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"ENGLAND
MUST STOP AUTOMATIC SELECTION"
Daily Mirror |
Officials
from Scotland |
Wales |
UK ruling on substitutes |
England |
Referee
Charles
Edward Faultless
45 (5 March 1908), Glasgow, Scotland. |
|
red flag
Linesmen
yellow flag |
James P. Goodall
Glasgow |
Jack Whiteside
Renfrew |
|
|
Wales
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 21st to 24th |
Colours |
Made by Umbro -
Red jerseys with white collars/cuffs,
white shorts with red side stripe, red socks
with white tops. |
Captain |
Wally Barnes |
Selection |
Selection Committee on Monday, 28 September 1953 |
Wales
Lineup |
|
Howells, Ronald G. |
26 271 days |
12 January 1927 |
G |
Cardiff City FC |
1 |
4ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Barnes, Wallace |
33 267 days |
16 January 1920 |
RB |
Arsenal FC, England |
19 |
1 |
3 |
Sherwood, Alfred T., injured off 35th-53rd mins. |
29 331 days |
13 November 1923 |
LB/OL |
Cardiff City FC |
28 |
0 |
4 |
Paul, Roy |
33 175 days |
18 April 1920 |
RHB |
Manchester City FC, England |
24 |
1 |
5 |
Daniel, W.
Raymond |
24 342 days |
2 November 1928 |
CHB |
Sunderland
AFC, England |
13 |
0 |
6 |
Burgess, W.A.
Ronald |
36 184 days |
9 April 1917 |
LHB |
Tottenham Hotspur FC, England |
29 |
1 |
7 |
Foulkes, William I. |
27 134 days |
29 May 1926 |
OR |
Newcastle United FC, England |
9 |
1 |
8
|
Davies, E. Reginald |
24 136 days |
27 May 1929 |
IR |
Newcastle United FC, England |
3 |
0 |
9 |
Charles, W.
John |
21 287 days |
27 December 1931 |
CF |
Leeds United AFC, England |
6 |
2 |
10
|
Allchurch, Ivor J. |
23 298 days |
16 December 1929 |
IL /LHB |
Swansea Town FC |
14 |
6 |
11 |
Clarke, Royston J. |
28 131 days |
1 June 1925 |
OL |
Manchester City FC, England |
16 |
4 |
reserves: |
not named |
team changes: |
Trevor Ford (Sunderland AFC) was the original named centre-forward.
The night before the match, because of an ankle injury in Welsh
training, his place went to the original inside-right, Charles. Davies
was then brought in to fill the vacant inside-right position, who
travelled down from Newcastle overnight. |
team notes: |
Alf Sherwood suffered with
concussion after being kicked in the head, he returned
before/during/after* England's fourth goal.
*delete as applicable... depending on which
newspaper report is read! |
|
2-3-5 |
Howells - Barnes, Sherwood (Burgess) -
Paul, Daniel, Burgess (Allchurch) - Foulkes,
Davies, Charles, Allchurch (Clarke), Clarke
(Sherwood). notes: once
Sherwood was injured, Burgess and Allchurch dropped back. |
Averages: |
Age |
28 years 102
days |
Appearances/Goals |
14.7 |
1.3 |
|
|
England
Team |
|
Rank |
No official ranking system established; ELO rating 4th to 3rd |
Colours |
The 1949 home
uniform -
White collared jerseys, blue shorts, black socks with white
tops.
|
P 33rd of 43, W 19 - D 8 - L 6 - F 87 - A 45. |
Captain |
Billy Wright
|
Manager |
Walter Winterbottom, 40 (31 March 1913), appointed as FA national director of coaching/team manager on 8 July 1946; |
record 37th of 90, W 23 - D 7 - L 7 - F 94 - A 47. |
P 55th match of 139, W 36 - D 11 - L 8 - F 164 - A 66,
inc. one abandoned |
|
³ |
Team chosen by Selection Committee headed by
Harold Shentall
on Sunday, 4 October. |
England
Lineup |
|
five
changes
to the previous match
(Ditchburn, Ramsey, Quixall & the Froggatts out) |
league position
(4 October) |
|
|
Merrick, Gilbert H. |
31 257 days |
26 January 1922 |
G |
Birmingham City FC
(FL2 10th) |
14 |
16ᵍᵃ |
2 |
Garrett, Thomas H. |
27 224 days |
28 February 1926 |
RB |
Blackpool FC
(FL 7th) |
3 |
0 |
final app
1952-53 |
3 |
Eckersley, William |
28 86 days |
16 July 1925 |
LB |
Blackburn Rovers FC (FL2 9th) |
14 |
0 |
4 |
Wright, William A. |
29 246 days |
6 February 1924 |
RHB |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL 3rd) |
52 |
3 |
most apps 1952-53 |
5 |
Johnston, Harry |
34 14 days |
26 September 1919 |
CHB |
Blackpool FC (FL
7th) |
8 |
0 |
6 |
Dickinson, James
W. |
28 169 days |
24 April 1925 |
LHB |
Portsmouth
FC (FL 16th) |
29 |
0 |
7 |
Finney,
Thomas |
31 188 days |
5 April 1922 |
OR |
Preston
North End FC (FL 11th) |
48 |
23 |
721 |
8
|
Quixall, Albert |
20 62 days |
9 August 1933 |
IR |
Sheffield Wednesday FC
(FL 12th) |
1 |
0 |
the 33rd Wednesday player to represent
England |
9
|
Lofthouse, Nathaniel |
28 44 days |
27 August 1925 |
CF |
Bolton Wanderers FC
(FL 8th) |
17 |
19 |
the
168th (35th post-war) brace scored |
722 |
10
|
Wilshaw, Dennis J. |
27 213 days |
11 March 1926 |
IL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL 3rd) |
1 |
2 |
the
167th (34th post-war) brace |
the 23rd Wanderer to represent
England |
11
|
Mullen, James |
30 277 days |
6 January 1923 |
OL |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC (FL 3rd) |
7 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
reserve: |
Ray Barlow (West Bromwich Albion FC
(FL TOP)). |
team changes: |
Harold Hassall (Bolton Wanderers FC
(FL 8th)) was the original named
inside-left, he was proved unfit and Wilshaw replaced him on Thursday,
8 October. |
team notes: |
Quixall and Wilshaw become the 70th and 71st players used by
Winterbottom. |
records: |
Dennis Wilshaw becomes the first player to score on his
debut in a World Cup match. |
|
2-3-5 |
Merrick - Garrett, Eckersely - Wright, Johnston,
Dickinson - Finney, Quixall, Lofthouse, Wilshaw, Mullen |
Averages: |
Age |
28 years 330
days |
Appearances/Goals |
17.6 |
4.1 |
|
|
Match Report by
Mike Payne |
So
often since the war, England have received adverse criticism after a clear
win. Once again they found themselves in that situation after this visit
to Cardiff, for although the scoreline looks healthy enough, the England
performance in getting there was far from convincing.
With the Home
Championship being used to determine Great Britain's entry for the
following year's World Cup, there was extra importance on this match.
Ninian Park was bulging at the seams as 61,000 people packed into the
ground. Before the play started they set the atmosphere tingling by
singing their hearts out as only Welshmen can.
For the first half-hour it was one-way traffic
towards Gil Merrick's goal. Wales put in a storming start and at the heart
of all their good play was the mighty Charles. He was magnificent! Three
times he forced superb saves from the England goalkeeper with bullet-like
headers and he continually had the England defenders struggling. The
pressure had to tell eventually and in the 23rd minute it did.
More
good play by Charles set up the goal. Combining well with Davies he sent
the ball in for Allchurch to fire a good shot past Merrick, who for once
was well beaten. Things looked good for the Welsh but just before the end
of the first half the tide suddenly, and undeservedly, began to turn
against them. First they lost Sherwood with an injury and then, in the
last minute of the half, conceded an equaliser. A free-kick, given against
Burgess, was curled into the box by Albert Quixall and Dennis Wilshaw
popped up to head home.
The half-time score was a total travesty of
the events of the half and Wales could hardly believe it. Within seven
minutes after the restart they were stunned into defeat!
With
England having been kept in the match by Merrick's saves in the first 45
minutes, they now turned to the lively Jimmy Mullen tork the response
at the other end.
The Wolves winger began to tease Barnes with his pace
and body swerve.
Four minutes into the second period he took a pass from Bill Eckersley and
centred for Wilshaw to score his and England's second goal. A minute later
Mullen again was involved, linking well with Wilshaw before the latter's
cross was headed in by Nat Lofthouse.
Sherwood then came back on to
a huge roar but hardly had the cheers died down when England amazingly
scored a fourth goal. Again Lofthouse was the scorer and again Mullen was
the provider. So, in the space of nine minutes either side of the
interval, England had completely sewn up the result.
The Welsh
crowd were stunned into an eerie silence now and England comfortably
controlled most of the remaining time. However, the visitors still had
some obvious problems and large question-marks still hung over the
inside-forwards, full-backs and centre-half. Quixall often looked bemused
in his first game and Wilshaw also struggled despite his two goals which
probably earned him another chance. Even Tom Finney looked well below par
and England must surely have looked for an improvement in their next
match.
|
Match Report by
Norman Giller |
Dennis Wilshaw celebrated his first England
cap with two goals, and Nat Lofthouse netted twice for the second
successive match. All of England's goals came in the ten minutes either
side of the half-time interval after Wales had taken a deserved
twenty-third minute lead through Ivor Allchurch. Wales played for much of
the game with left-back Alf Sherwood a passenger on the wing after he had
been concussed in the thirty-second minute. Giant Leeds centre-forward
John Charles might have had a hat-trick but for a succession of superb
saves by England goalkeeper Gil Merrick. Albert Quixall, literally worth
his weight in gold when sold by Sheffield Wednesday to Manchester United
for £45,000 in 1958, made his England debut at inside-right at the
age of twenty. Wales were unlucky not to have salvaged a draw from a game
they often dominated. As in 1949-50, the Home Championship was used to
determine Great Britain's qualifiers for the World Cup finals. There were
more than 60,000 fans packed into Ninian Park, and the atmosphere was just
like the Welsh stoke up for their rugby internationals. England were
hugely flattered with the size of the victory. This was the beginning of
the rise of the greatest Welsh football team in their history, with John
Charles and Ivor Allchurch laying the foundations to their memorable
careers. There has been a more gifted all-round British footballer than
Big John. He was equally effective at centre-forward or centre-half, and
once he had moved to Juventus from Leeds he developed into the perfect
player. He not only had great technique, but also the ideal temperament.
His nickname the Gentle Giant was misleading because he could be as
physical as Nat Lofthouse one minute and then as beautifully balanced as
Tom Finney the next. He was commanding in the air and could head with the
force of a Tommy Lawton. When the conversation gets around to who has been
the greatest British footballer of all time John tends to get left out of
the argument because he spent so much time in Italy, but he should be in
anybody's top six players.
|
Match Report
as appears in the F.A. Yearbook 1954-55, pages 26-27 |
At its
outset last season posed two main objectives: first to build a team
capable of winning the Home Championship and with the necessary experience
and cohesion to meet the challenges of the Spring Tour and the final
stages of the World Cup Competition; secondly, at the same time to produce
a side ready to face the immediate tests entailed in the home fixtures
against the 'Rest of the World' and Hungary. At the time of going to press
the last act has yet to be played and even though all three matches were
won in the home Championship, it now has to be recorded that 1953-54 saw
the eclipse of England's supremacy and will be remembered as the season in
which she suffered the first home defeat in her history. It should,
however, be remembered that eclipses are more frequently partial than
total and that even the latter, however full of omens, are normally of
short duration.
The score at the
opening match at Cardiff was misleading and highly flattering to England
whose forward line looked by no means equal to the task that lay ahead in
the coming months. Apart from this, Wales was hampered for a vital part of
the match by the loss of Sherwood who left the field with slight
concussion. Before this Wales was one ahead following a good move started
by Charles who passed to Davies who sent the ball to Allchurch to crash it
into the net. It was not until close on half-time that Wilshaw headed the
equaliser for England off a freekick by Quixall.
After the interval the
weight of the English attack was switched to Mullen and Wilshaw on the
left-wing, and within a few minutes three goals were added: one from
Wilshaw and two from Lofthouse — all were headers. It was then that
Sherwood returned — to the left-wing, Burgess being left-back - and no
further score resulted. Outstanding player of the day was Charles, the
Welsh centre-forward; though he did not find the net his approach play and
heading were superb. |
In Other News.... |
It was on 10 October 1953 that James 'Midge' Ure was born in
Cambuslang. After a successful career as lead singer of
Ultravox, he created the Band Aid charity with Bob Geldof, and
galvanised the pop music industry to raise millions for
African famine relief. |
|
England's amateur team drew 2-2 with Trinidad and Tobago at
Plough Lane, Wimbledon. They were down to ten men after 39
minutes, and missed a late penalty. |
|
Source Notes |
TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Official matchday programme The Complete Book of the British Charts Wales' Complete Who's Who
since 1946 |
|
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record
Norman Giller, Football Author
Drew Herbertson, Scottish FA historian
British Pathé |
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