England v. Ireland
Saturday, 21 October 1922
Attendance: 20,172
Home International Championship 1922-23
Taylor, Edward 35 G Huddersfield Town AFC
Smith, Joseph 32 RB West Bromwich Albion FC
Harrow, Jack H. 34 LB Chelsea FC
Moss, Frank 27 RH Aston Villa FC
Wilson, George 30 CH The Wednesday FC
Grimsdell, Arthur 28 LH Tottenham Hotspur FC
Mercer, David W. 29 OR Sheffield United FC
Seed, James M. 27 IR Tottenham Hotspur FC
Osborne, Frank R. 26 CF Fulham FC
Chambers, Henry 25 IL Liverpool FC
Williams, Owen 26 OL Clapton Orient FC
2-3-5
Taylor
Smith, Harrow
Moss, Wilson, Grimsdell
Mercer, Seed, Osborne, Chambers, Williams
Match Report:
'England beat Ireland by two goals to none at West Bromwich on Saturday, and played well enough for the occasion. Higher praise for the successful side in a poor game is impossible.
A high wind, blowing almost straight down the ground, seriously handicapped the players, but better turf than that at the Hawthorns could not be desired, and England had so much of the play that they would have overcome that one difficulty and become a great side if they had possessed the individual ability looked for in men chosen for representative matches.
Strong sunshine, which they faced in the first half, would not have worried them if they had kept the ball low and under control, and failure to do this accounted for the disappointing nature of the football.
England did much of the attacking that their forwards must bear the blame for an inability to attack with the method that leaves a man with a certain goal if he shoots straight...
The forwards caused Harland more anxiety, and he was well beaten by Chambers, to whom the ball came out after a corner, taken by Mercer.
The second goal was scored as the result of really good football five minutes from the end. Williams, receiving a pass, ran almost to the goal-line before centring. Seed returned the pass, and Chambers shot immediately and accurately.
Nearly 20,000 people watched the game without becoming enthusiastic. There was no reason why they should do so'.
- The Times - Monday 23rd October, 1922
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3.
1923 Wales v England at Ninian Park, Cardiff
Wales 2 England 2
5th March 1923
Ninian Park, Sloper Road, Cardiff
Attendance: 12,000;
Receipts: £800
Taylor, Edward 35 G Huddersfield Town AFC
Longworth, Ephraim35 RB Liverpool FC
Titmuss, Frederick 28 LB Southampton FC
Magee, Thomas P. 23 RH West Bromwich Albion FC
Wilson, George 31 14 CH The Wednesday FC
Grimsdell, Arthur 28 LH Tottenham Hotspur FC
Carr, John, 26 OR Middlesbrough FC (injured off 80 min)
Seed, James M. 27 IR Tottenham Hotspur FC
Watson, Victor M. 25 CF West Ham United FC
Chambers, Henry 26 IL Liverpool FC
Williams, Owen 26 23 OL Clapton Orient FC
2-3-5
Taylor
Longworth, Titmuss
Magee, Wilson, Grimsdell
Carr, Seed, Watson, Chamber, Williams
Goals:
Wales - Fred Keenor (thirty-yard swerving shot from a Jones cross 17), Ivor Jones (a rebound shot from a Taylor save 86')
England - Harry Chambers (a powerless shot that deceived Peers that deflected off the mud and went inside the post 36'), Vic Watson (charged down Parry's clearance to shoot past Peers 48')
Match Report:
WALES DRAW LEVEL IN LAST MINUTE
The International match between Wales and England resulted at Cardiff yesterday in a drawn game, each side having scored two goals. The game looked like ending in a victory for England, but in the closing moments of a thoroughly interesting match, Wales saved themselves...
At the end of 17 minutes' play there came a surprise goal. I. Jones dribbled to the left, and, being tackled, sent the ball across to Keenor, who with a long shot scored for Wales, the ball swerving away from Taylor as he moved to meet it......although Wales seemed the faster side England equalized after 36 minutes' play, when Grimsdell gave Williams a good pass, that enabled Chambers to put the ball into goal...
The second half had only lasted three minutes when England were in front. Wilson passed hard forward and Watson, following up, charged down Parry's kick and dribbled on to shoot past Peers...
Ten minutes from the finish Carr was injured and went off the field, and in one great final effort in the last few seconds of the game I. Jones, with a low shot, sent the ball through, after Taylor had saved, and so enabled Wales to secure a draw.
- The Times - Tuesday 6th March, 1923
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4.
1923 England v Belgium, Arsenal Stadium, Highbury
Football Association Friendly Match
England 6 Belgium 1 [HT 2-1]
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, Islington, County of London
Attendance: 14,052; Receipts: £899
Goals:
England - Jackie Hegan (a low shot from a Mercer centre bounced over de Bie 10, fifteen-yard drive after a long, clever dribble 35), Henry Chambers (from a Hegan pass 55), David Mercer (from a Hegan pass 59), Jimmy Seed (60), Norman Bullock (70).
Belgium - Honoré Vlaminck (chested in from a perfect Bastin centre 16)
This is generally believed to be England's first International home match against a foreign team.
Taylor, Edward 36 G Huddersfield Town AFC
Longworth, Ephraim 35 RB Liverpool FC
Wadsworth, Samuel J. 26 LB Huddersfield Town AFC
Kean, Frederick W. 23 RH The Wednesday FC
Wilson, George 31 14 CH The Wednesday FC
Bromilow, G. Thomas 28 LH Liverpool FC
Mercer, David W. 29 OR Sheffield United FC
Seed, James M. 27 IR Tottenham Hotspur FC
Bullock, Norman 22 CF Bury FC
Chambers, Henry 26 IL Liverpool FC
Hegan, Lt. Kenneth E. 22 OL Royal Army Service Corps FC & Corinthians FC
Picked by the fourteen-man FA International Selection Committee, on Monday, 12 March 1923.
2-3-5
Taylor
Longworth, Wadsworth
Kean, Wilson, Bromilow
Mercer, Seed, Bullock, Chambers, Hegan
Match Report:
The International match between England and Belgium was played on The Arsenal club's ground at Highbury yesterday, and ended in a decisive victory for England by six goals to one...
England attacked from the start, and Lieutenant K. E. Hegan missed an excellent chance in the first minute from a pass by Mercer. Soon afterwards, however, the outside left atoned for his mistake by scoring a good goal ; he beat the Belgian goalkeeper with a clever cross shot which was made possible by some good work by Seed...
The English backs were not very sure in their kicking, and two more corners were forced by the Belgians. From the second the ball was so well placed by D. Bastin that H. Vlamincks was able to obtain the equalizing goal...
The Belgian goalkeeper, however, was beaten soon afterwards by Hegan, who sent in a hard drive at the end of a clever run...
In the second half England attacked strongly and, after a good save by Debie, Chambers scored England's third goal with a clever shot. England continued to have the better of the game and further goals were scored by Mercer, Seed and Bullock.
- The Times - Tuesday 20th March, 1923
Jimmy Seed's Cap awarded for playing in this match. This is currently in the Charlton museum on loan from James Dutton and Allen Jones.
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5.
1925 Scotland v England
4th April 1925
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Attendance: 92,000; Receipts: £6,300;
Kick-off 3.00pm GMT
SCOTLAND 2-0 ENGLAND [HT 1-0]
Scorers:
Scotland: Hugh Gallacher 36', 85'
Goals:
Scotland - Hughie Gallacher (received the ball from Morton and swung away to the right, drove in a twenty yard shot 36, Jackson rounded Wadsworth but tackled by Pym, the spare ball fell to Gallacher who shot into an empty net 86)
Scotland won the toss, England kicked-off.
Pym, Richard H. 32 G Bolton Wanderers FC
Ashurst, William 30 RB Notts County FC 5
Wadsworth, Samuel J. 28 LB Huddersfield Town AFC
Magee, Thomas P. 25 RH West Bromwich Albion FC
Townrow, John E. 24 CH Clapton Orient FC
Graham, Leonard 23 LH Millwall FC
Kelly, Robert 31 OR Burnley FC
Seed, James M. 30 IR Tottenham Hotspur FC
Roberts, Frank 32 CF Manchester City FC
Walker, William H. 27 IL Aston Villa FC
Tunstall, Fred 27 OL Sheffield United FC
2-3-5
Pym
Ashurst, Wadsworth
Magee, Townrow, Graham
Kelly, Seed, Roberts, Walker, Tunstall
There was no manager or coach.
Referee: Ward (England)
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Jimmy Seed's Match Preview:
['Centre Half' was a midfield position in Seed's day.]
'Next weekend, the last international match of the season will be played. The great game between Scotland and England at Hamden Park. Scotland has already beaten Ireland and Wales, and as the chosen of England have only managed to draw with the two countries named, the international championship will almost inevitably go to Scotland.
That does not mean however, that there is a lack of interest in the forthcoming game.
I suppose that, during the next few days, the time honoured question as to why England does not beat Scotland will be put, and I will be many attempts to answer it. Certainly recent history does not cause us to be very optimistic. We have only once beaten Scotland in an international match proper since the war, and last weekend the English league players could only draw with the Scottish league. A Scotland team reinforced by Anglo-Scots, maybe even more difficult to beat.
The first obviously natural explanation why England does not beat Scotland, is that the England players are not good enough: but I’m not at all sure that this is the whole story.
We do not often succeed in getting together 11 players who make up as good a team as the Scots put in the field; but I should take a lot of persuading that the great bulk of the real footballing talent had its birthplace north of the border.
Blaming the Forwards.
For England’s failings in recent years, it has been customary to blame the forwards, and as a forward myself, I would not like it to be thought that I’m trying to throw the responsibility on other shoulders. I would ask you, however, to consider this point: - An international team, as much as a league side or a cup side, depends first and foremost on its half-back line.
It was Billy Meredith, who used to say that if you would show him a team's half-back line, he would tell you what sort of team the whole was. That is equally true of an international side, and that it may be true that England has not, in recent years, been any too successful in finding the right forward blend, my own view is that the forward deficiencies would be largely covered up if we could get the right sort of half-back line.
Mind you, I’m not without sympathy for the selectors, because it is obvious that there is, at the present moment, as scarcity of superlative, constructive half-backs in English football.
Half-a-dozen different half-back lines of good quality could be chosen; but though every possible candidate be nominated, it still remains a fact that the line would scarcely rise above the ordinarily good.
I am tempted to wonder, partly because of the international experience I have had, and partly because of things I have heard, if one of the reasons for half-back failures is not to be found in England’s half-back tactics.
I believe it is a mistake for the wing half-back, as has so often happened in international games, to pay particular attention to the extreme wing-forwards. Rather do I think that, especially against Scotland, the wing-halves should give their special attention to the inside-wingmen.
Are their tactics wrong?
Perhaps not as a definite policy, but certainly in actual fact, both Edwards and Green, who have so often played at wing-half in recent representative games, pay special attention to the opposition extreme [wide] wing-men. I know there is a lot to be said for this policy, and I know to, some clubs believe in it.
But my own view, to which I am not trying to convert anybody, is that there is more to be said against this policy
Think for a moment. England has had some very good half-backs in recent times. There is nothing wrong with either Hill or Seddon, but after practically every big match of recent times, it has been said that the centre-half was not up to his club standard. The same was said of Elkes after the inter-league match of last week.
Now it certainly seems to me possible that these very good club centre-half backs failed to do themselves justice because their wing halves leave them too much ‘in the cold’ – go too far away from them.
Thus the centre-half is asked to do more than he can get through successfully.
The Scottish forwards, as we all know, are great at the short passing, pattern-weaving game. If the centre-half has to watch three inside forwards, who are good at this pattern weaving business, then he is apt to be tired long before the end, and in any case he is kept so busy that he has precious little time left for attending to the needs of his own forwards.
Grimsdell’s Experience.
The other method – that of the wing-half keeping a close watch on the inside opposing forward, has paid against Scotland in the past. I have heard Arthur Grimsdell tell how, on one occasion, when he was up against McMenemy, playing at inside-right, he made up his mind to watch McMenemy all the time. Grimsdell did watch him, and with the result that McMenemy did little, the Scottish forward line was seldom working in that smooth fashion we have so often seen, and Grimsdell finished on the winning side.
I pass over the point – and yet it is a point – that the wing half-back who gets the ball from an inside wing forward is in a better position for disposing of it to advantage than when he gets it on the line, and I have said that England's need is for constructive half-backs.
Anyway, I put forward the suggestion, because I believe that it is worth consideration.
If we could get a half-back line which could break up the combination of the Scottish forwards, we should be well on the road to victory, especially if those half-backs were helped by two hard workers and effective schemers in our own inside forward positions.'
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MATCH REPORT:
'SCOTLAND OUTPLAY ENGLAND
A TRIUMPH OF STYLE AT HAMPDEN PARK
The season 1924-25 has been a great one for Scottish football, Rugby as well as Association. In each case, the International Championship has been won without a single defeat and, if the Rugby victory at Murrayfield was the more dramatic, the outplaying of England's Association professionals at Hampden Park on Saturday was the more complete.
The scoring of two goals to none was watched by the expected huge crowd of 100,000 critics, whose comparative complacency in the hour of triumph was eloquent proof of the Scottish team's superiority.
The superiority in style and method of the Scotsmen, as a matter of fact, was much more complete than the score, or even the course of the play, would suggest. To the people who recognized in the English eleven merely a very moderate team who, after all, had failed only where many famous elevens had failed in the past, the match may have meant no more than a rather humiliating defeat. Scotland, it should be noted, had decided on this occasion to make no use of the Anglo-Scot, as he is called, and so it became a true test of international styles.
Judged, then, on the day's play, the English representatives and their methods cut a distinctly sorry figure. As to whether the selectors had done their work well in advance is, of course, another story. Everywhere, however, except perhaps in goal and at back, the Englishmen were outmanœuvred and outplayed. They were so outplayed at times that they also looked outpaced, which probably was not the fact.
It would be easy to lay all this at the doors of the unhappy players themselves, but the writer, for his part, refuses to do so and, instead, makes a more or less savage attack upon the wretched misconception of the Association game which is rapidly making professional League and Cup-tie football in England little better than a glorified kick-and-rush--glorified only because the players are at least magnificently trained athletes.
The Scotsmen, though their team on Saturday was not, perhaps, one of their greatest, have managed somehow to retain the great outstanding joy of Association football--the dribbling runs which make passing movements something better than a mere rapid dispersal of the ball all over the field. The rigid and argumentative adherents of the so-called Scottish " triangular " game and the equally so-called English rectilinear game may be left to fight out that particular part of the battle without assistance. It is enough to say that, although the Scotsmen still are very apt to overdo their pattern weaving and trickiness in front of goal, the Englishmen no longer seem to have the capacity to do more than swing the ball about mechanically or wildly, as the case may be. Their game, regarded as a whole, has become as featureless and unfootball-like as the Rugby game becomes when it is deprived of its twin characteristic glories--the run with the ball and the courageous tackle... '
- The Times - Monday 6th April, 1925
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Newspaper Match Review by Jimmy Seed:
SCOTLAND 2 ENGLAND 0
Strolling around Glasgow on the morning of the great international match last Saturday, one could not help but be struck by the extraordinary number of people going about.
Towards the time for the kick-off everybody seemed to be heading for Hamden Park. Motors of all description plied a busy trade, and when we arrived at the ground 40 minutes before starting time the scenes in and around the enclosure were remarkable. Parked motors made one think of Ascot or Epsom on Derby day. Queues waiting for admission appeared to be never ending, yet everything was carried out in an orderly manner.
I have seen some big crowds gathered together for a football match; but this one last week impressed me and many of my colleagues very much.
When we turned into the arena, the crowd had assumed great proportions. The ground at Hamden is built for a big gathering, and standing out there in the middle of the Park the rows upon rows of faces presented a very inspiring spectacle.
While we stood in front of the camera men just previous to the game, a loud voice could be heard above everything else. A gigantic loud speaker had been installed beside the Press Box, and from it proceeded a continuous stream of instructions, as, for example, "Keep all passage ways clear. Kindly assist the stewards. No. 4 being congested, please pack No. 6"
This was an interesting innovation, and, I am told, was being tried for the first time in Scotland.
Anyhow, I am sure it went a long way to add to the systematic packing of the crowd which was stewarded to perfection.
Many students of football who have witnessed some of these Scotland v. England matches are unanimous in saying that last week's game fell a long way short of international standard.
The Wind.
As to this, I am not in a position to judge, as I have only seen three of those contests. Yet I must say that the wind, which blew more across than down the field, interfered a great deal with our efforts to control the ball. Wind is at all times an enemy to footballers, whether you have its assistance of whether it is against you. The ball plays many weird tricks, and is always difficult to control.
Sitting in the stand or standing in the crowd, the onlooker is apt to forget the influence a wind has on the ball.
However, I am not seeking for excuses
We failed to beat the sons of Caledonia, and blame neither luck nor elements for it. They were the superiors eleven on the day's play.
The understanding between the players was the decisive factor. In the play of their left wing especially this was very noticeable. Alan Morton and Tommy Cairns displayed an understanding at times which was rather bewildering. Their close passing game caused a great deal of trouble, and at the same time showed the importance of club wings in these big matches.
To have complete understanding - to know what your partner is going to do and to choose the best position to place yourself for a pass is, in my opinion, the secret of success.
There is something in the atmosphere that makes this game totally different from any other. You go on to the field determined not only to do well for yourself, but for the country you represent with a great desire to justify the confidence which your new masters have placed in you by choosing you.
This feeling may, or may not affect your play.
There are games when you feel that no matter what you do everything comes off all right. But that is when you are cool, calm and collected, with nothing depending on the result.
Free from Fouls.
With nearly 100,000 people watching your every movement and the fate of your county's football prestige in the balance, to say nothing of your own personal reputation, you may be forgiven for being subject to over-eagerness.
I football, it has a tendency to make you take up the wrong position, and to try to do too much, generally with a disastrous effect.
Anyhow, the player always derives a big amount of pleasure in taking part in these International matches, and against Scotland especially.
I was especially struck by the feeling of friendliness amongst the two teams during the games, where fouls were infrequent. In fact, I have no hesitation in saying that this was one of the cleanest games in which I have played.
Unfair play was entirely missing, and football was a joy to play.
You could hold the ball as long as you liked; but it was never taken away by shady tactics. The ball was the objective of all the game through. Would it be that every game was fought out on these lines.
No Fluke.
Scotland won not by any fluke, but by merit alone. They were the better team, with at least three wonderful players amongst the forwards. Morton, Cairns and Jackson, who is only 20 years old, were not only clever; but they were fast also. And if anybody can say that the Scottish game is played slow, then I would refer them to the Scots wingers, Morton and Jackson, two of the speed merchants of modern football.
However, Scotland's "pick-of-the league" retained the Hamden record, where they have never been beaten - if we exclude the Victory International - of 1919, when England won 4-3.
This year's victory is all the more refreshing as far as Scotsmen are concerned, for it was a home Scots eleven. For years past the Scottish Selection Committee have always gone to England to seek Scotsmen who were on that side of the border helping English clubs. Indeed, it was 30 years since the previous home Scots eleven played against England.
If Saturday's performance can be taken for anything, then all I can say is that Scotland has now no more need of the services of Anglo-Scots.
They can get all they want at home - men who are not only clever, but fast enough to make their undoubted skill effective.
- Jimmy Seed [April 1925]
Jimmy Seed Learns Of His Selection Via The Evening Newspaper.
‘I can tell rather a good story in regard to one of Seed's internationals. One afternoon I called his house, where I was invited by his wife to come in and wait his arrival, for he was out. A few minutes later, the three of us were drinking tea when Mrs Seed asked her husband to pass her the evening paper which he had brought in with him.
She had been reading for about five minutes when she asked her husband: "What is this match you have been chosen to play in?" "I don’t know of any match. What do you mean?" said Jimmy. There, in the very newspaper which he thought he had read through, were the names of the English team which had been selected to a oppose Scotland, and his was included. It was his first intimation of the greatest honour in the football world.
In the early part of January 1926, he should’ve played in a trial match, entitled England versus The Rest, but he was an absentee to his having caught a chill, and this illness altered his whole career. When he recovered, his club had found an efficient substitute for him in the first team. To this day, I cannot forget poor Seed's expression when he said: "O’Callaghan, who has taken my place, is a fine player, and I begin to realise that my playing days are numbered." ’
- Article taken from a newspaper cutting.
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[JS article - The Herald 19 October, 1924]
HALF-HEARTED INTERNATIONALS
Dwindling Interest in the Big Games: About Wednesday´s Duel with Ireland
It is one of the minor tragedies of professional football that as the
interest in League and Cup strife grows there is a corresponding slump in the
internationals.
In Scotland the annual battle with the hereditary foe is still the event
of the year. In England the matches are fast becoming of academic interest
only, with a slightly bored crowd showing distinct symptoms of that
"it-doesn´t-matter-anyway" feeling.
There was some excitement at Wembley last April, it is true, but that
was mainly because there were so many Scotsmen in London.
The games, without a doubt, are not as gripping as they used to be, and one
has reluctantly to admit the reason is the lack-lustre play and the thinly
disguised determination of many of the players to avoid injury.
Wants Gingering Up
For that reason, but no other, I am sorry there is not an amateur
or two in the English side which faces Ireland on the Everton ground on
Wednesday.
The amateur invariably steps in where the professionals fear to tread,
and the presence of one or two players who are not afraid to "mix it"
has a wonderful way of gingering up a game.
Nobody´s Darling
A little lecture to the players before Wednesday´s game would not
do any harm. They need to be reminded that a falling standard in these games
represents a serious threat to their profession in the long run.
If an international becomes a sort of nobody´s darling, unpopular with
the clubs, the players and the public, it will be extremely bad for the game.
Even if one passed the argument that the results do not matter, the sort
of football we see on these occasions most certainly does.
Wednesday´s match takes place before an audience of critics who have
learned to like their football with a kick in it. It is up to every member of
the England team-we needn´t worry about the Irishmen-to see that they get it.
by JS - The Herald 19 October, 1924
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Debut: v Belgium
(FR) on 21st May 1921 aged 26 years, 1 month, 27 days
Last Cap: v Scotland 
(HC) on 4th April 1925 aged 30 years, 0 months, 10 days First Goal: v Belgium (FR) on 19th March 1923 aged 27 years, 11 month, 25 days Career Length: 3 years, 318 days
Starts: 5
Full Games: 5
