Britain entered what has become known as the Great War on August 4 1914, when Germany invaded Belgium. The British government sent forces to help stop the German advance across France, and few thought that they would not return before Christmas. But by 1915 the opposing sides had dug themselves into a system of trenches that zigzagged along the Western Front, a battlefield extending some 450 miles across Belgium and North-Eastern France to the border of Switzerland. They remained deadlocked in this trench warfare until 1918.

At the beginning of the war, there was no conscription. But the continuation of the football programme caused a great deal of controversy. Criticism was vociferous and widespread. Clubs were accused of helping the enemy, and the Dean of Lincoln wrote to the FA of "onlookers who, while so many of their fellow men are giving themselves in their country's peril, still go gazing at football".

But the FA had consulted the War Office before taking its decision to stage the 1914-15 Cup. And while many players quit their clubs to volunteer for the armed forces, the League, too, decided to carry on with their programme. The football authorities contributed to war charities, and more importantly assisted in the recruitment of volunteers - some half a million, it was claimed, by early 1915.

Amidst all these developments, football in West Yorkshire continued.

After the promise showed by Herbert Chapman's Leeds City side in 1913-14, when they had narrowly missed out on promotion, 1914-15 was a sad disappointment. Many had expected the Elland Road club to achieve Chapman's goal of promotion to the top division, but it was not to be.

back to top

Chapman lost no players during the close season and further strengthened the squad by adding centre forward John Edmondson, left winger Ernest Goodwin, wing half Valentine Lawrence, keeper Willis Walker and full back Jack McQuillan, so there was considerable cause for optimism.

However, the side never really recovered from losing their first four games.

They had a number of good wins, 7-2 over Leicester Fosse, 6-2 over Hull City, 5-0 and 5-2 away against Grimsby, but they had heavy beatings as well. Their previous dominance at Elland Road was severely dented and they suffered 7 home defeats. Coupled with away form that also fell away badly to be nearly as awful as in previous seasons, they never got going, although they did win four games on the bounce in February and March.

That form proved to be a flash in the pan, however. City finished the season with a run of 6 losses in their last 8 matches, trailing in a hugely disappointing 15th. Attendances also dropped, averaging below 7,000, the lowest they had been in City's short League history, although this was due in no small part to the declaration of war in 1914.

Quite why there had been such a fall from grace is difficult to understand. The team was chopped and changed regularly through the season, to little avail, but right back Fred Blackman, wing-halves George Law and Mick Foley and forwards John Jackson, Jimmy Speirs and Billy McLeod all managed 30 games or more in the League.

McLeod was inevitably top scorer, this time with 18 goals, but there was little reason for hope at Elland Road as the Great War intervened and official competition was abandoned until the cessation of hostilities in 1918.

Other Football Highlights from 1914-15

• New League champions Everton owed their second title win (they had won the third ever Championship back in 1891) largely to their results away from home, where they won 11 times and conceded just 18 goals in 19 games. Only bottom club Spurs won fewer than Everton's eight at home. Everton's winning total of 46 points was the lowest since the First Division was increased to 20 clubs. They were only six points above West Bromwich Albion in 11th place
• With the War in progress since August, the Cup final was a very low key affair. It was held at Old Trafford in wet, gloomy conditions, with thousands of servicemen in uniform among the near 50,000 crowd, many of them bearing signs of injuries sustained at the Front. The outcome was an easy 3-0 win for Sheffield United over Chelsea
• As the War dragged on, and news came back of terrible casualties at the Front, the football authorities began to view the situation with growing concern. The season was allowed to finish, although the fixtures played out with little enthusiasm. It was understandably difficult for the players to concentrate on football. As soon as the season was over, there was a rush to change their football strip for the uniforms of the armed forces

back to top