Shrimpers v Yeovil & Petters United 1922/23!

Last updated : 22 January 2009 By Dad of Dave the Shrimper
We've only been playing Yeovil in the League since 2003, but before that there were F.A. Cup Ties against the Glovers in 1958, 1963 and 1982, and certainly the first two of those I personally don't want to drag up, so I've gone back to the long forgotten season of 1922-23, where we met Yeovil twice in the Southern League. This was to be more precise, Southend United Reserves v. Yeovil & Petters United First Team. "What only a reserve match?" I can you hear you say but the importance of reserve matches was much greater then and now.

The idea was to provide football at home every week, first team one week and reserves the next, and Season tickets were sold on this basis. A ground season ticket cost £1 2s 6d (£1.12). First team admission was 1s (5p) per match, so for twenty one home games admission would cost £11s (£1.05) cheaper than a season ticket but if you include twenty odd reserve games at 6d (2.5p), the season tickets became a lot more viable.

1919-20 The first season after the first World War, Southend's first team played in the Southern League, while the reserves played in the depleted South East League, which had only eight sides seven Southern League reserves sides and the first team of Thorneycrofts, a Hampshire side, playing each side four times, they were hardly attractive at pulling in the reserve crowds. In 1920-21 it was decided not to continue with a Reserve side instead they franchised Southend Corinthians who played in the South Essex League to play at the Kursaal, believe it or not this didn't attract the crowds either.

For 1921-22 The Junior Blues were entered into the Southern League which was made up of sixteen other Third Division Reserve sides plus Guildford, Bath and Boscombe (later Bournemouth), unfortunately it was the worst season in the clubs history, they finished bottom of both the Division 3 (South) and the Southern League, and guess what, it wasn't a crowd puller.

For 1922-23 the Blues had another season in the Southern League, and this is when Yeovil & Petters United joined. It was an improvement on previous years but clearly matches like these weren't the answer to attract spectators to the Kursaal, and the club resigned from the southern League and pulled off a major coup, when they joined the London Combination. The London Combination had been exclusively for the eleven London clubs, but Southend gained membership of this select group.

For 1923-24 the Reserves played each side twice at home and twice away, that meant eight home games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham, eight away games at Highbury, Stamford Bridge, White Hart Lane and Upton Park, not to mention Palace, Clapton Orient, Fulham, QPR, Charlton, Millwall and Brentford. For the next three years the fans loved it gates of 5,000 or 6,000 were commonplace for the big four, and in two out of the three the Junior Blues were actually challenging for the title, and ended up finishing fourth and third (but bottom the season in between).

At the end of the 1925-26 season the Central League (a Northern Reserve league) tried to tempt eight of the London Combination (which didn't include Southend) to join the Central League? It was a bold move, but doomed, the London Combination responded by opening the League up to ten more sides, eight from the Third division plus Portsmouth and Southampton from the Second Division and continued in much the same format until the 1960s by which time it was then known as the Football Combination.

Anyway, sorry about meandering from the point, our two games against Yeovil were:

Saturday 2nd September 1922

YEOVIL & PETTERS UNITED 2-2
SOUTHEND UNITED Reserves.

This was the second match of the season and the first meeting of the Clubs. Yeovil had a sprinkling of experienced players such as Wright (ex Huddersfield and Exeter), Gallon a half back from Chelsea and Potter, the erstwhile half back from Exeter. The game ended in a draw in front of 4,000 fans.

Good Friday 30th March 1923

SOUTHEND UNITED Reserves 3-0 YEOVIL & PETTERS UNITED

Southend finished 9th in the Southern League, Yeovil finished 17th out of the twenty clubs. One problem for the Southern league was the expensive travel involved which meant that it more often than not was a loss maker for the clubs. The next season the Southern League split into two Divisions, East and West to try and cut down on the expenditure of travelling.

Not that the Shrimpers were bothered, their travelling expenses to the London Combination clubs was going to be nominal!