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SOUTHEND UNITED BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The Story of season 1929-30
EPISODE 37

LAST TWO HOME MATCHES END IN DEFEAT

Div 3(South) No. 40
Saturday 26th |April 1930
SOUTHEND UNITED 1-3 WATFORD
Southend were ninth in the League while Watford were fourteenth, having won four, drawn four and lost eleven, but the Brewerymen had won all three league games over Easter. Watford despite not looking impressive came out as easy winners at the Kursaal by 1-3, but the game was lost in the first fifteen minutes when Watford eased into a two goal lead with two close range efforts. After this Southend “huffed and puffed” but could do little to break down the comfortable Watford defence, in the second half the Brewerymen added a third, the same player scoring all three and the only response from Southend was a goal by Dickie Donoven. Southend dropped to tenth in the League. Team: McKenna; French and Robinson; Dixon, Ward and Johnson; Barnett, Jones, Baron, Donoven and Clenshaw.



Near the Kursaal on Saturday an obliging householder placed the loud speaker of his wireless set in an open window in order that spectators on their way to the match with Watford could pause and hear how things were progressing at Wembley. After stopping for a few moments one of the audience remarked to a friend, “Come on now we shall miss the start. We have heard some football now lets go and see some football”. The reply was that of a true pessimist “Perhaps” but as events turned out there was some justification for this Doubt.
From the Southend standard 1st May 1930.

Leicester City Reserves 8-2 Southend United Reserves
Saturday 26th April 1930
London Combination:
The Junior Blues were at Leicester and took the lead through Jimmy Shankly who had been married the previous day but Leicester had equalised before the break. Then a torrential downpour greatly aided Leicester and hindered Southend to the effect that the final score was 2-8 to Leicester.


In a local match between Rayleigh British Legion and Crowstone Athletic, the referee gave several decisions which upset the crowd who were roped off from the field about four feet away from the pitch, four men encroached onto the pitch and one of them knocked the referee unconscious for seven minutes. The man, who was thought to be related to one of the Rayleigh players, was fined £5 for the assault he had a previous conviction and had been fined £2 for assaulting a Railway goods foreman.

GOOD BYE TO MERTHYR?
The chances of Merthyr securing re-election to the Third Division at the annual meeting of the League in June are practically nil. At a meeting of the Southern Section clubs on Friday. It was decided to recommend to the Football league that the club finishing in 21st position in the present season be unanimously recommended for re-election. It was also decided to recommend the election of Thames F.C. to the Southern Section. No doubt West Ham will not welcome this proposal but Aldershot and the Argonauts may still enter the argument.
From the Southend Standard 1st May 1930.

Div 3(South) No. 41
Wednesday 30th |April 1930
SOUTHEND UNITED 1-2 COVENTRY CITY
Southend had not won for four games and with this last home game were hoping to put it right. Coventry had overtaken the Blues and were now in eighth position two above Southend. The game started at a fast pace but the performance from both sides was a bit lacking perhaps it was just the end of season match, yet all eleven first team players had been retained for the coming season. Coventry were first to show with a goal after ten minutes, Southend rallied and five minutes later Donoven ran the ball into the net to equalise. In goal Southend had a young Welsh amateur who played well, but with the sun in his eyes in the second half a long shot from twenty five yards deceived him and Coventry took the lead for what proved to be the winner. Southend remained tenth in the League.
Team: James; French and Robinson; Dixon, Ward and Johnson; Barnett, Jones, Baron, Donoven and Clenshaw

DATFORD AND PURFLEET TUNNEL BILL
The Dartford and Purfleet Thames Tunnel Bill came on Wednesday before a house of Commons Select Committee.
From The Southend Standard 1st May 1930

The idea for a tunnel crossing was first promoted by Kent and Essex councils in 1929, it was originally opposed by the Port of London Authority but by May 1930 they had withdrawn their objections. A pilot tunnel was completed in 1938, although World War II meant the tunnel was not completed to full diameter and opened to traffic until 1963. Tolls had been in place since the opening of the first tunnel, and were enacted to pay for the construction of the scheme.


.................................P....F – A…...P
6....Coventry...........41...87.-..71...47
7....Fulham...……......41...87.-..81...47
8....Norwich.............41...88.-..76...46
9....Crystal Palace.....41...80.-..73...45
10..Southend...........41...68.-..54...43
11..Bournemouth.....41...60.-..42...42
12..Luton Town........41...64.-..76...40
13..Leyton Orient.....41...51.-..61...39



In the next episode: The final match of the season at Northampton and a Retrospect of the seasonl.

 

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SOUTHEND UNITED BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
The Story of season 1929-30
EPISODE 38 (FINAL EPISODE)

A BAD WAY TO END THE SEASON

Div 3 (South) No. 42
Saturday 3rd May 1930
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 5-1 SOUTHEND UNITED
Northampton were in fifth place, with a home record which read won thirteen, drawn six lost just one. Before Christmas they had looked like they may have challenged for the title but some poor results in February when they lost four out of six had spoiled those dreams, and currently they had only won one of their last seven games. The Blues and their supporters had high hopes of winning at Northampton for the second season running, especially when Fred Baron scored for Southend in the first half and that’s the way the scores remained until the sixty fifth minute but they then collapsed and let in five goals in the last twenty five minutes, a bad way to end the season. Southend finished eleventh in the League. Team: Moore; Robinson and Turnbull; Dixon, Armitage and Johnson; Barnett, Jones, Baron, Donoven and Clenshaw.

.................................P....F – A…...P
8....Norwich.…….........42...88.-..77...46
9....Crystal Palace......42...81.-..74...46
10..Bournemouth.......42...72.-..61...43
11..Southend……........42...69.-..59...43
12..Clapton Orient......42...55.-.62...41
13..Luton Town..........42...64.-..78...40
14..Swindon Town......42...73.-..83...38

Saturday 3rd May 1930
Southend United Reserves 2-4 Portsmouth Reserves
London Combination
The Junior Blues lost their final match of the season at the Kursaal to Portsmouth by the score of 2-4. They started the match playing excellent football, reminiscent of when they had won at West Ham but the fire went out of their game and what should have been a victory turned into defeat.

RE-ELECTION

The two clubs seeking re-election (Gillingham and Merthyr Town) came up against non-leaguers Aldershot Town and Thames Association (Southern League Eastern Division), Llanelly (SL Western Division) and Argonauts (who had never played a match but who had planned to play home League matches at Wembley Stadium) in the vote for League membership. Voting was as follows;

33 votes Gillingham...............Re-elected to the League
20 votes Thames Association..Elected to the League

19 votes Aldershot Town.......Not elected to the League
14 votes Merthyr Town.........Not re-elected to the League
4 votes Llanelly..................Not elected to the League
0 votes Argonauts..............Not elected to the League

Thames Association shortened their name to Thames on taking up their place in the League.

The Argonauts were based in London, despite never playing a match or having a published squad they became notable in the late 1920s for attempting to join the Football League three times. The team was formed in 1928 as an equivalent to the Scottish Queen's Park club to play in the Football League.

They claimed to have secured the services of the top amateur players of the day for this new national amateur club and the 100,000 capacity White City Stadium to play in. After objections from local Third Division South clubs Queens Park Rangers and Brentford, they then proceeded to hire Wembley Stadium as a venue.

The club applied for Football League status that year, failing in third place but earning a creditable 16 votes. The club went inactive for a year, but reapplied the next year, and again came third one place off acceptance but this time with only 6 votes. Yet again, the club became inactive for a year. A third attempt was made in 1930; this time no votes were gained. The club was never heard of again

SEQUENCES

The first 8 matches; The Perfect start, won 7 lost 1, top of the tables for half the time second at the end of it.
The next 10 matches: Ten games without a win drew 7, lost 3 dropped to seventh.
The next 18 matches; A mixed period, 8 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats at the end of this period they were sixth.
The last 6 matches; a bad period no wins, one draw and 5 defeats, finishing a disappointing eleventh.

SUMMARY

Perhaps season 1929-30 will be best remembered as the year the Supporters Club was re-formed, as they certainly started in a very positive fashion and suddenly the Football club had dances, whist drives, saloon coach trips etc organised by the Supporters club and with a strong ladies section often the “power behind the throne”. Their finest moment probably being the generosity to the Merthyr team. On the playing field the season which started with such high hopes and the Blues tasted for a few weeks life at the top, but they couldn’t maintain this high standard and by November had dropped and fluctuated between fifth and seventh until they lost five of their last six games to finish a disappointing eleventh. The season started so well and finished so badly. As always it was the amount of spectators that paid for admission that was all important, and that was disappointing for the directors but they always seemed to have unrealistic ideas. Perhaps what was needed was a Cup run and the defeat at York was a big disappointment and must have put off many a paying spectator.

APPEARANCES and GOALSCORERS

Appearances : Fred Barnett and Mickey Jones 44 each; Dickie Donoven and Jack French 40 each; Dave Robinson 42; Tom Dixon 39; Billy Moore 33; Fred Baron 27; Bob Ward 25; Les Clenshaw 22; John Boreland 21; Joe Johnson 19; Jimmy Shankly 17; Jack Bailey 11; Tom McKenna 10; John Armitage and Haydn Davies 9 each; John Campbell 7; Jack Lloyd and Bob Turnbull 4 each; Tom Brophy and John Bryant 2 each; John Burke, Billy Crewe and Charlie James 1 each (42 league and 2 Cup).

Goalscorers: Fred Baron 22; Dickie Donoven 13; Jimmy Shankly 9; Mickey Jones 7; Fred Barnett 6; John Boreland and Les Clenshaw 3 each; John Armitage, Jack Bailey and Bob Ward 2 each; Tom Dixon and Bob Turnbull 1 each. (71 in all)

THE RESERVES

Early in the season the Southend Standard said of the Reserves that they were “too bad to be true”, but the trouble was that they were. After losing the first four games of the season they never recovered and spent the whole season struggling at the bottom of the table, their one distinction was that they conceding 134 goals more than anyone else in the Combination. However there were one or two outstanding performances when they shocked their First Division rivals with their quality. In all forty seven players were used during the season including several amateurs.

London Combination
Season 1929-30............P.......F........A......P
16..Millwall...................42....86..-..100....35
17..Watford..................42....63..-..104....33
18..Coventry City..........42....75..-..106....31
19..SOUTHEND UNITED.42....83..-..134.....31
20..Charlton Athletic.....42.....55..-..96......31
21..Brighton.................42....69..-..106....30
22..Luton Town............42....67..-..100....28

Appearances: Coundon 40; Crewe 34; Lloyd 31; McKenna 30; Bailey, Borland and Bryant 26 each; Coulthard and Turnbull 25 each; Davis and Johnson 22 each; Clenshaw 21; Shankly 18; Campbell 14; Baron 11; Ward 7; Donoven 5; Armitage and French 4 each; Robinson, Dixon and Moore 1 each.

The amateurs who have helped have been:
A. Tunbridge 16; E. Butler 10; W. Ferry 6; A. Atkinson and C. James 5 each; M. Burke, G. Roberts, W. Holcombe, and Plunkett 4 each; J. Oakes and F. Le May 3 each; H. Bahn, L. Harvey, J. Mann, W. Mead and P. Porter 2 each; Aldridge, J. Kleinmann, Jones, Perry, L. Le May, Lewis, A. Robinson, A Taylor and Tarbard 1 each.

Goalscorers: Baron 15; Shankly 12; Coundon 8; Bryant, Bailey and Lloyd 6 each; Clenshaw and Crewe 5 each; W. Ferry, Borland and Turnbull 4 each, Campbell and Davies 2 each, Ward and J. Oakes 1 each, and three Own Goals.

THE NATIONAL SCENE

Division One.
Sheffield Wednesday won the first Division by a clear ten points from Derby County having won twenty six of their forty two games and scored one hundred and five goals in the process. Only two London sides were in the top Division West Ham who finished seventh and Arsenal fourteenth, Liverpool finished twelfth and Manchester United seventeenth. Everton finished bottom a point behind Burnley and Sheffield United but the Blades survived thanks to goal average.

Second Division
Blackpool and Chelsea were promoted in front of Oldham, Bradford P.A. and Bury. Tottenham finished twelfth and Notts County finished bottom and were relegated to the Third Division South, while Hull Bristol City and Reading were all level on points but Hull had the worse goal average and were relegated to the Northern Section. It was a close season two other sides were just one point ahead of these three while two more were just on point a head of those. So seven clubs separated by just two points.

Third Division
A lot of goals were scored in the Northern Section with three clubs breaking the 100 barrier. Port Vale were champions and promoted they scored 103 goals, Stockport second scoring 106 goals, and Darlington scoring 108 goals. Halifax and Barrow finished in the re-election positions but were voted back. South Shields who had finished seventh moved to Gateshead and became Gateshead F.C. Plymouth at long last after being the outstanding side in the Division for a decade were finally promoted as Champions of the Southern Section, seven points ahead of Brentford in second and seventeen in front of QPR. in third.

F.A. Cup
Newcastle who had beaten Southend’s conquerors York City reached the quarterfinals before losing to Hull after a replay. In the semi final Hull were drawn against Arsenal and drew 2-2 at Elland Road, Leeds but Arsenal won the replay 1-0 at Villa Park. Three of the semi finalists were Yorkshire sides as the other Semi final was between Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday which was played at Old Trafford Manchester, Huddersfield winning 2-1. The final was played on the 25th April 1930 in front of over 92,000 spectators. Arsenal scored after only 17 minutes, and despite all Huddersfield’s efforts they could not equalise and with just seven minutes to go Arsenal made it 2-0 to win the Cup. The final was also famous for the German airship “Graf Zepplin” floating overhead.

Home International Championship
In the early matches England won away at Ireland 3-0 while Scotland won in Wales 4-2, then both England and Ireland beat Wales 6-0 and 7-0 to complete a miserable tournament for the Welsh. Scotland then beat the Irish 3-1 at Celtic Park Glasgow to set up a grand final at Wembley Stadium England v Scotland, but England brushed the Scots aside winning by 5-2 one of the goals being scored by ex Southend schoolboy David Jack.

Season 1929-30
...................P..W...D...L....F..-...A....P
1...England...3...3...0...0...14..-...2....6
2...Scotland..3...2...0...1.....9..-...8....4
3...Ireland....3...1...0...2.....6..-...8....2
4...Wales.....3....0...0...3.....2..-.17....1

The World Cup
Football in the Olympics had been an amateur affair, but in the 1928 Olympics in America it was dropped as Football was not popular in American. FIFA therefore decided to stage a separate competition, the World Cup. The first one was staged in Uruguay during July 1930, neither England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales entered in fact originally no European sides entered but after FIFA agreed to pay travelling expenses Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia agreed to go. In all thirteen countries entered and were split into four Groups the winners of each group going through to the Semi Finals. In these Uruguay beat Yugoslavia 6-1 while Argentina beat Yugoslavia by the same score. In the final in Montevideo, Uruguay beat Argentina to become the first

Well that’s your lot! Thanks to both my faithful readers and anyone else who has glanced through. Personally I have loved writing it and reliving a lost season!