Fascinating football facts
Curiosities of Midlands football, with Tony Matthews
• John Richards was the first Wolves player to get sent off in a local Midlands derby – dismissed against Aston Villa at Molineux in October 1979. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. And Andy Gray was the first Wolves star to see red in a League Cup tie, banished against his former club Aston Villa in October 1981.
• Birmingham City beat Northwich Victoria 7-0 in January 1894 – and this would remain a club record away victory in the League for 104 years – until they equalled it by beating Stoke City by the same score in January 1998.
• Floodlights were installed at Molineux for the first time in the summer of 1953 – and the game arranged to officially turn them on ended Wolves 3 South Africa XI 1 on 30 September of that year. The first League game under lights saw Wolves beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 in April 1956.
• Birmingham City beat Macclesfield Town 3-0 and 6-0 in away and home second round League Cup games in September 1998. The 9-0 aggregate victory is the club’s biggest-ever.
• The first players to be sent off for the five Midland clubs were: Dennis Hodgetts of Aston Villa versus Everton, September 1888; Caeser Jenkyns of Birmingham (Small Heath) versus Liverpool, October 1893; Hope Robertson of Walsall versus Rotherham, September 1894; Joe Reader of Albion versus Bolton Wanderers, April 1895 and Tom Baddeley of Wolves versus Nottingham Forest, December 1904.
• After joining Albion from Linfield in the summer of 1946, centre-forward Dave Walsh went out and scored in his first six League games for the club – a record. Walsh later played for Aston Villa and Walsall.
Europe
• In early 1947 Albion signed another Irishman, Jack Vernon, from Belfast Celtic. At the end of the season, the centre-half played for Great Britain against the Rest of Europe at Hampden Park.
• The players who scored the first Football League goals were Tommy Green for Aston Villa versus Wolves in September 1888; Fred Wheldon for Birmingham (Small Heath) versus Burslem Port Vale in September 1892; Franklin Gray for Walsall versus Darwen in September 1892; Joe Wilson for West Bromwich Albion versus Stoke in September 1888, and Gersom Cox (who netted an own-goal) for Wolves versus Aston Villa, also in September 1888.