Iain Roberts

Lucky Preston North End didn’t lose, really

By | Sun 24th January 2010 - 11:09 am

Football Hooliganism Old School as reported by the Daily Express on 29th January 1909, 101 years ago.

The Preston North End team, which played a drawn game with Sheffield Wednesday at Owlerton on Saturday were violently treated at the conclusion of the match by a crowd of spectators who were dissatisfied with the result.

Councillor Houghton, who was in charge of the Preston team gave an Express representative the following account of what took place:

“We delayed our departure from Owlerton on account of the hostile attitude of the crowd which gathered around the dressing-tents.

“Immediately we left in a char-a-abanc we were pelted with showers of clinkers, cinders and stones from crowds of excited people who congregated in the streets.

“Nearly every player was struck. Lyon was hit behind the head with a heavy stone, and sustained a heavy scalp wound. Among the missiles which struck the players were two large clinkers, raw potatoes, a lump of billiard chalk, a jagged piece of earthenware, a penny, and a pearly-handled penknife.

“The outside passengers of every tramcar we passed deliberately leaned over and spat in our face.”

If that’s how Preston’s Edwardian fans reacted to a draw, what did they do when the team lost? Luckily, the team that faced Chelsea yesterday got more gentle treatment from the fans.

This is the second in a series of Sunday history posts under the category “The way we were”.

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

4 Comments

  • Tony Greaves 24th Jan '10 - 2:10pm

    You’ve got it wrong. The thugs were Wednesday fans (the word clinkers probably gives it away) . Owlerton stadium was (and is) in a part of Sheffield called HIllsborough.

    Tony Greaves

  • Joe Donnelly 24th Jan '10 - 6:02pm

    Well we were playing Chelsea! Winning was always unlikely…

  • asquith 24th Jan '10 - 7:15pm

    Perhaps they were members of the EDL’s predecessors, trying to stop Irishmen & Jews destroying the country?

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Alex Macfie
    There have been several murders with white killers and BAME victims recently. There were no riots following them, from anyone. The far right ignored them becaus...
  • Tom Walker
    Thanks Jack, really interesting read. I'd be really interested to explore how this issue interacts with widening inequality within our society. I see these ...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Chloe: The most similar case to Henry Nowak, but with BAME victim and white killer, is probably the 2013 Murder of Bijan Ebrahimi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
  • paul barker
    The thing that struck me about the member mailing was what it didn't talk about, Membership & our failure to attract people under 30. Our Membership is a...
  • Tom Walker
    Thanks, really interesting read. For me, the dark art to all of this is having national and local policy that are fully coherent. Working seamlessly, the el...