Soccer since 1881
First of a two-part series looking back at the history of this popular sport in Peterborough
My brief history of sport in Peterborough written as a thread in Peterborough: The Electric City (1987) began in 1859. That was an annus mirabilis of the Victorian Era. That was early coincident with Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), Samuel Smiles’ Self-Help (1858) and Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857). All were key indicators of the importance of athletics, of a strong mind in a strong body, of physical health.
In 1859, some of the leading sports were curling, field sports, shooting and horse racing. Competitive sports such as golf, lacrosse, cricket hit Peterborough by the 1870s; baseball, canoeing and soccer by the 1880s; hockey by the 1890s and rugby football by the 1900s.
Of these, soccer has been the most invisible to local historians. Soccer could be played very informally, for it is so easy to pick teams and kick the ball around. Partly, it is because football means different things to people from differing cultures. Partly it is because in the early days one goal ended the game. Mostly, it was because soccer had different players and different audiences. Soccer before the First World War had a strong British flavour. But after that soccer had major rebirths in the 1920s, 1940s, and 1970s. Each new rebirth reflected recent immigration patterns, and changes in the schools about what was appropriate activity.
Soccer was organized across Peterborough and the neighbouring counties, the Central Football Association, in 1881, and annual general meetings were held from 1882 in towns such as Port Hope and Lindsay. During these years, the Midland area hosted a Central Exhibition that rotated between Peterborough, Port Hope and Lindsay. Soccer was not featured at the local exhibitions and rarely on festive summer occasions such as the Queen’s birthday.
Montague Shearman’s classic book, Athletics and Football, in the Badminton Sports Library became the authoritative source on the rules and culture of football, and went through three editions between 1887 and 1889, and in 1894 was expanded to include the history of the game in the United States.
Shearman argues that football was popular in England from the middle ages when it was played vigorously and less courteously; too violently for gentlemen. The earliest form of the game centred on a ball big enough to be kicked. “The goals were two bushes, posts, houses, or any objects fixed upon at any distance apart from a few score feet to a few miles.” The object was for “either side to get the ball by force or strategy up to or through the goal of the opposite side.” (2501) There was apparently no limits on numbers, and it could be played in streets or over hedges. There was a tradition over the centuries that tied football games to Shrove Tuesday, but there was no limit on what day of the week it could be played. Football survived repressive legislation and criticism of its violence, sometimes associated with riots or death, and property damage caused to windows.
Over time, the dribbling game restricted to kicking became the soccer version of football, and partly this was because most school fields were limited in space. Association Rules for soccer were laid down in 1863; players propelled the ball by kicking it. The major change from earlier years was in tactics; there was less emphasis on the dribbling skills of individual players, although that was still a necessary skill, and more on working on combinations of passing the ball by kicking.
The teams consisted of 11 players: goal, two backs, three halfbacks and five forwards, although a half-back might be traded for a forward. Shearman describes in great detail the strategies and skills needed for each of these positions, and the diversity of people who could develop such skills.
There are interesting accounts of soccer in Peterborough county in 1890. Football in Peterborough may have started as a rural sport, much as lacrosse did in the 1870s. In Apsley, the annual meeting in 1890 of their Athletic Association, mentioned Thomas Stephens and John Blewitt were “Foot Ball Captains.” The minutes of the meeting commented that “It was decided to hold a picnic on 24th instant, at which a football match will be played – the second contest for the flag.” The first contest apparently was held in 1889.
The Victoria Day match report appeared in the Weekly Review for May 30. “Two teams from our local Football club – the Red and the Blue – played a second contest for possession of the club flag. The Reds won it last season after a two hour contest. The game opened at 2 o’clock and in twenty minutes the Blues had made two goals from the masterly foot of Mr. Wm. Elmhirst. The ball had been kicked off but a few moments in the third struggle when Mr. Charles Webster, center forward, collide with an opponent so heavily as to stun him. He was conveyed from the field and in a couple of hours was able again to be about. This accident put an end to the game by consent of the captains.”
Charles Webster, 23, was the hotel keeper in Apsley; ten years later he was a carpenter in Edmonton, in the Strathacona area.
Coincidently, there was a “football tournament” at the Agricultural Grounds in Norwood, May 26, on the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone for the Methodist Church, a ceremony organized by the Oddfellows. The Roman Catholics had a picnic in a grove across from their church. That night there were concerts in the Methodist Church and in the town hall, and the Rev. Father Chiniquy gave a lecture in the Metcalf block.
The Norwood football tournament featured two matches, both refereed by Frank Roxburgh, a student at the University of Toronto who was home for the occasion. In the first match, the Norwood High School team played a Belleville city team to a draw, “one goal each being taken.” Those on the Norwood team were A. Hutchinson, goal; J. Jory and J. Breckenridge, backs; E. Smith, J. Quinlan, A. Finlay, half backs; H. Pearce, J. Roberts, right forwards; F. Truscott, centre forward; D. Fraser, H. Bewell, left forwards.
Some of these names could be identified in the 1891 Canadian manuscript census. James Breckenridge was 20. Joseph M. Jory, 21, was a medical student lodging with Dr. Samuel Ford in Norwood. Frank Roxburgh, 19 was the son of William Roxburgh, a prosperous grain dealer. Alfred Finlay, 18, was a bookkeeper. Fred Truscott, 24, a public school teacher was a recent immigrant from England, was lodging with a Norwood dentist, Andrew Rose. David Fraser, 20, was a hardware salesman.
In the second game, the High School team defeated the Stanleys of Toronto, 2-0.
Soccer was clearly here by
1890. Next week: Part 2