GILLINGHAM 0-1 SOUTHEND UNITED
Southern League
The game was on a Wednesday afternoon with a kick off at 5.45, and according to the Southend Standard a number of enthusiastic Southend supporters made the tedious journey from Southend to Gillingham and congregated in the end Southend were kicking and swollen with a large amount of Naval men, gave the Blues a strong and vocal backing, so much so that the Gillingham Directors were convinced that Gillingham must have scored judging by the noise the fans made, but it was in fact the Southend contingent.
The gate was estimated at 6,000, and the Southend Standard headline was "Gillingham win a tonic", Southend were playing in Blue as Gillingham played in these days in black & white striped shirts and white knickers (shorts)
On the occasion of the United's trip to Gillingham on Good Friday arrangements have been made to run the motor boat "Julia Freak" to Gillingham at the return fare of 6s 6d (32½d). the boat will leave No. 1 jetty at the bottom of Pier Hill at 11.00.
From the Southend Standard 17th March 1921
Good Friday 25th March 1921
GILLINGHAM 1-1 SOUTHEND UNITED
Division 3 (South)
INVASION OF GILLINGHAM
The men of Essex invaded Kent on Good Friday, it was some invasion too, Gillingham being the venue of the attack. The only means of travel not brought in operation was the Aeroplane.
Invasion parties started off as early as eight o'clock by train and thence onwards they continued in a steady stream until the luncheon hour by boat, taxi, motors, charabancs and trains.
A flotilla of seven motor boats left the Southend shore for Chatham between 10.30 and 11.15 headed by the largest and most comfortable the "Julia Freak" under Commodore H. Simkins. These boats alone must have convoyed at least 600 people to Kent and if one could had selected a day for a water trip in the treacherous tides of March one could not have picked a more charming one.
The weather was as warm as Summer, the air delightful the sea as calm as a mill pond while the return journey in the evening was not cold and rendered all the more pleasing by the moonlight night. From Sheerness up the Medway the journey was extremely interesting as a study of battleships and destroyers both ancient and modern.
One also saw just a mask sticking up from the water a grim reminder of the ill fated "Bulwark" which was blown up in the early part of the war in 1914. Chatham was reached about 1 o'clock and on arrival there one could almost imagine you was in Southend High Street, for nearly every person you met was a Southender.
Many of the Chatham Hotels were eaten out of house and home. On the Gillingham ground the scene was even more striking. Out of the first 4,000 on the ground the majority seemed to be Southend supporters, while there were countless Essex motors, taxis and charabancs.
Wearers of the Blue rosette seemed to monopolise quite half the grandstand and more than a moiety of the reserved enclosures and there were the usual horns, bells, rattles and other instruments of torture.
Many - a little previous - beguiled the waiting moments by singing the ode of Cock Robin as applied to Gillingham. It is difficult to estimate the strength of the Southend invading force from all sources but I would be very surprised if it were under 2,000.
In all my experience with the Southend club I never remember an occasion when anything like the number of local people attending an away game. It was a pleasing sign of the times showing the interest and enthusiasm for the club despite there lowly position.
From the Southend Standard 31st March 1921