Famous composer supported Wolves!
Football songs and terrace chants can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century with one of the greatest-ever classical composers, Sir Edward Elgar, being the man who started them all off !
Elgar was born on June 2 1857 in Broadheath near Worcester, where his father, William, worked as a piano technician and tuner in a music shop.
One of six children, Elgar was a self-taught musician and his famous ‘Pomp and Circumstance Marches’ including ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ have been continuously played to this day.
Something less well known about Elgar, however, is that he was an avid Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter and has been credited with penning the first-ever football chant in 1898 called: ‘He banged the leather for goal’.
He adopted the title after reading a match report of a Wolves game against Stoke which stated that home defender Billy Malpass ‘banged the leather for goal’ to give his side the lead. Inspired by this, Elgar quickly put lyrics to a short piano tune in honour of the Wolves legend.
Unfortunately the song failed to impress the supporters and slowly died away. However, in later years, Elgar’s original music notes were found by Dr Percy Young, a football historian and writer who was an expert on Elgar.
And at a charity concert in September 2010, the song ‘He Banged The Leather For Goal’ was sung by Rita Cullis, niece of the former Wolves’ player and manager Stan Cullis with music by the Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra.
Elgar saw Wolves play regularly and would cycle from his Malvern home to meet up with his ‘lady friend’ at Molineux. He saw his last match there in April 1932 when Wolves beat Port Vale 2-0, on their way to winning the Second Division title.
Elgar died in Worcester on February 23, 1934, aged 76.