Articles – Everton Heritage Society

Everton FC’s 1909 pre-season tour of South America, Edwardian style – David Prentice

21/10/201921/10/2019 by David PrenticeNo Comments

Edwardian style Amazing story of Everton's pioneering 1909 tour of South America A contemporary cigarette card of Bert Freeman, the star of Everton's 1909 tour of South America. In the summer months of 1909 a 13-strong Everton FC playing staff led by two directors and a trainer, together with travelling companions Tottenham Hotspur, travelled 14,000 miles and spent more than six weeks at sea, visiting Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina – “to introduce and develop first class football.” Their story is a fascinating one – and thanks to the diligence of director E. Bainbridge and an exhaustive tour diary he produced for the Echo, the story of the ground-breaking tour can be retold a century later. So settle down with a cup of finest Brazilian and a corned beef sandwich, and enjoy the exploits of the Evertonian adventurers. Like many great Evertonian trips, the story began at Lime Street station. The Blues boarded a steam train to London Euston on Thursday...

The Birth of Sponsorship -KEN ROGERS

15/10/201915/10/2019 by ken rogersNo Comments

I was asked what appeared to be a fairly straightforward Everton FC quiz question recently but failed miserably with my answer. To be fair, it was a Richarlison-style curved ball, linked with the first known commercial sponsors of a Goodison Park fixture. I thought I started well by suggesting Hafnia and NEC but I wasn’t even close. Linked with today’s visitors I was told that the answer had a Manchester connection and links to lifeboats, a beefy end-product and an historical light spectacular. In the end I turned to a classic source of information for the answer by viewing the comprehensive Everton Collection website. A quick search turned up a photograph of one of the gold winner’s medals handed out that day. The date was 1893 when it was ‘cheers!’ to . . . Bovril, our first match sponsors. This steaming bovine-based beverage was first introduced in 1884, four years before we became one of the founder members of the Football League....

Only Once a Blue (10) Roger Ord. – Tony Onslow

07/10/201908/10/2019 by Tony Onslow Comment Closed

Courtesy of Patrick Brennan Born April 1874 in the Northumberland Coal Mining community of Cramlington, Roger Ord was the second son of Thomas and his Wife, Ann. He was working as a Coal Miner when he began his football career keeping goal for his local side Shankhouse who played their league matches in the Northern Alliance. Known as the Black Watch This club entered the FA Cup in 1892 and surprised all concerned by reaching the first round proper but were beaten, 4-0, by Notts County at Trent Bridge. The local scout persuaded Ord to sign for Everton following his appearance in the Northumberland Senior Cup final at St James Park, Newcastle. The terms, entered in the club minute book, are as follows… Resolved. We offer Ord 10/- per week, employment, without guarantee open to further arrangements. These arrangements must have been disappointing to the Young Northumbrian who, nevertheless, was present at Goodison Park in time for the new Football League campaign....

Programmed for Success – Ken Rogers

05/11/201905/11/2019 by ken rogers Comment Closed

In the second of a series of EFC Heritage Society articles focussing on the World-famous Everton Collection, Ken Rogers takes a look at programmes from encounters with Wolves in May 1982 and April 1984. He reflects how the team listings on the back pages reflect how an era of change accelerated towards the most successful in our history. It is accepted across the Premier League that our matchday programmes are amongst the best in the country. It’s therefore not surprising that thousands of our most evocative publications form a key strand within the football memorabilia treasure that is the Everton Collection. These include landmark editions like the one produced for our first ever Football League game on September 8th, 1888 against Accrington, a different club to the present Accrington Stanley. Over 10,000 programmes, at the last count, are held for the Collection by the Liverpool Records Office including, many featuring today’s visitors Wolves. We focus here on two from the eventful...

A Delve into the Everton Collection – Rob Sawyer

05/11/201905/11/2019 by Rob Sawyer Comment Closed

Some of this season’s EFC Heritage Society articles are produced in partnership with the Everton Collection, the unrivalled archive of over 10,000 historical football treasures. In 2007 in order to ensure the archive remained intact for future generations, an initiative was formed with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to purchase David France’s memorabilia. Everton FC also gifted its own memorabilia to form The Everton Collection Charitable Trust. The Collection is located at Liverpool Record Office at Liverpool Central Library where it is preserved and conserved in purpose-built archive accommodation meeting the highest standards for long-term preservation and under the care of professional archivists and conservators. The original items can be viewed at Liverpool Record Office by appointment. Items continue to be added – including Joe Mercer’s 1938/39 League Championship medal last year. A crowning glory of the Collection is the series of board minutes ledgers. These ‘Everton Scriptures’ are a series of 29 books documenting, in forensic detail, the inner...

When The Toffees Outshone The Blades – Anfield Under Illumination – Richard Gillham

15/10/201905/11/2019 by Richie Gillham Comment Closed

1878 not only saw the foundation of the football team that would become Everton FC but, in October of that year, the first experiments in playing artificially-illuminated matches. At Sheffield United’s Bramhall Lane ground, dynamo-powered lamps were mounted on timber gantries to provide the light for a match contested by teams made up of representatives from local clubs. The ‘Blues’ ran out 2-0 winners. But it was here on Merseyside, on 8th January 1890, that one of the most significant trials of this nascent technology occurred. On this occasion Paraffin-fuelled lamps, manufactured by A. C. Wells & Co. of Manchester, and normally used for industrial use, were deployed. The Blades were the visitors to Everton’s Anfield ground for the 7pm kick-off. By why Anfield? According to the Liverpool Courier: ‘Anfield is perhaps the best arena in the county for such experiments as the high stands serve to contain the light within the required area.’ The novelty of this innovation...