Christmas 1924: A Poor Gate At Charlton

Feature by Dad of Dave the Shrimper
Updated Friday, 4th December 2009

Back in Time: Eighty five years ago the attendance at Charlton was slightly less than it may be this Saturday?

Saturday 27^th December 1924

CHARLTON ATHLETIC 0-0 SOUTHEND UNITED
Division III (South) Match No. 21

Christmas, by today's standards is a bit excessive, three games in three days is too much, and Southend were away at Charlton, which hadn't been a happy venue for us having played there three times previously, losing all three by an aggregate score of 2-13.

They were currently in tenth place having only lost one of twelve home games. In addition to this the weather was terrible. It had been raining all day and absolutely threw it down during the entire ninety minutes. Charlton were in turmoil, with rumours of financial problems, and no doubt all these factors resulted in the fact that barely a thousand spectators were present, Charlton's lowest ever league attendance.

The ground was a sea of mud, and a gale was blowing, the pitch was a swamp with patches of water here and there as big as a room. Edwards, the Southend captain, won the toss and decided to kick with the tide, but for a long time the antics of the ball were stopping dead or slipping and shooting here and there, a pass meant for a comrade would stop in a pool of water in front of an opponent, all this was met with laughter by the supporters. Playing football in those conditions was virtually impossible so a goal less draw was a satisfactory conclusion. Southend stayed sixth place in the League. Team: Hayes; Sayles and Donnelly; Jewhurst, Dorey and Edwards; Johnson, Bissett, McClelland, Slater and MacDonald.

I would suggest that on another occasion the United are away on Christmas morning and it is evident that Boxing Day is the better day from a gate point of view that arrangements should be made to get the half time and full time scores through to the ground. It would be an added attraction to the Reserve game at the Kursaal and would afford satisfaction to supporters to know the exact state of affairs.

On Christmas Day, in the absence of reliable information, there was the usual crop of rumours. One director even went so far as to state that the United were leading 1-0 at half time, which proved quite untrue. With the absence of morning papers on Boxing Day many supporters were unaware of the result of the Christmas Day game until the teams met again the following day.
From the Southend Standard 1^st January 1925

Extracts from the Forgotten Years of the Kursaal by Peter William Baker

available from;
http://www.shrimperpublishing.co.uk/index.php?page=shop&shop_cat_id=19606