It’s 1898 all over again (originally published in The Northern Echo, 18th March 2020)

The coronavirus has brought chaos to global sport. Heritage Unlocked’s Dr Tosh Warwick reveals how it has echoes of a Victorian epidemic:

THERE is chaos in global sport with major football matches played behind closed doors and postponements now widespread across elite football with even Euro2020 falling victim.

This was despite the Government’s initial insistence that the show should go on. At the weekend, England’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney hit out at the Government and football authorities over their delay in putting a hold on the professional game as the effects of the coronavirus began to become clear.

And yet, further down the football pyramid, lower league clubs enjoyed notable increases in attendances, with seventh tier South Shields FC’s 5-3 win over FC United of Manchester attracting a record 3,274 gate.

Remarkably, the conflict and controversy surrounding football in 2020 has striking similarities to dilemmas faced by “the people’s game” in spring 1898 when there were controversial postponements, matches played in secret and conflict between clubs and governing bodies…

At the centre of the furore were Middlesbrough FC who were on a fairly unfamiliar road to glory as they progressed to the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup. It meant they were only two wins away from bringing silverware back to Teesside.

Yet, it was not the challenge posed by their semi-final opponents Thornaby that proved the biggest threat to their path to a Crystal Palace final but rather a smallpox epidemic that was ravaging the town.

The outbreak began in late 1897 and escalated in February 1898, bringing death and disarray to the town – by the end of the summer there were 1,400 cases and 201 deaths.

As with today’s talk of cancelling tournaments and voiding the domestic season, the outbreak meant uncertainty for football in Teesside.

In Middlesbrough FC: The Unseen History, Richard Piers Rayner recreates the tension smallpox caused via a fictionalised conversation in The Masham Hotel, in Linthorpe Road, between former Middlesbrough star and hotel owner Tom Bach and club chairman Robert Forrester. Discussing the club’s prospects of cup glory, their conversation is interrupted by a man having a coughing fit in the corner of the room:

“Forrester nodded and turned back to his drink exchanging a hard look with Tom Bach. The later shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it if someone wanted to have a coughing fit. People were on edge, that was all. Ever since the first smallpox victim was diagnosed and the epidemic had taken a grip on the area, everyone was on their guard, watching for the first signs of any kind of illness.”

Concern about the smallpox outbreak was very real and spread to the Darlington authorities who began to make plans to prevent hordes of Teessiders congregating for the tie scheduled to take place in the railway town.

The semi-final was due to be played at the Feethams ground in Darlington, but concern about the smallpox outbreak spread to the Darlington authorities who began to make plans to prevent hordes of Teessiders congregating in the railway town.

At a meeting of the Darlington Corporation’s health committee on March 7, two days after Boro’s Northern League tie at Tow Law was called off due to the epidemic, a letter was read form a “prominent medical gentleman” and quickly “much indignation was expressed” at the proposed tie taking place in the town. It was decided a letter be sent to the Darlington directors expressing concern at the possibility Feethams would be used for the tie the following week.

On the same day, Middlesbrough’s new Medical Officer of Health Dr Charles Dingle – his predecessor, Dr John Malcolmson, had died after “the increased smallpox in the town had produced overwork and worry, which quite undermined his health” - informed Middlesbrough’s Special Sanitary and Sanatorium Committee of his grave concerns that patients in the town’s sanatorium might be spreading the disease:

“Patients were observed climbing on the boundary walls talking to their friends, and even shaking hands. At one period during the afternoon the Grounds of the Hospital were invaded by the outside public. It has also occurred that convalescent Patients have left the Grounds of the Hospital before being officially discharged.”

This behaviour reflected the widespread distrust of isolation policies among the public.

Yet the death toll stood at 85 and was escalating, so Dr Dingle called for stern action to ensure isolation: “I would suggest, in lieu of any better proposal, that more men be appointed to patrol the walls and boundaries of the Hospital Grounds, and to restrain the convalescent Patients. Large numbers of the general public were assembled, drawn there by idle curiosity, in close proximity to the Hospital. I need hardly point out to them and this Committee therisk they run of contracting such an infectious disease as Small-Pox by such contact.”

The FA met in London and sent a telegram to the Boro directors urging them to pull out of the tie. It read:

“Emergency Committee suggest you should scratch in consequence of unfortunate epidemic, matter considered serious. Trust in the best interest of the sport you will adopt this course. Please telegram Thornaby.”

But the directors unanimously refused to withdraw from the competition, and so when the Cleveland FA met March 14, they found themselves increasingly isolated. They were due to play South Bank in a Cleveland Senior Cup semi-final but Eston Urban District Council demanded the tie’s postponement. Boro once again refused, pointing to the crowds from South Bank and Middlesbrough that were continuing to mix at Saturday markets. The Cleveland FA chairman considered it “the height of folly to bring a crowd together to stand 1½ to 2 hours for there would be a great danger of the infection spreading” but the association voted six to two in favour of the match going ahead.

Echoing today’s conflicting approaches and decisions that have divided government officials, medics, sports people and the general public, South Bank promptly rejected the decision and declined to play the match. Eventually the Cleveland FA decided to postpone all its cup competitions until the following season. But the FA Amateur Cup semifinal between Boro and Thornaby was still outstanding.

With Boro refusing to yield, the FA in London decided that the match should take place “with closed gates” and that “only players be allowed to take part who have medical certificates as to their freedom from the disease”.

The tie was arranged to take place in secret at Brotton in east Cleveland. Poetically Piers Rayner imagines the game taking place witnessed only “by a couple of disinterested sheep and a passing tinker”. Catherine Budd’s Sport in Urban England confirms the secret nature of the tie, citing a contemporary report which said that though “many keen footballists had been on the alert for the past few days, those who knew the location of the match were very limited in number”.

In the match, there was more drama. After trailing 1-0, Boro fought back through goals from Bishop and Wanless to win the derby tie and secure a place in the final. It was played on a hot and humid day at Crystal Palace where they defeated Uxbridge 2-0 and brought silverware back to Teesside. The players were rapturously greeted when they arrived at the station and paraded the cup all of 100 yards to the Masham Hotel.

In the coming weeks and months, Covid-19 promises to bring challenging times to the footballing world and beyond. History suggests that a coordinated, consistent approach that embraces medical advice can have benefits for supporters and the wider world by dedicating efforts to tackling the pandemic rather than devoting resources to policing patients and coercing communities to follow health guidelines.

Dr Tosh Warwick is the founder of Heritage Unlocked and is a Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University (and he’s a Boro fan). With thanks also to Mike Amos.

An extract from It's 1898 all over again (The Northern Echo, 18th March 2020) showing Tom Bach’s Masham Hotel.

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It's 1898 all over again (The Northern Echo) - coronavirus and Victorian epidemic article