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178 vs. Ireland
179
180 vs. Spain

Wednesday, 18 November 1931
Home International Championship 1931-32 (44th) Match

England 3 Wales 1 [1-1]
 

Match Summary
England Party

Wales Party

Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool, Lancashire
Attendance: 15,000;
Kick-off: tbc GMT

Wales - Walter Robbins (Cook controlled the ball skilfully before passing to Robbins whose left foot shot was well out of the reach of Hibbs 30)
England - Jack Smith (placed from a Strange pass from a free-kick 38), Sammy Crooks (cut in finely to shoot on the run following a Bastin cross 50), Ernie Hine (scored from a pass from Crooks, the ball going in off Gray's arm 65)
Results 1930-39

England won the toss, Wales kicked-off.

 

Match Summary

Officials

England

Type

Wales

Referee - William Frederick Bunnell
47 (21 July 1884), Liverpool, England.

Linesmen - F. Boardman, Cheshire, and not known

Prior to the match, the draw for the FA Cup first round was made.

  Goal Attempts  
  Attempts on Target  
  Hit Bar/Post  
  Corner Kicks Won  
  Offside Calls Against  
  Fouls Conceded  
  Possession  

England Team

 

Rank:

No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 6th
Colours: The 1923 uniform - White collared jerseys and dark club shorts
Capt: Alf Strange, third captaincy Selectors:
In charge: Arthur G. Kingscott
The fourteen-man FA International Selection Committee, following a trial match, on Monday, 9 November 1931.
146th match, W 94 - D 27 - L 25 - F 448 - A 166.
England Lineup
  Hibbs, E. Henry 25 27 May 1906 G Birmingham FC 9 11 GA
  Cooper, Thomas 26 9 April 1905 RB Derby County FC 9 0
  Blenkinsop, Ernest 29 20 April 1902 LB Sheffield Wednesday FC 20 0
  Strange, Alfred H. 31 2 April 1900 RH Sheffield Wednesday FC 10 0
  Gee, Charles W. 22 6 April 1909 CH Everton FC 1 0
  Campbell, Austen F. 30 5 May 1901 LH Huddersfield Town AFC 7 1
Crooks, Samuel D. 23 16 January 1908 OR Derby County FC 10 3
Smith, John W. 33 28 October 1898 IR Portsmouth FC 2 2
  Waring, Thomas 25 12 October 1906 CF Aston Villa FC 4 3
Hine, Ernest W. 30 9 April 1901 IL Leicester City FC 6 4
  Bastin, Clifford S. 19 14 March 1912 OL Arsenal FC 1 0

reserves:

Joe Tate (Aston Villa FC) and Tosh Johnson (Everton FC)
 
2-3-5 Hibbs -
Cooper, Blenkinsop -
Strange, Gee, Campbell -
Crooks, Smith,
Waring, Hine, Bastin

Averages:

Age 26.6 Appearances/Goals 7.2 0.9

 

Wales Team

 

Rank:

No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 30th to 31st
Colours: Made by St. Margaret's - Red shirts with white collars, white shorts, red socks
Capt: Ben Williams Selectors: Team selection chosen by Committee.
Wales Lineup
  Gray, Albert 31 23 September 1900 G Tranmere Rovers FC, England 17 35 GA
  Williams, Benjamin D. 31 29 October 1900 RB Everton FC, England 6 0
  Ellis, Benjamin 25 11 April 1906 LB Motherwell FC, Scotland 1 0
  Jones, Charles 31 12 December 1899 RH Arsenal FC, England 7 0
  Griffiths, Thomas 25 21 February 1906 CH Everton FC, England 7 1
  John, Robert F. 32 3 February 1899 LH Arsenal FC, England 10 0
  Phillips, Cuthbert 21 23 June 1910 OR Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, England 2 1
  O'Callaghan, Eugene 25 6 October 1906 IR Tottenham Hotspur FC, England 4 1
  Astley, David J. 22 11 October 1909 CF Aston Villa FC, England 2 0
Robbins, Walter W. 20 24 November 1910 IL Cardiff City FC 4 1
  Cook, Frederick 29 20 January 1902 OL Portsmouth FC, England 8 0

reserves:

reserves not known
 
2-3-5 Gray -
Williams, Ellis -
Jones, Griffiths, John -
Phillips, O'Callaghan, Astley, Robbins, Cook

Averages:

Age 26.5 Appearances/Goals 6.2 0.3

 

    Match Report

England beat Wales yesterday afternoon on the ground of the Liverpool F.C. at Anfield by three goals to one.

A defeat by two goals scarcely did justice to the Welsh team, who, if their inside forwards had shot better, might well have scored several times. Up to half-time the Welsh team seemed, on the muddy ground, to be the more aggressive side, for they kept the play open and did not waste time in close dribbling...

Griffiths started a movement which Cook carried on before passing to Robbins, who shot a goal with his left foot. England pressed hard after that. Strange got the ball from a free kick and passed to Smith, who took it on a few paces and shot a goal.

In the second half Bastin could not elude Jones and Williams, but after five minutes he took a long pass from the right wing, returned the ball to the centre, and gave Crooks the chance to dash in and shoot past Gray as he came out...

Strange once more started an attack and Crooks took the ball down the field and then passed to Hine, who scored, the ball touching the goalkeeper's arm before going into the net...- The Times - Thursday 19th November, 1931

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 17 November 1931 that an inquest was adjourned due to the mysterious lack of identification from a double shooting in a Southampton hotel, three days earlier, which left a man dead and a woman seriously ill, both from gunshot wounds. The mystery was eventually solved and the inquest concluded, five months later. It transpired that the couple, 55-year-old Roland Draper, and his lover, Gladys Tressider, had conspired to die together in a suicide pact and had attempted to destroy everything that could identify them. Draper had shot Gladys and then turned the gun on himself. The woman survived because the bullet missed her heart, and she rang the service bell for help, but she was left paralysed from the waist down.

Source Notes

Welsh Football Data Archive
Original newspaper reports
Rothmans Yearbooks
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
Ancestry.com
John Treleven
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CG