It's amazing how often it happens. Researching the history of this club, you unearth a little gem that leaves you shouting 'Eureka!', or something even stronger.
I have @Upson Downes to thank for this one. Last week, he told us about a game at Everton in the early sixties when Stanley Matthews was playing for Stoke, and he got hit by a ball which flew into the crowd. That ball went:
right into my face. My head was knocked right back and it felt like my nose had broke and flattened like a boxer's and hurt like hell, my eyes were watering and I was mortified the blokes would think I was crying. Wet mud was spattered over my face. All the blokes around were saying "fuckn'ell lad dat muster'urt!" and the like, patting me on the head. I'll never forget it!
Like so many of the old anecdotes posted on here, it leaves you wanting to find out more.
The first thought was 'Can we put a date on that game?'
Stoke were promoted back to the top flight in 1963, but Matthews played only ten games for them after that before he retired. Could one of those have been at Goodison?
The only candidate was November 23rd 1963, Everton 2 Stoke 0. I had a look at the archives, and bingo:
After missing several games with injury, he was back. He was now 48, but was still such a draw that his presence would lead to banner headlines, adding thousands to the gate.
But before we come to the match, we need to look at the build-up in more detail.
At Everton's previous two home games, it wasn't events on the pitch that made the headlines. Against Spurs, visiting keeper Bill Brown told the press that a dart had been thrown at him from behind the goal at the Gwladys Street End. Then against Blackburn, Everton's Tony Kay was sent off, and after the game, as the Echo reported, 'Several thousand irate fans gathered outside the ground chanting 'We want the referee!'
The club, fearing the FA's reaction, decided to take preemptive measures. They closed off a section of the terracing behind each goal, in the hope of thwarting the missile throwers - an unprecedented step in English football.
This was the bizarre scene at the Park End of Goodison:
A credulous Echo reporter said that 'the barriers will not prevent people throwing missiles, but any missile thrown will have lost its impetus by the time it arrives'. I don't know about you but from that distance I'd still fancy my chances with a rotten tomato or a threepenny bit.
So the stage was set. The grand old gentleman of English football would grace a Merseyside pitch for the final time, to the backdrop of ugly anti-hooligan steel scaffolding. Truly the end of one era, and the onset of another.
Then, on the Friday afternoon, came the real shocker. News broke that JFK had been shot in Dallas.
His death was marked at grounds across the country the following day. As Stanley Matthews lined up with his teammates at Goodison for a minute's silence, one Everton fan shouted 'Long Live Khrushchev!', and just to prove what a free country we live in, he was ushered hurriedly out of the ground.
One thing Everton had completely overlooked was what would happen when the ball went into that maze of steel. They had to make an urgent announcement for the club's young amateur players to assemble behind each goal and act as ball boys.
When the game kicked off, all eyes were on Stanley, and he was not letting anyone down:
He was struggling to link up with his fellow Stoke forwards though and it was Everton who took the lead with a 20 yarder from Tony Kay.
In the second half, Derek Temple added a second and Everton completed a comfortable 2-0 victory, with no further off the field incidents to report. Everton chairman John Moores could congratulate himself on his splendid crowd control idea. This is how the Gwladys Street end looked during the game:
In the Echo on Monday, the paper's cartoonist focused on the obvious themes. This was Stanley:
And here was a ball-boy inside the barrier:
But it was the final frame of the cartoon that had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief.
It seems that a young boy in the crowd, right behind one of those barriers, had been hit full in the face by the ball, and left in some distress:
The captions read: The barriers were voted a great success, but the incident when Vernon's shot scudded into the crowd appears to have been overlooked.
We'll have to report it to the Dart Players Association - someone kicked a football at him!
Surely not.
It couldn't be, could it?
Let's have a close up of that poor face:
Recall the description: My head was knocked right back and it felt like my nose had broke and flattened like a boxer's and hurt like hell, my eyes were watering and I was mortified the blokes would think I was crying. Wet mud was spattered over my face. All the blokes around were saying "fuckn'ell lad dat muster'urt!
A perfect description of the cartoon.
Now in his recollection, it was Stanley Matthews who kicked the ball at him, not Roy Vernon, but given the daze he was in you can expect a little mixing up of the details.
There is only one conclusion we can sensibly reach. To borrow that famous line in The Bourne Ultimatum:
Jesus Christ. That's Upson Downes.
I have @Upson Downes to thank for this one. Last week, he told us about a game at Everton in the early sixties when Stanley Matthews was playing for Stoke, and he got hit by a ball which flew into the crowd. That ball went:
right into my face. My head was knocked right back and it felt like my nose had broke and flattened like a boxer's and hurt like hell, my eyes were watering and I was mortified the blokes would think I was crying. Wet mud was spattered over my face. All the blokes around were saying "fuckn'ell lad dat muster'urt!" and the like, patting me on the head. I'll never forget it!
Like so many of the old anecdotes posted on here, it leaves you wanting to find out more.
The first thought was 'Can we put a date on that game?'
Stoke were promoted back to the top flight in 1963, but Matthews played only ten games for them after that before he retired. Could one of those have been at Goodison?
The only candidate was November 23rd 1963, Everton 2 Stoke 0. I had a look at the archives, and bingo:
After missing several games with injury, he was back. He was now 48, but was still such a draw that his presence would lead to banner headlines, adding thousands to the gate.
But before we come to the match, we need to look at the build-up in more detail.
At Everton's previous two home games, it wasn't events on the pitch that made the headlines. Against Spurs, visiting keeper Bill Brown told the press that a dart had been thrown at him from behind the goal at the Gwladys Street End. Then against Blackburn, Everton's Tony Kay was sent off, and after the game, as the Echo reported, 'Several thousand irate fans gathered outside the ground chanting 'We want the referee!'
The club, fearing the FA's reaction, decided to take preemptive measures. They closed off a section of the terracing behind each goal, in the hope of thwarting the missile throwers - an unprecedented step in English football.
This was the bizarre scene at the Park End of Goodison:
A credulous Echo reporter said that 'the barriers will not prevent people throwing missiles, but any missile thrown will have lost its impetus by the time it arrives'. I don't know about you but from that distance I'd still fancy my chances with a rotten tomato or a threepenny bit.
So the stage was set. The grand old gentleman of English football would grace a Merseyside pitch for the final time, to the backdrop of ugly anti-hooligan steel scaffolding. Truly the end of one era, and the onset of another.
Then, on the Friday afternoon, came the real shocker. News broke that JFK had been shot in Dallas.
His death was marked at grounds across the country the following day. As Stanley Matthews lined up with his teammates at Goodison for a minute's silence, one Everton fan shouted 'Long Live Khrushchev!', and just to prove what a free country we live in, he was ushered hurriedly out of the ground.
One thing Everton had completely overlooked was what would happen when the ball went into that maze of steel. They had to make an urgent announcement for the club's young amateur players to assemble behind each goal and act as ball boys.
When the game kicked off, all eyes were on Stanley, and he was not letting anyone down:
He was struggling to link up with his fellow Stoke forwards though and it was Everton who took the lead with a 20 yarder from Tony Kay.
In the second half, Derek Temple added a second and Everton completed a comfortable 2-0 victory, with no further off the field incidents to report. Everton chairman John Moores could congratulate himself on his splendid crowd control idea. This is how the Gwladys Street end looked during the game:
In the Echo on Monday, the paper's cartoonist focused on the obvious themes. This was Stanley:
And here was a ball-boy inside the barrier:
But it was the final frame of the cartoon that had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief.
It seems that a young boy in the crowd, right behind one of those barriers, had been hit full in the face by the ball, and left in some distress:
The captions read: The barriers were voted a great success, but the incident when Vernon's shot scudded into the crowd appears to have been overlooked.
We'll have to report it to the Dart Players Association - someone kicked a football at him!
Surely not.
It couldn't be, could it?
Let's have a close up of that poor face:
Recall the description: My head was knocked right back and it felt like my nose had broke and flattened like a boxer's and hurt like hell, my eyes were watering and I was mortified the blokes would think I was crying. Wet mud was spattered over my face. All the blokes around were saying "fuckn'ell lad dat muster'urt!
A perfect description of the cartoon.
Now in his recollection, it was Stanley Matthews who kicked the ball at him, not Roy Vernon, but given the daze he was in you can expect a little mixing up of the details.
There is only one conclusion we can sensibly reach. To borrow that famous line in The Bourne Ultimatum:
Jesus Christ. That's Upson Downes.
Last edited:
