way way back in the dim and distant CCFC past in 1913 Coventry City (aka ‘The Bantams’ or ‘the Citizens’) were in their fifth season as a Southern League club having previously played just local teams in the Birmingham & District League. Under their manager Robert ‘Bob’ Wallace they were doing less well than some of the previous seasons but remaining in relative safety just below mid way in the table.
Back in November they had visited the County Ground, the old home of near neighbours Northampton Town and come away with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Ivor Brown. Today, with only six matches left including this one, they were in search of a morale lifting ‘double’ against the Cobblers at Highfield Road having suffered three straight league defeats, the last two by three clear goals. They didn’t quite get what they wanted but, in an exciting game, shared the points with their Northants rivals in an eight goal thriller in front of 4,000 fans.
Mind you, the home team must have been kicking themselves as they had forged a 4-0 half-time advantage. CCFC’s Bert Holmes got himself a hat-trick without his side winning (14, 23 & 41 minutes) and City’s other goal came from Jack Smith five minutes before the break. It took only nine minutes in the second half for the Cobbler’s Harry King to start the fightback and there were only thirteen minutes left for CCFC to hold on when King doubled his and his side’s tally. The sucker punches came within the last three minutes of the game when Robert Hughes got his double to equalise matters (some sources credit King with a hat-trick as well as Holmes).
The Bantams put out the following side:-
Bill Jacques; Jim Thomson & Dick Barnacle; Billy Yates, Ernie ‘Konk’ Boston & Walter Kimberley; Harry ‘Tickle’ Parkes, Ivor Brown, Jack Smith, Alex McCulloch & Bert Holmes
Walter Bull‘s Cobblers side was:-
Tom Thorpe; Fred Clipston & Edwin Lloyd-Davies; Bryan Tebbutt, ‘Jock’ Manning & Eric Tomkins; Walter Tull, Edwin Freeman, Harry King, Charles Smith & Robert Hughes Referee: A.Shalecross (Leek)
Two similarly named representatives of our opponent’s club achieved firsts in the Association Football game. Their ‘gaffer’ Walter Bull (who had played for Notts County (1894-1904) and Tottenham Hotspur (1904-1909)) a year before becoming manager with the Cobblers had become the first professional coach of a football team in Argentina (Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires (GEBA)!
Walter Tull has a special place in Association football being only the third player of mixed heritage to play in the English top flight. He was the Cobblers’ first ever BAME player having played for Clapton FC and got a few games for Tottenham Hotspur. He played well over a century of games for Northampton Town and later also distinguished himself in the Army in World War One but, sadly, was killed in action aged 29 in France in 1918.
City’s Walter Kimberley was also a victim of the same war dying of T.B. in the Midlands in 1917 following repatriation after spending time in several Prisoner of War camps in Germany. Charles Smith later joined Coventry City.
The Bantams went on to lose four of their remaining five games, though they did beat Brentford 3-0 at Highfield Road. They ended the 1912-13 Southern League season in thirteenth spot. The Cobblers finished tenth. Plymouth Argyle finished top of the league and Stoke were bottom.
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.