Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2010 9:49:18 GMT
I thought this was worth a thread of its own as opposed to being tucked away at the end of the Darlington match thread. It's extra detail on how Torquay United started to recruit players from far and wide in the early 1920s.
This is what Jon wrote on the Darlington thread:
The Torquay United formed in 1921 was a real professional club. I think that the first season, when we were turned down by the Southern League and so had a limited fixture list, was quite reliant on Plymouth / Exeter / Torquay based players, but entry to the Southern League in 1922 forced us to look further afield.
Bob Preston, later to play for Argyle before returning to us when we were a league team, came from Hearts where he had been captain for the previous five seasons. Thompson, from Dundee, was "one of the finest half backs in Scotland". Miller was "the famous Scottish international centre forward who last played for Scotland in 1920/21".
(later) Blimey - Liverpool and Manchester United as well as Hearts and Scotland - and a match fixer too!
www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=768
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Miller_(footballer)
www.lfchistory.net/player_articles_view.asp?article_id=492&player_id=768
One of Jon's links contains the picture below of Tom Miller who, as we've been told, was involved in a spot of match fixing in 1915. Ah, those Golden virtuous days of football's past which remind us that on Saturdays - such as this - one hundred years ago the game was being played for money, sometimes without too much honour, at the behest of wealthy businessmen. With professional football, it was ever thus...
I wonder how Miller fell from grace from being a Scottish international in 1920/21 to appearing for Southern League Torquay United just a few seasons later?
And when Tom Miller was up to no good in 1915, what of Bob Preston? As Private Robert Preston of the 18th Scots Guards he was one of the many Hearts players to volunteer for the Great War. Preston, as one of the links below indicates, was to be wounded whilst several of his colleagues were killed in action:
www.heartsfc.co.uk/articles/20070615/1914-1924_2241543_1045309
www.heartsgreatwarmemorial.org.uk/index.html
Bob Preston is in the middle row (second from the right) in this 1914 picture taken around the time the first group of Hearts players signed up for McCrae's battalion:
This is what Jon wrote on the Darlington thread:
The Torquay United formed in 1921 was a real professional club. I think that the first season, when we were turned down by the Southern League and so had a limited fixture list, was quite reliant on Plymouth / Exeter / Torquay based players, but entry to the Southern League in 1922 forced us to look further afield.
Bob Preston, later to play for Argyle before returning to us when we were a league team, came from Hearts where he had been captain for the previous five seasons. Thompson, from Dundee, was "one of the finest half backs in Scotland". Miller was "the famous Scottish international centre forward who last played for Scotland in 1920/21".
(later) Blimey - Liverpool and Manchester United as well as Hearts and Scotland - and a match fixer too!
www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=768
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Miller_(footballer)
www.lfchistory.net/player_articles_view.asp?article_id=492&player_id=768
One of Jon's links contains the picture below of Tom Miller who, as we've been told, was involved in a spot of match fixing in 1915. Ah, those Golden virtuous days of football's past which remind us that on Saturdays - such as this - one hundred years ago the game was being played for money, sometimes without too much honour, at the behest of wealthy businessmen. With professional football, it was ever thus...
I wonder how Miller fell from grace from being a Scottish international in 1920/21 to appearing for Southern League Torquay United just a few seasons later?
And when Tom Miller was up to no good in 1915, what of Bob Preston? As Private Robert Preston of the 18th Scots Guards he was one of the many Hearts players to volunteer for the Great War. Preston, as one of the links below indicates, was to be wounded whilst several of his colleagues were killed in action:
www.heartsfc.co.uk/articles/20070615/1914-1924_2241543_1045309
www.heartsgreatwarmemorial.org.uk/index.html
Bob Preston is in the middle row (second from the right) in this 1914 picture taken around the time the first group of Hearts players signed up for McCrae's battalion:
