Friday Quiz Question

[tommy toes]

Must have been in the dim and distant past so that rules out Morecambe and Yeovil.
Hartlepool?

[The Red Baron]

Not Hartlepool but you are right about it being a long time ago.

[Rovers Return]

Barnet

[idler]

Accrington?

[The Red Baron]

Barnet

Not Barnet.

By my reckoning only seven clubs currently in League Two were members of the League before WW1. It's one of them. That's an even bigger clue.

[The Red Baron]

Accrington?

Not Accrington, or Accrington Stanley in either of their incarnations.

[Dutch Uncle]

Grimsby? Planty of cod fearing people there 

[The Red Baron]

Grimsby? Planty of cod fearing people there 

Grimsby were members of the FL before WW1, but it wasn't them.

[Dutch Uncle]

I guess the oldest of them all might have a chance - Notts County?

[The Red Baron]

I guess the oldest of them all might have a chance - Notts County?

Not Notts County, but in terms of when they joined the League this is the second oldest of those currently in League Two.

[Dutch Uncle]

Well given that Accrington were nothing to do with Accrington Stanley, does that make it Crewe (who I think joined at the same time as Grimsby but we know it is not them)?

[The Red Baron]

Well given that Accrington were nothing to do with Accrington Stanley, does that make it Crewe?

Crewe Alexandra is the correct answer.

On 3rd April 1896 they played Loughborough in a Second Division fixture at the Vicarage Ground, Sandbach.

The Alexandra Recreation Ground, their usual venue, was unavailable because their rental had expired. The Vicarage Ground was in the grounds of St Mary's Vicarage and was an open field with no accommodation for spectators. It was used by Sandbach St Mary's FC.

Loughborough won the game 2-1 and Crewe were not re-elected to the League after that game, their final match of the 1895-96 season.

In 1921 Crewe Alexandra were elected to Division Three North and were playing at Gresty Road, which is a short distance from the site if the old Recreation Ground.

Well done, DU.

[Dutch Uncle]

Brilliant question TRB.

 I bet you didn' think it would take that many guesses - by my reckoning there were only Blackpool and Clapham/Leyton Orient left.

Here's one in return

If a particular Division 2 player were to impress against a Championship club next week, and were to sign for them, he could well be known by the exact identical name as a brilliant but somehow not well known British painter. Who would that be?

[The Red Baron]

PS. This was not the only Football League game to be played in the grounds of a vicarage. There was one other, although the home team is long defunct. The visitors are still members of the Football League.

A big bonus to anyone who can come up with the answer, which I wil give tomorrow.

As a clue, Doncaster Rovers have played a competitive game at this particular vicarage venue.

[IDM]

Nelson?

[Dutch Uncle]

Darwen?

Maybe even Rotherham Town - Rovers played them in FA Cup matches way way back.

[The Red Baron]

Brilliant question TRB.

 I bet you didn' think it would take that many guesses - by my reckoning there were only Blackpool and Clapham/Leyton Orient left.

Here's one in return

If a particular Division 2 player were to impress against a Championship club next week, and were to sign for them, he could well be known by the exact identical name as a brilliant but somehow not well known British painter. Who would that be?

Someone from the Norwich School of Painters?

[The Red Baron]

Not Darwen, Nelson or Rotherham Town.

Rovers played at the ground in question but in the game they didn't oppose the team in question.

[Dutch Uncle]

Brilliant question TRB.

 I bet you didn' think it would take that many guesses - by my reckoning there were only Blackpool and Clapham/Leyton Orient left.

Here's one in return

If a particular Division 2 player were to impress against a Championship club next week, and were to sign for them, he could well be known by the exact identical name as a brilliant but somehow not well known British painter. Who would that be?

Someone from the Norwich School of Painters?

Closer to home than that TRB, in all respects.

[StocktonRover]

Joseph Wright of Derby

[The Red Baron]

Joseph Wright of Derby

That's the fella...

[Dutch Uncle]

Truly (IMHO) brilliant painter, in my mind in the same class as Constable and Turner, but somehow not well known. I once saw an international exhibition on the theme of 'light and dark' in paintings at the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, and JWoD's paintings were the standout works for me amidst many far better known Italian, Dutch/Flemish, French and British masters.

[Chris Black come back]

Luton.

[The Red Baron]

Luton.

Not Luton.

The first team to play a home Football League match in the grounds of a vicarage was Crewe Alexandra (1896).

The other happened about four years later. The home team no longer exists. The visiting team does and plays in League One. And Rovers played a competitive match at this Vicarage venue (though against different opponents).

[IDM]

Burton Swifts?

[The Red Baron]

Burton Swifts?

A good shout but not correct.

The defunct club in question was arguably one of the least successful in the history of the Football League.

[Dutch Uncle]

Is it Loughborough - the team that played at Crewe in the other match?

[The Red Baron]

Is it Loughborough - the team that played at Crewe in the other match?

Yes.

Do you know who the team were who played Rovers on the same ground (we lost 1-0 by the way)?

[Dutch Uncle]

I am guessing an FA Cup match, so maybe Lincoln City, or just possibly Gainsborough Trinity?

[The Red Baron]

I am guessing an FA Cup match, so maybe Lincoln City, or just possibly Gainsborough Trinity?

It wasn't either.

First to Loughborough. They were members of the FL for five years but never finished higher than 12th in Division Two. In 1899-1900 they finished bottom with only one win and eight points and resigned from the League at the end of the season, going out of business soon afterwards.

In March 1900, after a game against Woolwich Arsenal, the referee was assaulted by a Loughborough supporter. The FA suspended the Athletic Ground for a month, and Loughborough had to find an alternative venue for their fixture against Burslem Port Vale.

The Vicarage Ground, Whitwick, was used by a non-League club, Whitwick White Cross. Their patron, Rev. J. Mackenzie, the vicar of Whitwick, offered Loughborough the use of the ground, which was in the grounds of the vicarage. The game was played on 31st March 1900 and Port Vale won 2-1 in front of a decent crowd. The venue had no accommodation for spectators but had a small pavilion for the players to change.

Whitwick White Cross subsequently joined the Midland League in 1901, the season Rovers entered the Football League. White Cross had three seasons in the ML, and in 1903-04 they met Rovers' first XI. Rovers won 3-0 at the Intake Ground but on 12th December 1903 they travelled to the Vicarage Ground and were beaten 1-0. Rovers were re-elected to the FL in 1904, for one season only as it turned out, and White Cross resigned from the ML.