The Toffees in Tenerife in 1934

Rob Sawyer

Post-season Everton tours beyond these shores were becoming firmly established in the early 1930s. Previously, there had been trips to Austria-Hungary (1905), South America (1909), Barcelona (1924), and Switzerland (1928). The spring of 1932 had seen the newly-crowned Football League champions play six matches in Germany; a year later, as FA Cup holders, the Toffees toured Denmark. Tours in that era earned clubs some funds but, in contrast to what we witness today, there not untold riches on offer, or thoughts of raising global brand awareness.

Early in 1934, key figures on Tenerife sought to bring Manchester City to participate in some post-season friendly fixtures. When that plan fell through with that year’s FA Cup winners, Arthur ‘Arturo’ Spragg and Manuel Cruz, two leaders of Santa Cruz society and Club Deportivo (CD) Tenerife supporters, moved to entice the Blues to the Canaries.

Spragg, a hotelier and fruit exporter, had been born and raised in Wallasey before emigrating to the Canary Islands. In March, the Everton directors received a cable, offering £800 and free accommodation in return for playing three matches on the island. The Merseysiders declined. Undeterred, Spragg called in a favour from his old acquaintance, Alderman George Strong, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool. The ‘strong-arming’ of the Blues’ senior men led to a change of heart. Sea passage to the Canaries was duly booked through Thomas Cook (at £22.9.0 per passenger). Those making the trip would be a mix of fourteen players, four directors and a trainer. Absent was Tom McIntosh, the secretary who was responsible for the day-to-day running of the club, and probably had pressing matters to attend to on Merseyside.

The travelling party consisted of:
Directors: Will Cuff (chairman) Bill Gibbins (vice chair), Dr. Cecil Baxter & G. Evans.
Players: Ted Sagar, Ben Williams, Billy Cook, Cliff Britton, Charlie Gee, John ‘Jock’ Thomson, Albert Geldard, Jimmy ‘Nat’ Cunliffe, Bill Dean, Norman Higham, Jack Coulter, Jimmy Stein, Warney Cresswell (a late replacement for Tom White) and Alex Stevenson (a late addition).
Trainer: Harry Cooke

With the domestic football season completed, Alderman Strong invited the touring party to a luncheon at the Town Hall three days prior to the departure. In his speech he stated:

‘Everton will be the first Football League team to visit the Canary Island. You are not going to play on grass. The grounds are hard and the Spaniards play fast, enthusiastic football. When I wrote to the Sporting Club of Tenerife, I said: “Whatever you do, try and win.” Now I am going to say to you boys: “Don’t let that happen!” If I learn that you have been beaten, I shall have a terrible time with those friends of mine on the other side.’

Leaving Liverpool Lime Street on 11 May, the party changed trains in London and set sail from Tilbury docks on the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company’s four-year-old ship, MV Dunbar Castle late that afternoon. Cliff Britton kept Merseyside sports journalist ‘Bee’ abreast of news from the 5-day voyage by letter. The classy Bristolian wing-half took a camera with him, so we have him to thank, for taking a series of candid photos during the tour. Fortunately, the weather during the 2000-plus mile voyage was benign, so Harry Cooke had the players doing fitness drills on deck; there was also time for some light-hearted sparring and socializing with other passengers, including games of deck tennis.

Docking at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, the Toffeemen were welcomed by various dignitaries, including the football federation of Gran Canaria and the British Consul. From there they caught the inter-island steamer service to the neighbouring island of Tenerife. There was a good deal of football fever in the archipelago, with the Toffees’ arrival being heralded in the local press for a number of weeks; this was in spite of a very disappointing season which had ended with a 14th place finish and 3rd round exit from the FA Cup. Dixie Dean featured heavily in the columns, while Warney Cresswell was referred to as Old Glory of British Soccer.

On disembarking at their final destination, the Blues were met on the quayside by the president of CD Tenerife, representatives of the Football Federation and the Association of Referees plus numerous fans. They were escorted to the Pino de Oro Hotel where they soon settled in, enjoying preferential access to the Golf Club of Tenerife and the spa, among other facilities. They got to know the hotel staff, including Sam, one of the waiters, plus his wife and their pet dog, with whom Charlie Gee and Cliff Britton had pictures taken. Albert Geldard would recall to his biographer, John Rowlands that the same large fish was brought out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps this was tuna, then a relatively unknown delicacy in Britain, and it was not always the same example served.

The opening fixture against Sporting Club Tenerife was on 20 May. Work had been carried out to expand the stadium’s stands and civil contingencies were put in place to ensure the safety of players, dignitaries and spectators. Inside the stadium walls, thirty assault guards took care of maintaining order. The Everton team dressed in their hotel and were driven in taxis to the ground, which had no grass, and was described as ‘as hard as iron’. Pre-warned, both Ted Sagar and Billy Cook wore bandages on their knees as protection for when they went to ground. On arrival at the ground Dixie Dean was presented with a bouquet of flowers to carry while leading his team on the field. Then, the players of each side were introduced to the clubs’ chairmen.

The referee was Mr. Williams, bilingual as he had both Spanish and British parentage. 4,500 spectators – including 100 who had got the night boat over from Las Palmas plus a number of ex-pat Brits – saw the tourists edge a 2-1 win in the evening heat, thanks to goals from Jimmy Stein (a brilliant solo run) and Jimmy Cunliffe. Dixie Dean thought he had scored a third but Mr. Williams allowed a goal kick to be taken, mistakenly thinking the ball had gone out of play before reaching the striker.

Afterwards he apologized to the Toffees’ talismanic skipper. Cliff Britton commented on the official’s ‘peculiar’ ways – including the allowing of a substitution at half-time of a player who had been on the cusp of being given his marching orders for foul play (the gentleman’s agreement had been that substitutions could be made only in response to injuries).

Two days after the match, Jock Thomson received a cable informing him that his nine-month-old son, John Ross Jr., was gravely ill. He made haste back to England, arriving shortly before the infant passed away in Fazakerley Hospital.

In the second match, against the same opposition, Dixie Dean gave the neutrals what they had come for, converting an Alex Stevenson cross with his head. The trip was certainly helping the famous forward to find his mojo after a season badly hit by injury. Referee Williams incited the ire of the partisan spectators by ruling out two home goals for offside. However, he went some way towards evening things up, by awarding a rather soft penalty which was duly converted, so the spoils were shared.

With the next match not for three days, there was time for Arthur Spragg to organise a motor car expedition up Mount Teide for a picnic and to take in the views, some of the squad donning Tenerife headwear. On another day they went for a trip to a nearby town for a meal and they also had the novel experience of playing golf on links devoid of grass. The local press described them having ‘fun and fraternization’ in hotels in the capital and Puerto de la Cruz.

They also visited the Vanyck, a Lamport & Holt Line ship, docked in Tenerife, as guests of the football-mad captain.

The short programme of matches was wrapped up with an exciting 3-2 win over the hosts. The head of Dean set up Jimmy Stein to slot home the opening goal. After the hosts had equalised, the head of Dean once again released a fellow forward, Alex Stevenson who bamboozled the right-back before netting. The standout moments were a superb Sagar save from point-blank range and a fine solo goal by Albert Geldard before Tenerife grabbed a late consolation.
Few match photos survive from the trip, but there is one kept by Charlie Gee that showed Dean challenging the Tenerife goalkeeper. Spanish newspaper pages provided to us by Sport Club Tenerife contain some grainy action shots plus those of the Everton skipper with a bouquet before the first match and Will Cuff meeting the Tenerife players.

The Tenerife public bid farewell to Everton with a long ovation. There was praise for the visiting footballers and, in return, Everton director Dr. Baxter stressed the footballing potential of the islanders, given the right coaching. Arthur was presented with a medal bearing this inscription: ‘In appreciation of the many kindnesses to the representatives of Everton FC’. A classy gesture from the Toffees.

Weary after a long season of football and several weeks away from home, the Toffeemen were keen to return to Albion sooner rather than later. In an interview given in the 1971 to Michael Charters, Dean made reference to the mosquitoes and the extreme heat which prompted him to lobby Will Cuff to secure an earlier passage home

Influenced by Dean or otherwise, the club chairman did switch the booking to the Yeoward Line vessel Avoceta, which was leaving port three days earlier than their intended transport, SS Grantully Castle. Pictures taken on deck capture Dixie Dean, in his inimitable style, borrowing the hat of one of the crew for a photo opportunity. On 5 June, the vessel berthed in Coburg Dock, approximately 750 metres from where the M&S Arena now stands.

The following year, the Toffees toured Switzerland, but that is a story for a future occasion. The club next played in Spain in 1980 and had a winter training camp in Tenerife under David Moyes in 2011.

Footnote
All three of the British vessels that the Everton party boarded during their trip came to unfortunate ends;
MV Dunbar Castle struck and mine in the English Channel in 1940 and sunk. The captain and several others on board were lost. The Vanyck, which they had spent time onboard in Tenerife, was sunk by enemy action in 1940 off the coast of Norway. The Liverpool-registered Avoceta was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic, north of the Azores in September 1941. There were a number of Everton supporters among the 43 crew, nine Navy staff, four DEMS gunners, and 67 civilians who perished. Forty people were rescued – some of whom were aboard the Cervantes when she was also torpedoed, the following day.

Acknowledgments and sources:
The Britton Family
Juan Galarza Hernández – Historian at Club Deportivo Tenerife
Bren Connolly (medal photos)
Liverpool Echo
Informacion Deportiva Deportes
Albert Geldard and John Rowlands, Albert Geldard: The Life and Times of a Professional Footballer
Nick Walsh, Dixie Dean: The Life Story of a Goal Scoring Legend
Ken Rogers, ed., Dixie Dean Uncut: The Lost Interview
The Everton Collection (Liverpool Record Office), Online: evertoncollection.org.uk (board minutes transcripts)
Billy Smith bluecorrespondent.co.uk (online)
CD Tenerife – Official Club website