Match Summary

England Team

Ireland Team

The first international match of the season ended, at Roker Park, Sunderland, on Saturday, in a victory for England over Ireland by two goals to none.

The success of England was well deserved, for they were undoubtedly the superior side. The Irishmen were outplayed, but the game furnished some thoroughly interesting football. The form shown by the English team was good both in individual play and in combination. Ireland lacked the skill of their opponents, and had to rely chiefly on kick and rush methods to get near goal. They never looked like scoring, whereas England often came near to adding to their advantage. No pronounced fault could be found with any of the England players...

Kelly scored for England in the first half and Walker in the second. About 22,000 people watched the game, the receipts being returned at �1,294. - The Times - Monday 25th October, 1920

Football League Division One 23 October 1920
Team	P	Pts
Aston Villa	12	17
Newcastle United	11	16
Liverpool	11	16
Everton	13	16
Huddersfield Town	11	14
Burnley	11	14
Bolton Wanderers	12	13
Tottenham Hotspur	11	12
Middlesbrough	11	12
Sunderland	11	12
Blackburn Rovers	11	11
Bradford City	11	11
Manchester United	11	11
Manchester City	11	11
West Bromwich Albion	11	10
Arsenal	11	9
Oldham Athletic	11	9
Derby County	11	8
Sheffield United	13	8
Preston North End	11	7
Chelsea	11	6
Bradford	11	5

 

Division One matches played on 23 October 1920:

ASTON VILLA 4-0 SHEFFIELD UNITED
C.Stephenson 35, 84, Barson 70, Kirton 87
40,000 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Villa were without Ducat and Walker (who scored), who were playing against Ireland at Sunderland, whilst United were without Billy Gillespie, who was playing for Ireland.

BLACKBURN ROVERS 0-2 MANCHESTER CITY
(Johnson 25, Bibby o.g. 35)
35,000 (Ewood Park, Blackburn)

Blackburn were without David Rollo, who was playing for Ireland against England at Sunderland, whilst City were without Paddy Kelly, who was making his only international appearance for Ireland.

BRADFORD CITY 2-2 SUNDERLAND
Fox 49, Lindley 75 (Best 6, Marshall 52)
20,000 (Valley Parade, Bradford)

Sunderland were without Charlie Buchan, who was a reserve for England against Ireland at Sunderland.

CHELSEA 1-1 OLDHAM ATHLETIC
McNeil 60 (Wilson 23)
38,000 (Stamford Bridge, London)

Chelsea were without Jimmy Ferris, who was playing for Ireland against England at Sunderland.

DERBY COUNTY 1-1 ARSENAL
Thornewell 58 (White 73)
19,000 (Baseball Ground, Derby)

Derby were without Alf Quantrill, who was playing for England against Ireland at Sunderland.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 5-1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Mann Pen. 46, Shields 53, +1, Islip 83, Taylor (Taylor 30)
25,100 (Leeds Road, Huddersfield)

Huddersfield were without Fred Bullock, who was making his only full-international appearance, against Ireland at Sunderland, whilst West Brom were without Fred Morris, who was also playing against Ireland.

LIVERPOOL 1-0 EVERTON
Forshaw 35
50,000 (Anfield, Liverpool)

Liverpool were without Lacey and Scott, who were playing for Ireland against England at Sunderland, whilst Everton were without Chedgzoy and Downs (making his only international appearance), who were playing for England.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1-0 PRESTON NORTH END
Miller 16
42,000 (Old Trafford, Manchester)

United were without Jack Mew, who was keeping a clean sheet on his only international appearance, for England against Ireland at Sunderland, whilst Preston were without Joe McCall, who was also playing against Ireland.

MIDDLESBROUGH 4-1 BOLTON WANDERERS
J.Carr 35, 65, Elliott 68, 89 (Smith 20)
28,947 (Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough)

NEWCASTLE UNITED 2-1 BRADFORD
Ward 12, Harris 39 (McLean 53)
45,000 (St James' Park, Newcastle)

Bradford were without Jack McCandless, who was playing for Ireland against England at Sunderland.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1-2 BURNLEY
Banks 20 (Anderson 49, 53)
45,000 (White Hart Lane, London)

Tottenham were without Arthur Grimsdell, who was playing for England against Ireland at Sunderland, whilst Burnley were without Bob Kelly, who scored the opening goal against Ireland.

Crowds were now flocking to league grounds in their tens of thousands. Burnley had embarked on a record-breaking unbeaten run that would stretch to thirty league games and take them to their first league title, whilst the team that they beat, Tottenham, would also take silverware in the form of the FA Cup in their first season as a first division club.

Football League Division Two 23 October 1920
Team	P	Pts
Cardiff City	11	16
South Shields	11	16
Clapton Orient	12	16
Bristol City	12	15
Blackpool	12	13
Stoke	11	12
Notts County	11	12
West Ham United	12	12
Hull City	11	12
Port Vale	11	12
Leicester City	11	12
Bury	11	11
Leeds United	11	11
The Wednesday	11	11
Birmingham	11	10
Rotherham County	12	10
Nottingham Forest	11	10
Fulham	11	9
Wolverhampton Wanderers	11	8
Barnsley	11	8
Stockport County	11	6
Coventry City	12	6

 

Division Two matches played on 23 October 1920:

BLACKPOOL 1-0 WEST HAM UNITED
Reid
9,000 (Bloomfield Road, Blackpool)

BURY 2-2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Bullock 2 (Spaven 2)
9,881 (Gigg Lane, Bury)

CLAPTON ORIENT 0-0 BRISTOL CITY
25,000 (Millfields Road, London)

HULL CITY 0-1 LEEDS UNITED
(Thompson)
10,000 (Anlaby Road, Hull)

LEICESTER CITY 1-1 FULHAM
Smith (Torrance)
19,681 (Filbert Street, Leicester)

NOTTS COUNTY 1-2 CARDIFF CITY
Henshall (Cashmore, Gill)
22,000 (Meadow Lane, Nottingham)

SOUTH SHIELDS 6-1 PORT VALE
Hawes 2, Parker 3, Woods (Blood)
18,000 (Horsley Hill, South Shields)

STOCKPORT COUNTY 3-2 BARNSLEY
Mitton, Walmsley, Shelton (Wainscoat, Donkin)
10,000 (Edgeley Park, Stockport)

STOKE 4-1 COVENTRY CITY
Tempest 2, McColl, Maddock (Wynn)
12,000 (Victoria Ground, Stoke)

THE WEDNESDAY 1-2 BIRMINGHAM
McIntyre (Whitehouse 2)
30,000 (Hillsborough, Sheffield)

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 3-0 ROTHERHAM COUNTY
Potts 2, Edmonds
15,535 (Molineux, Wolverhampton)

Cardiff moved to the top in, what was to be, a historic season for them, becoming the first club from outside of England to enter the first division of the Football League.

Selected Division Three matches played on 23 October 1920:

LUTON TOWN 3-2 BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
Mathieson, Hayes o.g., Simms (Rodgerson 2)
11,000 (Kenilworth Road, Luton)

Brighton were without Jack Doran, who was making his international debut for Ireland against England at Sunderland.

READING 1-0 CRYSTAL PALACE
Bailey
10,000 (Elm Park, Reading)

Palace were without Robert McCracken, who was making his international debut for Ireland against England at Sunderland.

SOUTHAMPTON 3-0 BRENTFORD
Shelley, Rawlings, Foxall
13,000 (The Dell, Southampton)

Southampton led the table by two points from Millwall, and had a game in hand.

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 24 October 1920 that Agatha Christie's first novel, 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' was released in the United States and introduced the character of Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective who was to appear in dozens of stories by the famous writer.

Source Notes

*The 1916 Summer Time Act, amendment of 2 March 1920, concerning the end of British Summer Time, was due to take place on Monday, 27 September 1920. But a further amendment on 24 September declared that BST would continue for another month and that the clocks would not revert to GMT until Monday, 25 October. This was because of the coal strike.

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
Original Newspaper Reports
TheFA.com
Rothman's Yearbooks
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
Ancestry.com
____________________

CG