Football carried on after the death of King George VI
The UK last mourned the death of its monarch just over seventy years ago when George VI passed away suddenly on Wednesday 6th February 1952 at Sandringham House.
Unlike last weekend when the entire football programme was cancelled as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth II, the 1952 professionals of the Football League continued with their fixture schedule three days after the death of the King and the amateurs of Maidenhead United followed suit when they hosted Uxbridge in a Corinthian League fixture.
The Advertiser the following week – which carried a picture of the late King on its front page – reported that York Road held a two minutes silence prior to kick off, with both teams wearing black armbands by way of tribute to the King.
The public address system at the ground played the National Anthem and Abide With Me before the teams kicked off.
Unfortunately however the Magpies were unable to lift the mood of Maidonians, who had gathered en masse outside the Town Hall the previous day to listen to the Proclamation of the new Queen, read by the Mayor, Alderman Maudsley with the Town
Band in attendance.
A performance described by the Advertiser reporter as 'pathetic' and 'hopeless' saw United go down to a 4-0 defeat against the Middlesex side to leave the Magpies five points adrift at the foot of the Corinthian League table.
The defeat was Maidenhead’s ninth loss from nine home league games so
far that season. The team had lost 11 matches in a row before the end of 1951 and it was no surprise that they failed to climb off the bottom of the division by the end of the season.
Coach and former Arsenal player Charlie Barley resigned mid-season and thankfully it would be 54 years until Maidenhead finished bottom of their division again.