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Results 1950-1955                           Page Last Updated 23 January 2024

Argentina

 
269 vs. Scotland
previous senior match (29 days)
276 vs. Scotland
previous match (3 days)
u/o vs. Argentina
277
next match (7 days)
278 vs. Chile
279 vs. Uruguay
280 vs. United States
 
285 vs. Scotland
Sunday, 17 May 1953
Early Summer American Tour Match


Argentina 0 England 0

suspended after 23 minutes, abandoned after 36 minutes
 
"SIR STANLEY ROUS, secretary of the F.A., told me the abandoned match would count as an international. The England players will get a cap and £30 playing fee.  They would also get a cap and a fee for a second game, so that it is possible for Taylor and Berry to earn £60 from their first international."


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Argentina is the 25th nation visited by England
Estadio Monumental, Nuñez, Buenos Aires
Kick-off (ART): 1.50pm (ten minutes early) 5.50pm
Attendance: 85,000;
Eliseo Mouriño won the toss England kicked-off
   
   
There is no Television or Radio coverage
 
"England in Soccer wash-out" Charlie Buchan, Daily News
Officials   A rg en tin a   FIFA ruling on substitutes England Party
Referee (black)
Arthur Edward Ellis
38 (8 July 1914), Halifax, Yorkshire
The FIFA ruling of allowing a substitute to replace an injured player prior to the 44th minute, and a goalkeeper at any time, is in place.

"The score was 0-0, and the game 22 minutes old when referee Arthur Ellis stopped play. Twelve minutes after the game had been suspended, referee Ellis and his two linesmen inspected the pitch. It took them only a minute to decide that the match was "off.""
Linesmen
Alwyn Bradley
30 (30 September 1922), Tupton
Ronald Lynch
33 (16 November 1919), Blackburn
 
Argentina Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 1st
Colours Sky blue and white broad striped v-necked jerseys, black shorts, pale blue socks
Captain Eliseo Mouriño Manager Guillermo Antonio Stábile, 48 (17 January 1905)
Team announced 90 minutes before the match.
Argentina Lineup
  Musimessa, Julio E. 28
312 days
9 July 1924 G Club Atlético Boca Juniors    
2 Dellacha, Pedro R. 26
312 days
9 July 1926 RB Racing Club    
3 García Pérez, José 31
165 days
3 December 1921 LB Racing Club    
4 Lombardo, Juan Francisco 27
310 days
11 July 1925 RHB Club Atlético Boca Juniors    
5 Mouriño Oyarbide, Eliseo V. 25
348 days
3 June 1927 CHB Club Atlético Boca Juniors    
6 Gutiárrez Bonomo, Ernesto 25
189 days
9 November 1927 LHB Racing Club    
7 Micheli, Rodolfo J. 23
23 days
24 April 1930 OR Club Atlético Independiente    
8 Cecconato, José Carlos 23
110 days
27 January 1930 IR Club Atlético Independiente    
9 Lacasa, Carlos 27
15 days
2 May 1926 CF Club Atlético Independiente    
10 Grillo, Ernesto J. 23
228 days
1 October 1929 IL Club Atlético Independiente    
11 Cruz, Osvaldo H. 21
354 days
29 May 1931 OL Club Atlético Independiente    
unused substitutes: Norberto Méndez (Racing Club)
 
2-3-5 Musimessa -
Dellacha, García Pérez -
Lombardo, Mouriño, Gutiárrez -
Micheli, Cicconato, Lacasia, Grillo, Cruz
Averages: Age 25 years 349 days Appearances/Goals - -
 
England Team
 
Rank No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 4th
Colours The 1949 home uniform - White collared short-sleeved jerseys, blue shorts, black socks with white tops.
P thirtieth of 43, W 17 - D 8 - L 5 - F 80 - A 41.
Captain Billy Wright Manager Walter Winterbottom, 40 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946;
record 33rd of 90, W 20 - D 7 - L 6 - F 81 - A 40. Trainer: Jimmy Trotter (Charlton Athletic FC) P 51st of 139, W 33 - D 11 - L 7 - F 151 - A 59, inc. one abandoned.
  ³ Party chosen by Selection Committee headed by Harold Shentall, on Monday, 13 April. Team chosen on Saturday, 16 May.
England Lineup
  four changes to the previous match (Eckersley, Barrass & Froggatt's out) league position (FINAL) (13 April>2 May)  
  Merrick, Gilbert H. 31
111 days
26 January 1922 G Birmingham City FC (FL2 9th>6th) 11 12ᵍᵃ
2 Ramsey, Alfred E. 33
115 days
22 January 1920 RB Tottenham Hotspur FC (FL 10th>=) 27 1
3 Eckersley, William 27
305 days
16 July 1925 LB Blackburn Rovers FC (FL2 8th>9th) 10 0
4 Wright, William A. 29
100 days
6 February 1924 RHB Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (FL TOP>3rd) 48 3
most apps 1952-53
5 Johnston, Harry 33
230 days
26 September 1919 CHB Blackpool FC (FL 7th>=) 4 0
6 Dickinson, James W. 28
23 days
24 April 1925 LHB Portsmouth FC (FL 13th>15th) 25 0
7 Finney, Thomas 31
42 days
5 April 1922 OR Preston North End FC (FL 2nd>RU) 44 21
8 Broadis, Ivan A. 30
147 days
18 December 1922 IR Manchester City FC (FL 18th>20th) 5 3
9 Lofthouse, Nathaniel 27
260 days
27 August 1925 CF Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 12th>14th) 13 14
719 10 Taylor, Thomas 21
108 days
29 January 1932 IL Manchester United FC (FL 8th>=) 1 0
the 12th/13th United players to represent England
720 11 Berry, R. John 26
350 days
1 June 1926 OL Manchester United FC (FL 8th>=) 1 0
the 12th/13th United players to represent England
unused substitutes: Ted Ditchburn (Tottenham Hotspur FC (FL 10th>=)), Tommy Garrett (Blackpool FC (FL 7th>=)), Malcolm Barrass (Bolton Wanderers FC (FL 12th>14th)), Ray Barlow (West Bromwich Albion FC (FL 5th)>4th), Roy Bentley (Chelsea FC (FL 21st>19th)) and Redfern Froggatt (Sheffield Wednesday FC (FL 20th>18th)).
team notes: Billy Wright also equals the UK appearance record, shared with Wales' Billy Meredith.
Tommy Taylor and Johnny Berry become the 68th and 69th players used by Winterbottom.
records: As the game was suspended, then abandoned, and caps were awarded and appearances counted towards the players' tallies, then this match will be recorded as a scoreless draw. It means that this draw extends the post-war unbeaten record to fifteen games without loss.
 
2-3-5 Merrick -
Ramsey, Eckersley -
Wright, Johnston, Dickinson -
Finney, Broadis, Lofthouse, Taylor, Berry.
Averages: Age 29 years 63 days Appearances/Goals 17.2 3.8
 
              Match Report by Mike Payne

The summer tour of 1953 saw England venture to far off lands of South America but in their first match they experienced a monsoon! Torrential rain forced the referee to end proceedings in the 25th minute after the pitch became unplayable.

The England officials tried desperately to rearrange the game, asking if they could replay it in the next three days. Unfortunately, their Argentine counterparts would not agree, stating that the pitch 'would not be ready for at least five days'. So, England moved on to Chile.

For two England debutants, Tommy Taylor and Johnny Berry, it had certainly been a memorable first game but, for all the wrong reasons!
  

              Match Report by Charlie Buchan, Daily News

The soccer match between England and Argentina was abandoned after 22 minutes here today with the score 0—0. A heavy thunderstorm had flooded the pitch.

Officials are hoping to arrange a replay within two or three days, but I hope they will decide against it. Another match would be loaded with dynamite from the little we saw today.
Some of the Argentinian tackling was desperate in their determination to win, and England's players were indignant. Nat Lofthouse and Ivor Broadis, the England forwards, were punched and penalty-kicks might have been given when Tommy Taylor and Lofthouse were brought down. Our players had as much chance of showing ability as the police had of finding a bomb when they searched my typewriter on entering the ground.

The referee, Mr. Arthur Ellis, of Halifax, started the game before 80,000 people. Then down came the rain, driving president Peron from the presidential box near the touchline to a small enclosure at the back of the stand.
Mr. Ellis called the players off and abandoned the match.
  

              Match Report by Norman Giller

The pitch became waterlogged following a cloudburst and British referee Arthur Ellis, up to his ankles in water, had no alternative but to abandon the game. Three days earlier an Argentinean XI had beaten an FA XI 3-1 in an unofficial international watched by a crowd of 120,000 including Juan Peron and his wife, Eva. The selectors had to wait to see if the new left wing partnership of Manchester United team-mates Tommy Taylor and Johnny Berry would work at international level. Referee Arthur Ellis, later to make a name for himself in television's 'It's A Knockout', was quite a joker. As he signalled for the teams to return to the dressing-rooms, he said to Billy Wright, "If we stay out any longer we'll need lifeboats!" The pitch just disappeared under a lake of water, and England's kit was so wet that the players needed help from the training staff to strip off.
   

              Match Report as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1953-54, pages 22-23

THE SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR.
For the exacting tour of South America the 11 that drew with Scotland were augmented by Ditchburn, Garrett, Johnston, Barlow, Bentley, Berry and Taylor. Smith later withdrew because of injury and was replaced by Eckersley, and after his brilliant display in the Cup-Final, Matthews was also asked to join the party but had to refuse through unfitness.
  
Unfortunately a heavy thunderstorm broke over the 100,000 spectators 90 minutes before the start of the match. The pitch was waterlogged, and dribbling and accurate passing became impossible. And when referee Arthur Ellis abandoned the match the breeze was noticeably rippling the surface of the water.
Although, as would be expected, the England players had the best of it, the fantastic conditions produced too much tension for a satisfactory football match.

  

      In Other News....
It was on 16 May 1953 that a doctor gave evidence to magistrates in Blackpool that 79-year-old Sarah Ricketts had been well on the day before she died, the previous month. Her housekeeper, Louisa Merrifield, 46, was convicted of her murder by rat poison, three months later, and was hanged in September. She had earlier convinced Sarah to change her will and then boasted to friends that the woman would soon be dead. Louisa's husband, seventy-year-old, Alfred, meanwhile, who also lived at the house, was cleared of the murder, but still inherited the bungalow until the old lady's daughters contested it and gained five-sixths of it. In later years, Alfred made money from the crime with a waxwork effigy of the pair, and happily fronted a sideshow where he talked about the murder.
              Source Notes
TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
La Nación
The Complete Book of the British Charts
  Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record

Norman Giller, Football Author
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