Ellacombe and Wales

That's an imprssive tache, to be sure.

Is Crad wearing his Ellacombe shirt here or is he in the green of Plymouth Argyle? Historical Kits has the original Torquay United from 1899 in Cambridge and Oxford blue and Town in red but no mention of Ellacombe's colours. Help us out, please, Jon.

Crad getting crocked by the English ruled him out of the big match that Ellacombe had arranged a week and a half later - against the mighty Argyle at the Recreation Ground.

You'll see that Ellacombe were "poorly supported" in their "speculation" - an early example of the difficulty in making football pay in Torquay. They would have shelled out to Torquay Athletic to hire the ground and would have given a "guarantee" to Argyle to make the visit worth their while. I suppose the absence of Ellacombe's star striker didn't help.

I suspect Crad Evans made just the one Welsh amateur international appearance. Wales don't appear to have played anybody other than England before the Great War and it looks like you've tracked down all of their games during that period.

Amateur internationals were pretty new back then and there would have been great interest after the amateur fall out of a few years previously. Certainly too the involvement of big names such as Vivian Woodward - not to be confused with the similarly-named fashion designer - would have added a certain allure and credence to the occasions. I also suspect that, for reasons of social class, the games would have received considerable coverage in the posh papers.

Which means that the presence of an international footballer in Torquay sporting circles - Welsh, amateur or otherwise - would have been something to talk about. I guess too that, in the absence of too many opponents, Wales would have been regarded - both quaintly and politely - as of near equal stature to England and worthy of considerable respect. I bet old Crad dined out on that trip to Huddersfield for many a year.

Welsh Newspapers Online finally tells us who Crad played for before moving to Torquay in the summer of 1905.

Rhyl Record and Advertiser — 11 February 1905

BROUGHTON TOO GOOD FOR TRANMERE

Tranmere were the visitors at Brougbton on Saturday. At the opening the Rovers defended well. A penalty was given against them and Caradog Evans safely converted.

Broughton United played in the Combination League for three seasons 1903 to 1906. The 1904/05 season (Crad's last) was to be their best - finishing third behind Wrexham and Chester, but ahead of another future Football League club Tranmere Rovers. The league table is here:

www.chester-city.co.uk/fixtures_04-05.asp

Crad was born and bred in Wrexham. His brother Bob was an extremely famous goalkeeper with Wrexham, Blackburn Rovers and Wales. He later spent four years at Southern League Coventry City - which explains how City came to visit Plainmoor for a friendly at Easter 1913.

More about Bob, which mentions brother Crad, on the link below. This, as does the Broughton clipping, says Caradog rather than Caradoc.

www.zen139857.zen.co.uk/EVANS_Robert_Owen.pdf

I'm pretty sure that Broughton United were not from the Flintshire Broughton where Airbus UK now play, but from the Denbighshire village of Pentre Broughton or New Broughton which are between Wrexham and Brymbo Steelworks. The steelworks would have been a massive employer at the time, so classic "football territory".

Broughton United were in the Denbighshire League before joining the Combination.

wfda.co.uk/leagues_denbigh.php?season_id=5

It didn't dawn upon me immediately but the post I made on this thread yesterday was done but a handful of miles from where Crad Evans played for Wales. Alas, there was nothing to record that occasion in the otherwise excellent Colne Valley museum.

Do we know why Crad moved to South Devon in the first place? The centenary history suggests he arrived in 1904 when he would have been little more than twenty-years-old. Jon puts it as a year later and the match report from the Rhyl newspaper adds credence to this. Jon has also previously informed us that Crad worked as a piano tuner.

So did Crad move south primarily to play football or tune pianos? Was there an affair of the heart? Maybe he was on the run from something or somebody? Good grief, I trust Crad wasn't an archetypal Edwardian cad or scoundrel. There's a novel here somewhere.

If it was purely to tune the pianos of the great and good of Torquay it was a lucky windfall for football in the area. In that way I can see Crad as a genuine amateur. At least initially. But was he a gentleman? Or an artisan? A man, perhaps, who worked for a living and played football on the side or as a hobby.

Yet, if he moved specifically to play football, that casts the affair in a different light. That indicates a degree of semi-professionalism which includes scouting of players from afar. That would have been happening in other towns at the time - Plymouth and Exeter no doubt included - but Torquay? This, in turn, would make Crad's eventual inclusion in the Welsh Amateur XI somewhat contentious. An example of shamateurism? Jon's revelation that Crad had been playing for Broughton United in The Combination rather hints at professionalism to me.

Of course, even if Crad had moved to Torquay as a genuine amateur, he may have been earning money from football by the time he played in that amateur international. All told I reckon it's a dodgy selection and I fear Crad was an "under-the-counter merchant". This, I accept, may be a partisan, unfounded view from the Babbacombe side of the fence. Jon, who possibly knows far more, may be moved to defend Crad's honour and reputation.

The piano tuner as a Gentleman. That sounds ideal for Crad.

"Gentlemen" were able to play their sport, strictly for expenses you understand, and retain their amateur status.

The "lesser ranks" were not afforded that privilege. Consequently it's just possible there may not have been too many colliers or steel workers in that Welsh Amateur XI.

Where Crad attended school may also be of significance but, already on Jon's evidence, it looks like "case dismissed".