The England
Party for
the tour of the Continent
May 1949 |
Player |
Birthdate |
Age |
Pos |
Club |
App |
G |
Capt |
Aston, John |
3 September 1921 |
27 |
LB |
Manchester United FC |
6 |
0 |
0 |
Bentley, T.F. Roy |
17 May 1924 |
24 |
CF |
Chelsea FC |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Bentley returned home following the B matches. |
Cockburn,
Henry |
14 September 1921 |
27 |
LHB |
Manchester United FC |
10 |
0 |
0 |
Cockburn returned home following the B matches. |
Dickinson, James W. |
24 April 1925 |
24 |
L/RHB |
Portsmouth FC |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Ditchburn, Edwin G. |
24 October 1921 |
27 |
G |
Tottenham Hotspur FC |
2 |
3ᵍᵃ |
0 |
Ditchburn returned home following the B matches. |
Ellerington, William |
30 June 1923 |
25 |
RB |
Southampton FC |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Finney,
Thomas |
5 April 1922 |
27 |
OR |
Preston
North End FC |
17 |
14 |
0 |
Franklin,
Cornelius |
24 January 1922 |
27 |
CHB |
Stoke
City FC |
21 |
0 |
0 |
Gibson, Colin H. |
16 August 1923 |
25 |
OR |
Aston Villa FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Gibson returned home following the B matches. |
Harris, Peter P. |
19 December 1925 |
23 |
OR |
Portsmouth FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Harris withdrew from the Party before they left England. |
Harrison, Walter E. |
16 January 1923 |
26 |
HB |
Leicester City FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Harrison returned home following the B matches. |
Jones, William H. |
13 May 1921 |
28 |
CHB |
Liverpool FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Langton,
Robert |
8 September 1918 |
30 |
OL |
Preston
North End FC |
9 |
1 |
0 |
Langton returned home following the B matches. |
Leuty, Leon |
23 October 1920 |
28 |
CHB |
Derby County FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Leuty returned home following the B matches. |
Mannion,
Wilfred J. |
16 May 1918 |
30 |
IL |
Middlesbrough FC |
14 |
8 |
0 |
Milburn, John E.T. |
11 May 1924 |
25 |
CF |
Newcastle United FC |
4 |
3 |
0 |
Jackie Milburn withdrew from the Party on 4 May. |
Morris, John |
27 September 1923 |
25 |
IR |
Derby County FC |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Mortensen, Stanley H. |
26 May 1921 |
27 |
IR |
Blackpool FC |
12 |
14 |
0 |
Mullen, James |
6 January 1923 |
26 |
OL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Nicholson, William E. |
26 January 1919 |
30 |
RHB |
Tottenham Hotspur FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Nicholson replaced Wright in the Party before they left
England. Nicholson then returned home following the B matches. |
Parsons, Eric
G. |
9 November 1923 |
25 |
OR |
West Ham United FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Parsons replaced Harris in the Party before they left
England. Parsons then returned home following the B matches. |
Rowley, John F. |
7 October 1918 |
30 |
IL |
Manchester United FC |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Shimwell, Edmund |
27 February 1920 |
29 |
RB |
Blackpool FC |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Shimwell returned home following the B matches. |
Swift, Frank V. |
26 December 1913 |
35 |
G |
Manchester City FC |
19 |
18ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Swift enforced his own retirement from football following the
Norway match |
Westwood, Eric |
25 September 1917 |
31 |
LB |
Manchester City FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Westwood returned home following the B matches. |
Williams, Bert F. |
31 January 1920 |
29 |
G |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
0 |
0ᵍᵃ |
0 |
Wilshaw, Dennis J. |
11 March 1926 |
23 |
LF |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wilshaw replaced Milburn in the Party on 3 May. |
Wright, Arthur W. |
23 September 1919 |
29 |
LHB |
Sunderland AFC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Wright withdrew from the Party before they left England. |
Wright, William A. |
6 February 1924 |
25 |
RHB |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC |
21 |
0 |
6 |
All information is complete to and including England's
last match, the seventh of the 1948-49 season, against Norway on 18 May 1949.
Diary
Monday, 2 May 1949 -
The Football Association have chosen 26
players to tour the continent later this month. The retiring Frank
Swift makes his last tour and will share goalkeeping duties with Ted
Ditchburn and Bert Williams, close rivals as Swift's successor in the
international sphere. Bill Ellerington, the Southampton full-back has
now superseded Alf Ramsey in both club and representative honours.
Walter Harrison deserves recognition, for his strong wing-half play
was conspicuous throughout the successful cup run of Leicester City.
Stan Matthews has not been too fit of late, but his omission is
probably more attributable to personal commitments in the close
season. Their are
five matches in nine days, served by two teams, England and England B.
The players fly from Northolt to Stockholm on 10 May in two planes.
Wednesday, 4 May 1949 - Dennis
Wilshaw, the young Loughborough college student who cannot command a a
regular place in Wolves' side, despite scoring ten goals in eight
league games, is to tour Europe with England. He goes in the place of
Newcastle's Jackie Milburn, and is the fourth member of Wolves to make
the journey.
Tuesday, 10 May 1949 -
England footballers started today upon a 3,000 mile Continental
tour. Both Arthur Wright and Peter Harris had to drop out of the party
almost at the last minute, and in their place went Eric Parsons, the
West Ham forward, and Billy Nicholson, the Tottenham half-back, who
played at Sunderland during the war-time football when stationed at
Brancepeth.
Wednesday, 11 May 1949
- The teams to play Sweden and Finland are announced this morning.
Friday, 13 May 1949 - Sweden's
unexpected 3-1 win over England caused great jubilation throughout
Sweden. The Swedish Telegraph Board stated that they had never handled
so many congratulatory telegrams. Several sacks of telegrams were
delivered at the banquet given to both teams by the Swedish FA.
Sunday, 15 May 1949 - The
England team defeated by Sweden will be well and truly in the melting
top as a result of the England B team's comfortable 4-0 win against
Finland. That changes will have to be made was obvious before this
game, but the selectors face something of a problem because six
members of this team, Williams, Ellerington, Westwood, Dickinson,
Morris and Mannion, staked a claim for inclusion in the side that
meets Norway on Wednesday.
Monday,
16 May 1949 - The team arrive in Oslo by air tonight in the
pouring rain. A second plane, carrying the FA officials and British
journalists, met the full force of a thunderstorm, and received a
severe buffeting before touching down. The teams to face Norway
and Netherlands are announced.
Wednesday, 18 May 1949 - The Norwegian press were critical of
England's performance, calling England's football is still far below
its pre-war level. Morgenbladet calling the performance
colourless and monotonous. The National blaming Norway's bad
luck to to their loss. Frank Swift's match in goal in Oslo was the
last of his career. At the banquet after the match it was stated that
Swift would not take part in the last game of the tour, against France
on Sunday. Swift, in a delightful speech, thanked the FA for all they
had done for him. A special toast was called. He was specially thanked
for his services to the game by England's present captain, Billy
Wright. Normally a humorist, Swift was in tears as he responded. It
was all he could do to say 'Thank you!'
Thursday, 19 May 1949 - The England
team leave Oslo by air for Paris, and those in Amsterdam arrived in
London. Eight members of the Amsterdam party return to their homes,
only Jack Rowley and Bill Jones were retained to go onto Paris. They
joined up with the team that arrived from Oslo, including the two
reserves, Bert Williams and Dennis Wilshaw. Eric Westwood joined up
with his Manchester City teammates in Denmark.
Friday, 20 May 1949 - The Selectors
chose their team to play France in the final tour match.
England
Form: last six
games |
W W W
L L W f 19:a
9
success: 67% |
242 |
9 October 1948 -
Ireland
2 England 6
[0-1]
Windsor Park, Belfast
(53,629) |
Walsh (2)
Matthews, Milburn, Mortensen (3),
Pearson |
BC |
AW |
243 |
10 November 1948 -
England 1
Wales
0
[1-0]
Villa Park, Birmingham
(68,700) |
Finney |
HW |
244 |
2 December 1948 -
England 6
Switzerland
0 [3-0]
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
(48,000) |
Haines
(2), Hancocks
(2), Rowley, Milburn |
Fr |
HW |
245 |
9 April 1949 -
England 1
Scotland
3 [0-1]
Empire
Stadium, Wembley
(99,500) |
Milburn
Mason, Steel, Reilly |
BC |
HL |
246 |
13 May 1949 -
Sweden
3 England 1 [3-0]
Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna
(37,500) |
Carlsson, Jeppson, Jónsson Finney |
tour |
AL |
247 |
18 May 1949 -
Norway
1 England
4 [0-2]
Ullevål Stadion, Oslo
(36,000) |
Andresen
Mullen,
Finney, Spydevold
OG,
Morris |
AW |
____________________
CG
|