0:00:02 > 0:00:03WHISTLE BLOWS
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Back in 1914 the whistle was blown as
0:00:08 > 0:00:11a signal to attack enemy lines during the Great War
0:00:11 > 0:00:14and could be the last thing a soldier heard.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16WHISTLE BLOWS
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Back home the very same whistle was usually blown to herald the start of
0:00:19 > 0:00:21a football or rugby match.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Those two games were asked to provide thousands of fit,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28young volunteers to help win the war.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31So what did our two biggest sports do and what effect did it
0:00:31 > 0:00:33have on the war and people's lives?
0:00:54 > 0:00:57I was capped over 50 times for my country and an officer in the
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Royal Artillery.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02So this is a story that's close to my heart and that 100 years
0:01:02 > 0:01:04later I feel needs to be told.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08It's the story of a world at war involving sportsmen from both
0:01:08 > 0:01:10codes of football,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13men who were employed in the world of professional soccer and
0:01:13 > 0:01:17those that played rugby as amateurs just for the love of it.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26Estimates that about 30% of rugby players were killed in the war.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Rugby took some really heavy hits.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32The Footballers' Battalion played an important part in halting the
0:01:32 > 0:01:33German counterattacks.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36One of its officers was awarded a Victoria Cross.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Really, the way the two games were defined during the war became
0:01:39 > 0:01:43the way that they were defined for the rest of the 20th century.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Two London clubs played a significant role in what went
0:01:48 > 0:01:51on both back at home and on the battlefields.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Over in east London, Leyton Orient Football Club were at the
0:01:55 > 0:01:57time called Clapton Orient.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Rosslyn Park Rugby Club is in south-west London, and 100 years
0:02:03 > 0:02:07on they're finally unveiling a memorial to their fallen.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13As part of the commemorations I've been asked to get the boots
0:02:13 > 0:02:17out again to play in a special memorial match exactly as it
0:02:17 > 0:02:19would have been played in 1914.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22WHISTLE BLOWS
0:02:22 > 0:02:25It was August of that year that we declared war on Germany and the
0:02:25 > 0:02:30Government asked for volunteers to go and fight for King and country.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33The playing of rugby matches immediately stopped and
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Rosslyn Park's players stepped forward with vigour.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Rugby, as an amateur sport, was very quick to volunteer.
0:02:39 > 0:02:4390% of the guys in the Rosslyn Park study that I've done
0:02:43 > 0:02:47volunteered in August or September, so the first two months of the war.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49A lot of guys coming out of public school, they'd been in the
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Officers' Training Corps at school and it was
0:02:51 > 0:02:55a natural thing for them to go on to a regular army or navy career.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58And, indeed, we're not far from Sandhurst so we had
0:02:58 > 0:03:02a lot of Sandhurst officer cadets playing at Rosslyn Park, and
0:03:02 > 0:03:05a lot of the guys in rugby also joined territorial regiments
0:03:05 > 0:03:08so they were what was even then called "weekend soldiers"
0:03:08 > 0:03:10and playing rugby when they could.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The regular British Army was very small.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16And the best place to get officers from quickly,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18with a minimum amount of training, was those boys who had been
0:03:18 > 0:03:21involved in the Officers' Training Corps at school
0:03:21 > 0:03:23because they were halfway there in their training.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27The reason so many rugby players signed up was it goes back to
0:03:27 > 0:03:29the public-school ethos.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31They understood that they were privileged,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34but they also understood that with privilege came responsibility.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38So they knew that when the country was in peril they had to sign up,
0:03:38 > 0:03:43they had to do their bit and that often meant leading from the front,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47getting up in the line of fire to lead their men into battle.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50In Britain before 1914 there had been
0:03:50 > 0:03:55a growing tide of nationalist and militarist sentiment in
0:03:55 > 0:04:00boys' stories, and the idea of the noble warrior or the happy warrior,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02in Shakespeare's phrase,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07was very strong, and you can see that in some of the schoolboy
0:04:07 > 0:04:11stories, that there's this idea that to die in the service of
0:04:11 > 0:04:13one's country was the greatest honour one could have.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16And, of course, the famous poem of that period,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Henry Newbolt's Vitai Lampada,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22has the famous phrase, "Play up! play up! and play the game!"...
0:04:22 > 0:04:24both in sport and in war.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32It's a normal Saturday afternoon at Leyton Orient Football Club.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36100 years ago they were still called Clapton Orient,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38but much was the same as now.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Crowds gathered, excitement built.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Fans like these all over the country were still flocking to
0:04:43 > 0:04:47stadiums, with crowds even bigger than today,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51because during the early part of the gruelling war association
0:04:51 > 0:04:54football did not cover itself in much glory.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56On the 22nd of August, 1914,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00the day before British troops fought their first major battle
0:05:00 > 0:05:04around the Belgian town of Mons, professional football matches
0:05:04 > 0:05:07went ahead and continued for an entire season.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Football didn't pack up when war was declared,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14largely because the season had already started.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17And football, even in those days, it was
0:05:17 > 0:05:20a highly commercialised entertainment.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25So bills had to be paid, players had to be paid, rent had to be paid.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28And so it was very difficult for them to simply say, "Stop."
0:05:28 > 0:05:31In rugby union it was relatively straightforward.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Most clubs didn't pay for their grounds,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36they certainly didn't have professional players.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39The other reason why football continued was because there
0:05:39 > 0:05:41was a very strong argument...
0:05:41 > 0:05:44We're in the middle of a war and what's necessary is to
0:05:44 > 0:05:46maintain morale.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Football carries on because essentially it is a
0:05:48 > 0:05:51professional game. There are players under contract.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54The prevailing mantra of the day is very much "business as usual".
0:05:54 > 0:05:56People expect the war to be over by Christmas.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Not everybody, but a sizeable majority.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02And, basically, people are just hedging their bets.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Players who played football, in general,
0:06:05 > 0:06:06had a working-class background.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10They probably had jobs, they already had families, which meant that they
0:06:10 > 0:06:15couldn't join up in the same way that the predominantly single,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20young and very enthusiastic young men in rugby union could.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24So enthusiastic were those rugby players to be volunteers that
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the Government used them as poster boys in a recruitment drive.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Indeed, in November there was a recruitment poster issued by
0:06:32 > 0:06:39the War Office saying 90% of rugby players have enlisted,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43rugby union players, and they were very specific about union,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46are doing their duty, and it said...
0:06:50 > 0:06:51It actually had a statistic
0:06:51 > 0:06:53that said the whole of the England
0:06:53 > 0:06:56team from the previous season had all joined the colours.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00And indeed, during the course of the war 26 England players will
0:07:00 > 0:07:04be killed and the 27th died of his wounds after the end of the war.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Early on in the war casualties were higher than expected,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18so more and more men were needed to fight.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21So football matches, with their huge crowds, were targeted in
0:07:21 > 0:07:25particular to try to get volunteers from the paying spectators.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30In late 1914 there was an attempt to use football matches to
0:07:30 > 0:07:33recruit spectators, to enlist actually at matches.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Before matches there would be a speech by a recruiting
0:07:35 > 0:07:39officer and then people would be expected to enlist at half-time.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41This wasn't very successful.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43There was a recruitment rally at Arsenal and only one person
0:07:43 > 0:07:45signed up.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46Nothing seemed untoward.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49In fact, it was a good way for people to go and relax and
0:07:49 > 0:07:52watch a game of football at the weekend with all the bad news
0:07:52 > 0:07:53that started to come through.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56All of a sudden you started getting in the newspapers the casualty
0:07:56 > 0:07:58lists, and public opinion changed.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Following an announcement that the FA were going to proceed with
0:08:01 > 0:08:05plans for the FA Cup that season there were very angry letters in the
0:08:05 > 0:08:08various newspapers criticising professional footballers for
0:08:08 > 0:08:12not coming forward and criticising the game for not ceasing the
0:08:12 > 0:08:13game immediately.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16There's a famous cartoon produced in Punch magazine which was
0:08:16 > 0:08:19indicative of the criticism towards the game, the fact that there was
0:08:19 > 0:08:21no honour to be won on the football field but there was another
0:08:21 > 0:08:23place they could win honour.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26It shouldn't be forgotten that at the time the class system
0:08:26 > 0:08:27was at its peak.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Rugby was played and watched largely by the ruling classes.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Football, on the other hand, was already the people's
0:08:35 > 0:08:39game and had started to come in for serious criticism because the
0:08:39 > 0:08:42players were not only still at home but still playing football
0:08:42 > 0:08:43for money.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47These are footballers at the time on tiny, tiny wages,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49literally trying to earn enough to keep their family alive.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51And bear in mind,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54everybody at the time was saying the war will be over by Christmas.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57There was no reason to give up your job, because it would all be
0:08:57 > 0:08:59sorted by Christmas.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01So people genuinely thought,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03"I'll carry on because there's plenty of guys in the Army
0:09:03 > 0:09:05"who will sort that little problem with the Kaiser and then
0:09:05 > 0:09:09"everything will be back to normal in 1915."
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Of course, it didn't work out that way.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22As the criticism stirred up by the media grew,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24football crowds did start to dwindle.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28Rugby players, though, were being feted as heroes.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Bravery, gallantry, heroics,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34these were all words being associated with Rosslyn Park
0:09:34 > 0:09:36players at the time.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38But that came at a cost.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It meant that the families of Rosslyn Park's players were
0:09:41 > 0:09:43receiving devastating news all too frequently.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49They were the first to join up and they became the junior officers,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52the lieutenants and captains.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55And we know from history that the death rate among junior
0:09:55 > 0:10:01officers was the highest for any branch of the Army.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05At its worst the life expectancy of a junior officer in the
0:10:05 > 0:10:07trenches was something like six weeks.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12And so the young men who had been brought up in that way and
0:10:12 > 0:10:14who played rugby because that was the social class they came
0:10:14 > 0:10:19from signed up in their droves and were killed in their droves.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Arthur Leyland Harrison.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Maurice Cazalet Harrison.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Whilst trying to uncover all the names for their memorial,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30present-day Rosslyn Park club members were staggered to
0:10:30 > 0:10:34find out just how many of their men were actually killed.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38The club has the membership rolls from its very earliest days,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40from 1879,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44so working from about 1900 to about 1914, the outbreak of the war.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47I took every member, there's about 700,
0:10:47 > 0:10:48and I cross-referenced them with the
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54That was really the start of it because I found quite
0:10:54 > 0:10:57a lot just in that sweep.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The final figure we arrived at was 108,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04which for a club that had a standing membership of about 300 at
0:11:04 > 0:11:06the outbreak of World War I is a huge number.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09A third of the membership were killed.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I'm not shocked by anything in the Great War any more, but the
0:11:12 > 0:11:15thing that did stun me, and it's a very interesting reflection
0:11:15 > 0:11:19on how people dealt with the tragedy of the war and the losses,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24is that all the talk at the time was about numbers and about decorations,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28the numbers of men who died and all the VCs and the DSOs and the
0:11:28 > 0:11:33Military Crosses they won. The men themselves hardly get a mention.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37And it's almost as if people couldn't deal with the pain
0:11:37 > 0:11:39of these men who lived and loved and played rugby.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42They couldn't deal with that personalisation of it
0:11:42 > 0:11:45so they reduced everything to numbers and decorations.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Stephen Cooper actually has brought the statistics to life.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52He's written an award-winning book about some of the Rosslyn Park
0:11:52 > 0:11:54players who died.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57One such man was based here at the Queen's perfumers on Jermyn Street.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00His role in the family business meant his journey to the
0:12:00 > 0:12:03trenches wasn't his first trip across the Channel.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08France was very much the capital of perfumery and it's
0:12:08 > 0:12:10where lots of the ingredients are sourced from,
0:12:10 > 0:12:17so he was often over there to source various rose oils and other
0:12:17 > 0:12:20ingredients used for the perfumery back home here.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23What fascinates me is a man to work in a perfumery,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27he clearly had a sensitive nose,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31to then be in the environment with all the smells of industrial
0:12:31 > 0:12:36warfare, the death and the injuries and the blood and the explosives.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39It's two opposite ends of the spectrum.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43One minute you're smelling roses and the next you're in all sorts
0:12:43 > 0:12:45of horrific conditions.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50You get the sense that not much has changed here since 1914.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Floris is still a family-run business and Edward Bodenham does
0:12:53 > 0:12:57a similar job today to that of his great-uncle Jack
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and has kept his memory alive by holding on to many
0:12:59 > 0:13:02photographs and letters sent from the battlefields,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06in which most of Jack's concern was how life was back at home.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10He grew up with three other brothers and the family was
0:13:10 > 0:13:14a rather large one - there were 16 children altogether -
0:13:14 > 0:13:19and brought up at a house called Ivy Lodge, which they refer
0:13:19 > 0:13:22to a lot in letters as "dear old Ivy Lodge".
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Near Acton, Chiswick sort of area.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And it's no longer there, unfortunately.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32There's a great photograph of Jack actually playing tennis with
0:13:32 > 0:13:34a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37- Typical gentleman. - He looks very cool.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Your pictures of him here playing tennis in the family garden
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and the lovely, big, happy family of 16 and then all of a sudden
0:13:45 > 0:13:47they're put onto the front line in the First World War,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51the most gruelling, brutal war arguably ever.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54It must have been a hell of a culture shock for him.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's reflected in the amount of
0:14:00 > 0:14:03letters he sent.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06We've got a huge bundle of letters back home.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Just really caring about how his family are doing,
0:14:10 > 0:14:11what they're up to.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15There's an example here where he's writing to his father.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17And there's a sentence where he says,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19"I hope you're keeping well and will
0:14:19 > 0:14:22"make the most of the grand weather to take
0:14:22 > 0:14:26"a holiday in some quiet spot out of the range of the war zone.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28"Why not a week or so in Devonshire?"
0:14:28 > 0:14:34We have one here where he actually asks his mother if she can
0:14:34 > 0:14:37pay the subscription fee to the rugby club.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38He makes a point of saying,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40"I promise I'll pay you back when I get back."
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I find it fascinating that the rugby club would still charge
0:14:44 > 0:14:46subscription fees to guys out on the front line.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57"I posted my watch to Mr Paul the other day and asked him to
0:14:57 > 0:14:59"have a new glass put in it.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02"I suggested him taking it to 89 when it's ready.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05"Perhaps you'd be so good as to settle the bill and enclose
0:15:05 > 0:15:08"the watch when anybody's sending a parcel along.
0:15:08 > 0:15:09"There's no hurry.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12"Glad to hear the new gardener is a success and the garden is
0:15:12 > 0:15:16"looking so well under his care. It must be perfect just now."
0:15:16 > 0:15:22This is the last letter he wrote. He actually died two days later.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24HE PLAYS LAST POST
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Jack Bodenham was one who simply disappeared.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Like so many in the Great War his body was never recovered.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41But earlier this year a group of club members took an
0:15:41 > 0:15:43emotional trip to the battlefields
0:15:43 > 0:15:45to pay their respects to one ex-Rosslyn Park
0:15:45 > 0:15:50player who has the rather unique honour of having two graves.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The Belgian trip was a particularly emotional one because we
0:15:53 > 0:15:57followed the path of a guy called Alexander Findlater Todd, who
0:15:57 > 0:16:01had been a British Lion and then he got two caps for England but
0:16:01 > 0:16:05then he, at the age of 40, when war broke out, joined up again.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09He was what they called a dugout, he was dug out of retirement to
0:16:09 > 0:16:11serve again because he had military experience.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13He went off to the Western Front.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16And he was at a place called Hill 60,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19which is a grim old place which was fought over for the whole course
0:16:19 > 0:16:21of the war, right up until 1918.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Where we're standing right now is within 50 feet or
0:16:24 > 0:16:2850 yards at least of where Captain Alexander Todd was shot
0:16:28 > 0:16:30through the neck on April 18th.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34He was on leave at home with his family and came back from
0:16:34 > 0:16:36leave on the 17th of April.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41On that very same day the British blew the top off that hill
0:16:41 > 0:16:43over there, Hill 60, with mines.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48It's one of the first examples of mine warfare in the First World War.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50They blew the top off the hill,
0:16:50 > 0:16:55killing the Germans who were in the trenches on that hill at the time.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Many of the bodies were vaporised.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00In the series of counterattacks and attacks that went on for the
0:17:00 > 0:17:01next three or four days,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05the very next day, so the day after getting off leave from seeing
0:17:05 > 0:17:08his family, Alec Todd was shot through the throat.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11He was then taken further back to a casualty clearing station
0:17:11 > 0:17:13near Poperinge, where sadly
0:17:13 > 0:17:16he died, and he was buried in the cemetery where we laid a wreath at
0:17:16 > 0:17:18his grave in this very quiet little
0:17:18 > 0:17:20cemetery in a back street in Poperinge.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22And very emotional.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27LAST POST PLAYS
0:17:32 > 0:17:36By a bit of an oddity, and this is down to the confusion of war, he's
0:17:36 > 0:17:40also on the Menin Gate, which is to those with no known grave.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44And I guess you'd put this down to a clerical error,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47that in fact he's got a grave and is on the Menin Gate, but in my mind
0:17:47 > 0:17:50better to remember them twice than to forget them completely.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55They do a wonderful thing, the firemen of Ypres, every night
0:17:55 > 0:17:59at 8:00 they sound the Last Post in a very moving ceremony.
0:17:59 > 0:18:06On this Menin Gate monument we have 54,896 soldiers
0:18:06 > 0:18:08so they decided to
0:18:08 > 0:18:13start a ceremony every day to remember all those fallen soldiers.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17I started 13 years ago, so normally we play a week on,
0:18:17 > 0:18:23a week off so it must already have been a few thousand times.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27But I'm one of the youngest in service, because our chief
0:18:27 > 0:18:33bugler in May of this year, he will be doing this for 60 years.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36After the First World War the whole city was demolished,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39they had to start again. Because of all those soldiers who gave
0:18:39 > 0:18:43their life for our freedom, we could start again.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45BUGLES SOUND
0:18:48 > 0:18:51With news of more and more casualties on the battlefields
0:18:51 > 0:18:54professional football came under even more pressure.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Casualty figures in the newspapers were a big thing.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01You started getting games where the supporters and those
0:19:01 > 0:19:05attending the game started to shout across to the players during
0:19:05 > 0:19:07the match, "Why aren't you in France?
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"What are you doing to support the country at this time of great need?"
0:19:10 > 0:19:12And started booing and hissing.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16It became apparent that various sections of the Government did feel
0:19:16 > 0:19:18professional football was not pulling its weight.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20The wording was in a private letter that they had no objection to
0:19:20 > 0:19:23occasional recreation but did not feel that professional
0:19:23 > 0:19:25football fell into that category.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29The FA introduced a load of special recruiting measures on
0:19:29 > 0:19:33the 21st of November, 1914. The response was - how should we put it? -
0:19:33 > 0:19:36very disappointing and questions were asked in Parliament about it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Thereafter it was felt that something had to be done to
0:19:39 > 0:19:41take account of public opinion.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Literally five days after
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Captain Todd's death in August, 1915,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50professional football had played its last competitive game.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07This is one of the last English league games to be played.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10It's Clapton Orient against Leicester.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13And it's significant because Clapton's players had played
0:20:13 > 0:20:16a major part in changing football's role in the war.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Their march past at the end in uniform gives a clue
0:20:23 > 0:20:26as to the outcome of a big decision taken eight months earlier at
0:20:26 > 0:20:30a huge and vociferous meeting at Fulham Town Hall.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Up there, in a sadly now derelict meeting room,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Clapton Orient captain
0:20:35 > 0:20:38"Spider" Parker decided to walk up on
0:20:38 > 0:20:42a small stage in a rather grand room followed by two other players.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46It turned out to be an act of great significance.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56In Scotland 11 players from Heart of Midlothian Football Club had
0:20:56 > 0:21:00already become part of a footballers' battalion but in
0:21:00 > 0:21:03England Clapton's players were the first to sign up.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Spider goes up on the stage, signs on the dotted line and behind
0:21:06 > 0:21:08him is the Orient goalkeeper Jimmy Hugall,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12followed by Richard McFadden and then seven of their team-mates.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14So ten Orient players sign up at this meeting.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17In the Footballers' Battalion you had professional footballers,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21you had amateur footballers, you had football fans,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23you had staff from clubs, you had the assistant trainer at
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Arsenal, for example, was a member of the Footballers' Battalion.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29You had referees and linesmen.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31And someone had the bright idea of thinking
0:21:31 > 0:21:33that the referees and linesmen
0:21:33 > 0:21:35would make ideal NCOs because the footballers were used to
0:21:35 > 0:21:38taking their instructions on the field of play and why should
0:21:38 > 0:21:40the field of battle be any different?
0:21:40 > 0:21:42The battalion proceeded overseas in November, 1915
0:21:42 > 0:21:44and went over to France.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46The strength of the battalion was roughly 1,000 men.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49They undertook their first real offensive action in
0:21:49 > 0:21:53June, 1916 at the northern end of the Vimy Ridge before moving down
0:21:53 > 0:21:55to the Somme in mid-July,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59where they fought in three actions and sustained heavy casualties.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05Three of Clapton's players, Richard McFadden, George Scott and
0:22:05 > 0:22:09William Jonas, were killed fighting for the Footballers' Battalion.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13In today's supporters club bar I met Mary Jaggs,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15the niece of Richard McFadden.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18She had had her life shaped by her father following in that
0:22:18 > 0:22:21player's footsteps all those years ago.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25My father brought us down from Glasgow when I was 11
0:22:25 > 0:22:28with my brother and sister.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And when we came down we lived in Leyton Park Road, which is
0:22:31 > 0:22:33just across the way.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37And he took us to the Orient, which... He used to bung us over the wall.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42So when we got talking about the games and when we'd go home
0:22:42 > 0:22:47and discuss it, my father then told us about his uncle, or our uncle,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and said, "You know that your Uncle Richard played?"
0:22:51 > 0:22:54My brother and I just went, "No."
0:22:54 > 0:22:58How could he come down from Glasgow to here?
0:22:58 > 0:23:02He said he came down as a young boy because there wasn't much
0:23:02 > 0:23:04work and evidently he walked down.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09He did say that he was quite speedy and that he was a high goal scorer.
0:23:09 > 0:23:15My father followed down my uncle because he knew about the Orient.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19And that's the reason he came down to live in Leyton.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22All our family from the beginning of the 19th century had been
0:23:22 > 0:23:24associated with the Orient.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30All over Leyton and Clapton historical evidence of those
0:23:30 > 0:23:32players' lives is to be found.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Supporter Stephen Jenkins does guided tours and has written
0:23:35 > 0:23:38a book about their story and campaigns tirelessly to make
0:23:38 > 0:23:40sure they're never forgotten.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42How did you get to know about the three players?
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Because it's in one of the Orient history books.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Just a paragraph saying the O's lost three players during the
0:23:47 > 0:23:48battle of the Somme,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51William Jonas, Richard McFadden and George Scott, and I decided to
0:23:51 > 0:23:53look into that further myself.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Ended up visiting their war graves,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57did it in a day, covering over 400 miles.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Got back exhausted but on the way back one of my friends said,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03"You should write a book about this," and that's what I did.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07So, specifically, Richard McFadden, because I noticed the block
0:24:07 > 0:24:10of flats over there is the McFadden flats.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15He was their company sergeant major but he had actually been promoted
0:24:15 > 0:24:20to regimental sergeant major but never got to pick up the promotion.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Very tragic, he lost his life while leading
0:24:23 > 0:24:25a group of lads along the trenches.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28He was hit by a shell blast and taken to a field hospital,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31in a little village on the Somme, where it was hoped
0:24:31 > 0:24:33he would recover, but he died the following day.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36To be a regimental sergeant major takes a special kind of individual.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37Clearly a real leader.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40He was a real local hero and somebody that was a bit of
0:24:40 > 0:24:41a character, as well.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44He was, yeah. He saved lives on three occasions
0:24:44 > 0:24:46before the war started,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48dragging a man from a burning building in Scotland before
0:24:48 > 0:24:49he came to the Orient,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52and rescuing a baby from a burning building in Clapton Park just
0:24:52 > 0:24:53across the road from here,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and then dragging a boy that was drowning from the River Lea.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And he carried on in the same way in the Great War, going out to no-man's-land
0:24:59 > 0:25:02on numerous occasions rescuing wounded comrades, and for that
0:25:02 > 0:25:04he was awarded the Military Medal.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06There were some real characters in the side,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08one of which was William Jonas.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Known as Billy to a lot of people, he was
0:25:11 > 0:25:13a real pin-up with the female admirers.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Almost like the David Beckham of his time, you know?
0:25:15 > 0:25:17He was getting up to 50 letters a week
0:25:17 > 0:25:19from the ladies of the Orient.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Whilst he was very, vary happy to receive the accolades,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25he wanted to let everyone know that he was happily married.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27So he had to ask the Orient to put
0:25:27 > 0:25:30an article in the next-day programme saying,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32"Whilst I appreciate all the kind wishes and letters being sent
0:25:32 > 0:25:37"to me by the ladies of Clapton and Hackney, could you please
0:25:37 > 0:25:39"stop, because I'm happily married to my sweetheart Mary-Jane?"
0:25:39 > 0:25:41This was the home of William Jonas,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44the heart-throb of the ladies at Clapton Orient.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Real character he was, eh?
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And Richard McFadden moved in with him as well here?
0:25:49 > 0:25:51- Yeah, that's right. - So it was a real boys' den?
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Boys' den, they were boyhood pals having gone to school
0:25:55 > 0:25:56together in the north-east.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Richard McFadden come to London first of all when he signed
0:25:59 > 0:26:03for the Orient, and he managed to get William Jonas a trial at the club.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Their partnership ended on the Western Front.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09What amazes me is we're only one street away from where
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Spider Parker lived.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13That's right. It's indicative of the fact that the
0:26:13 > 0:26:15players lived so local.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17I'm sure it's not just Orient's case but clubs
0:26:17 > 0:26:19from around the country at the time,
0:26:19 > 0:26:21both in football, rugby, even cricket maybe.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24They all lived more local than what sportsmen do these days.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So very much the heart of a local community, then?
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Definitely, they would have shared the everyday life of the
0:26:29 > 0:26:30people in the area,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34would have gone to the shops, would have gone to the pubs, I'm sure.
0:26:34 > 0:26:35But when you have three people,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39their lives taken from such a small geographical area, that must
0:26:39 > 0:26:42have had a massive effect on the people in the local community.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44It would have done.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47The loss of those three players was a major blow,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51not just to the football club but certainly for the local area.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00As the war finally came to an end and gallant men returned home,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03virtually every street in London would have had either
0:27:03 > 0:27:07a footballer or a rugby player living there at the time.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12So street after street, house after house, counted its losses.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15Football may have been slow to react at the start but on
0:27:15 > 0:27:19reflection it became clear that many joined the
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Footballers' Battalion to save the honour of their game
0:27:22 > 0:27:25and fight in some of the bloodiest battles of the war.
0:27:26 > 0:27:314,500 men joined the battalion, of which nearly a quarter perished.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38And, as a postscript, soccer won the royal seal of approval.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40The Prince of Wales came down to see Clapton Orient play
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Notts County as a show of respect for the Orient's war effort.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49It shows you how Orient's example was looked upon in high
0:27:49 > 0:27:51places at the time.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54As for rugby, it was widely accepted that without players from
0:27:54 > 0:27:57clubs like Rosslyn Park volunteering with gusto
0:27:57 > 0:28:01so early on the result could have been very different.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05So it had a huge rise in popularity but it lost thousands of its
0:28:05 > 0:28:09young players. So it had to deal with much more misery than joy.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Rugby borrows the language of warfare. You hear it all the time,
0:28:15 > 0:28:21talking about guys in the trenches, people with boots like Howitzers.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Rugby and warfare share a common language but at the end of the day
0:28:25 > 0:28:29you've got to remember the injury time in war lasts a whole lifetime
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and the whole team doesn't get to go for a beer after the game.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43Hear more incredible stories about what happened in your area
0:28:43 > 0:28:46during the war with World War One At Home
0:28:46 > 0:28:50at bbc.co.uk/ww1.