The England Summer Party-Pre Brazil  May 1959
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	starts	subs	App		Capt
Armfield, James	21 September 1935	23	RB	Blackpool FC	0	0	0	0	0
Baynham, Ronald L.	10 June 1929	29	GK	Luton Town FC	3	0	3	2ᵍᵃ	0
Bradley, Warren	20 June 1933	25	OR	Manchester United FC	1	0	1	1	0
Broadbent, Peter F.	15 May 1933	25	IR	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	5	0	5	2	0
Charlton, Robert	11 October 1937	21	CF	Manchester United FC	8	0	8	8	0
Clayton, Ronald	5 August 1934	24	RHB	Blackburn Rovers FC	26	0	26	0	0
Deeley, Norman V.	30 November 1933	25	OR	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	0	0	0	0	0
Flowers, Ronald	28 July 1934	24	LHB	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	4	0	4	0	0
Greaves, James P.	20 February 1940	19	IR	Chelsea FC	0	0	0	0	0
Gratrix, Roy	9 February 1932	27	CHB	Blackpool FC	0	0	0	0	0
Haynes, John N.	17 October 1934	24	IL	Fulham FC	28	0	28	12	0
Holden, A. Douglas	28 September 1930	28	OL	Bolton Wanderers FC	2	0	2	0	0
Hopkinson, Edward	29 October 1935	23	GK	Bolton Wanderers FC	8	0	8	11ᵍᵃ	0
Howe, Donald	12 October 1935	23	FB	West Bromwich Albion FC	16	0	16	0	0
Kevan, Derek T.	6 March 1935	24	CF	West Bromwich Albion FC	11	0	11	6	0
McGuinness, Wilfred	25 October 1937	21	LHB	Manchester United FC	1	0	1	0	0
Shaw, Graham L.	9 July 1934	24	LB	Sheffield United FC	4	0	4	0	0
Wright, William A.	6 February 1924	35	CHB	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	101	0	101	3	86

All information is complete to and including England's last match, the fifth of the 1958-59 season, against Italy on 6 May 1959.

Diary

South American Tour — the Facts

THIS year's tour of Brazil, Peru, Mexico and the United States provoked possibly more comment and criticism than any other. This was doubtless because of the results, which were plainly disappointing, but so much of the criticism was based on superficial thinking that it may be profitable to take a closer look at the problems of foreign tours in general and this one in particular.    The match in Brazil was clearly the key to the entire tour, As long ago as 1950, during the World Championship in Brazil, England had been invited to play there. It was then felt it would be better to wait a few years before returning. When the Football Association made its first tour to South America in 1953, with matches in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and, on the way home, the United States, Brazilian officials met the party at Rio airport en route for Buenos Aires and pressed them to play a match there and then. At the same time the Peruvian authorities pressed even harder that England should inaugurate the new national stadium in Lima and offered attractive terms if this could be done. But such was the schedule of that tour that additional matches were quite impossible.    Nevertheless it was settled in principle that Brazil should play in London in 1956, and that England should play in Rio in 1957. But the new system of World Cup qualifying matches when England had to meet the Irish Republic and Denmark - instead of using the British Championship - meant that additional fixtures could not be undertaken that year. The 1958 World Championship kept everyone fully occupied and 1959 was the earliest year in which England could play a return match in Brazil. This was confirmed, as were the the matches with Peru and Mexico, late in 1957 and again during the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. It will thus be seen that even arranging dates and terms involves complex discussion and correspondence over a long period.

The Official F.A. Yearbook, 1959-60, page 15

Monday, 20 April 1959 - The England selectors showed their satisfaction with the team that beat Scotland at Wembley by making just one enforced changed because of the injury to Bryan Douglas, for the games against Under-23 team on 1 May at Highbury, and against Italy at Wembley five days later. The vacancy on the right wing has gone to Manchester United's Warren Bradley, who already has twelve appearances for the England Amateur team. The eleven, along with an additional seven players, will also make the trip to South America. However, there is still no recognised centre-forward, with Bobby Charlton expected to fill the role again. Jimmy Greaves and Jimmy Armfield will go to Milan to play for the under-23's against Italy on 7 May, returning to join the tour party who leave on 8 May.

Friday, 1 May 1959 - England 3 Young England 3:- "This match at Highbury should have been a showpiece. It was a flop—despite the score. Most of the players didn't put much effort into their game and many of the 34,212 fans, who were charged top prices, left half an hour after the game started. Ron Flowers put England ahead in fifteen minutes. In the 29th minute, Bobby Charlton made it 20. Two minutes later Charlton hammered home a drive. But Ray Parry clipped the lead. In the fifty-seventh minute Ray Pointer scored for Young England. Then Jimmy Greaves grabbed the equaliser." - Bill Holden, Daily Mirror
Roy Gratrix is the reserve for England against the Young England.

Wednesday, 6 May 1959 - England 2 Italy 2 - "NOW England knows the worst, and the selectors have seven days in which to find a new attack capable of denting Brazil's defence in Rio next Wednesday. Thank goodness that in this drawn international at Wembley we discovered the limitations of this present England team BEFORE it set off for a 20,000-mile tour of The Americas tomorrow. There were no other consolations. Even a brilliant goal from Bobby Charlton that shot England into the lead in the 26th minute could not inspire an attack of struggling individuals. True, Warren Bradley snatched a second goal in the 40th minute to set up a 2—0 advantage, but it was lost. The Italians scored twice in the 13 minutes of the second half when England were without left-half Ron Flowers, who left the field with a suspected broken nose after a clash with centre-forward Sergio Brighenti. Flowers came back to play as well as ever, and excuses do not obscure the fact that this match must mark the end of an experiment." - John Camkin, News Chronicle
"Someone blundered at Wembley. And afterwards there were protests in the Italian Chamber of Deputies—and red faces among the members of the massed band of the Green Jacket Brigade. The England-Italy football match was about to start. The players lined up, and the crowd of 90,000 stood as the band prepared to play the national anthems of the two countries. But as the first notes of the Italian anthem rang out Italians gasped. The band was playing the wrong tune. Instead of Italy's present anthem, 'Inno di Mameli,' the band struck up the old 'Royal March'—used under the Mussolini regime and dropped when Italy became a Republic. In the Chamber of Deputies two left-wing members leapt up to urge the government to protest to Britain against the playing of the 'Fascist Royal March.' It was, they said, 'an insult to the Italian Republic.' The choice of music is usually the responsibility of the bandmasters. Bandmaster E. W. Jeanes, of the Second Green jackets, said: 'The anthem came from a War Office publication, 'National Anthems of the Nations,' issued n 1910, although revisions are made from time to time.' At the after-match banquet, Mr. Joe Mears, chairman of the England selectors, said: 'I apologise most humbly to our Italian friends. The repercussions from Italy have been serious. The Green Jackets will receive a rocket.'" - News Chronicle
Walter Winterbottom immediately flies off to Milan to watch the Young England side take on the Young Italian side.

Thursday, 7 May 1959 - Ron Flowers broke his nose yesterday as confirmed by an ex-ray at Wembley hospital. 'The break is at the bridge of the nose and it should not interfere with his forthcoming tour of the Americas.'

England against The Press

A summer tour of South America had been both a football and PR disaster. Before it even began England had surrended a 2-0 half-time lead to draw 2-2 with Italy at Wembley and then things had gone from bad to worse. Matters weren't helped when a hitherto benevolent press turned on the players. Leading the charge was the Daily Herald's new reporter, Sam Leitch. In many ways, he could be seen as changing the entire complexion of tabloid football reporting with his forthright attacks at what he perceived to be the root of England's problems. His career began with a report on England's 2-2 draw with Italy: 'Just forty-eight hours before they fly off on their 20,000-mile tour of the Americas, England plunged into pathetic depths of tame surrender . . . the full list of England flops was headed by skipper Billy Wright whose 101st cap was his worst.' Things deteriorated from there on and Leitch was joined by others at last ready to chastise the national team. Suddenly gone, it seemed, were the days when the worst a player could get was a gentle joshing from a journalist's pen. Now newspapers were increasingly filled with the kind of invective one would formerly expect from only the most rabid fan. Expectation had not just moved up a notch, it was suddenly screaming from the back pages, particularly when it had not been lived up to.

England Expects, James Corbett, page 154

South American Tour — the Facts

The party which made the 1959 tour, including players, officials, Press and TV representatives, numbered no less than 39. Moving such a group over more than 20,000 miles, two continents and through four great cities requires the planning and detail of a minor military operation. Transportation alone demands a careful study of schedules so that the players will be given the maximum time possible in which to relax after each match and also to readjust to the different conditions of a new country, and to train and prepare for the next match. Each country has its own immigration requirements, so that visas, inoculations, vaccinations, photographs and travel reservations demand a tremendous amount of staff-work. Baggage in itself is a considerable problem.    Such is the amount of hospitality offered by the host associations, the various embassies, English colonies and private individuals that a careful balance must be struck between the requirements of discipline and serious training in the team and the common politeness one always wants to show to one's hosts. Hotels must be reserved and checked so that the team and party is neither isolated beyond contact with the people and the way of life of the country visited—for this can give a valuable insight into the opponents' approach to the game - or over-exposed to the noises and stresses of a great capital city on the eve of the match.

The Official F.A. Yearbook, 1959-60, pages 15 & 16

Friday, 8 May 1959 - Eighteen players and more England officials leave London Airport today at 1.30pm, on Flight SR460 bound for Recife via Lisbon. Then after a connecting flight to Rio, they will arrive after a 26-hour flight tomorrow afternoon. They will be staying in the plush Hotel Gloria, overlooking the Copacabana beach.
The Selectors are lead by Chelsea FC's Joe Mears, along with Chesterfield FC's Harold Shentall, and Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Mitchell, of the Army FA. The FA secretary, Sir Stanley Rous also accompanies them. Winterbottom and Harold Shepherdson, trainer, make up the group of six officials.

Sunday, 10 May 1959 - "BILLY WRIGHT, England's hero of 101 internationals, told me here today that he will decide whether to retire or not when the England party return to London at the end of the month." - John Camkin, Rio, News Chronicle
The England party are training at the local cricket ground in Copacabana, as they are not allowed to train at the Maracana Stadium, with its lush green pitch. Three years ago, the Football Association refused Brazil permission to train at Wembley. The Brazilian Federation are repaying the favour.
Evening - "Four selectors and team manager Walter Winterbottom sipped cool drinks on the balcony of their hotel overlooking the Copacabana beach as they picked the 11 men who will face the might of Brazil in the torrid heat of the vast Maracana Stadium."

Monday, 11 May 1959 - The eighteen players alongside Walter Winterbottom and his coaching staff are at the Fluminese Stadium, training in the mid-afternoon sunshine. A blatant tactic from Winterbottom to get his team acclimatised to the Rio summer heat.

Tuesday, 12 May 1959 - The Brazilian Federation have finally relaxed their rule of allowing the English players to train on the pitch at the Maracana. Rather than a beating sun, it has been raining all day in Rio, with the temperature plummeting in to the low sixties.

South American Tour — the Facts

The use of training grounds on tour also requires forethought. Since no visiting country is allowed to train at Wembley, it is sometimes difficult abroad to train in the match stadium. In Rio England trained on the Fluminese ground and on the Niteroi ground of the Rio Cricket Club, but the Brazilian F.A. finally allowed a training session at the Maracana stadium.

The Official F.A. Yearbook, 1959-60, page 16

England against The Press

Criticism tended to focus on Wright or Haynes and the latter, now the chips were down, was increasingly seen as a moody, petulant individual. An intolerant glare or even a volley of abuse would be directed the way of any mere mortal who received one of his searching passes and had the temerity to fluff the subsequent opportunity. 'It was myself I was getting the hump with for not getting the pass quite right,' he explained years later in retirement. 'I was a bit of a perfectionist; it was me cursing myself rather than my mate.'    On 13 May 1959, in front of an estimated crowd of 160,000 in the Maracana, England fell to a 0-2 defeat to Brazil. If no disgrace come from that, plenty was to follow.

England Expects, James Corbett, pages 154 & 155

England Form: last six games
L D W D W D  f 13:a 7  success: 58%
325	17 June 1958 - USSR 1 England 0 [0-0] Nya Ullevi Stadion, Göteborg (23,182)	Ilyin	WCF	NL
326	4 October 1958 - Northern Ireland 3 England 3 [1-1] Windsor Park, Belfast (58,000)	Cush, Peacock, Casey Charlton (2), Finney	BC	AD
327	22 October 1958 - England 5 USSR 0 [1-0] Empire Stadium, Wembley (100,000)	Haynes (3), Charlton (pen), Lofthouse	Fr	HW
328	26 November 1958 - England 2 Wales 2 [1-1] Villa Park, Birmingham (40,500)	Broadbent (2) Tapscott, Allchurch	BC	HD
329	11 April 1959 - England 1 Scotland 0 [0-0] Empire Stadium, Wembley (98,329)	Charlton		HW
330	6 May 1959 - England 2 Italy 2 [2-0] Empire Stadium, Wembley (90,000-91,000)	Charlton, Bradley Brighenti, Mariani	Fr	HD