Thanks to
former Nomads player Cedric "Ceda" Gudger for a copy of a souvenir
programme from 1928. The frontispiece, which serves as a lively introduction
to this potted history, reads thus: "Connah's Quay and Shotton Football
& Athletic Club, members of the 1st Division of the Welsh National
League."
"President:
W.M. Fitzpatrick, Esq."
"A SOUVENIR
of the reconstruction period, 1928-29, and the fusion of Connah's Quay
&. Shotton in the interests of football." |
The club had recently completed a move from the "Half-Way
Ground" to a new home at Dee Park. The move itself would have been
quite a complicated operation, with the old main stand being dismantled
and re-erected at Dee Park, Shotton (the pitches over the footbridge at
Bridge Street, now part of the Corus playing fields), along with hundreds
of yards of rope, several tons of cut timber and a good few dozen gallons
of paint, the colours of which would have reproduced those of the club
- blue and white striped shirts and black 'knickers'.
The programme contains an article entitled "Connah's
Quay Football Club Past and Present", and considering the date of
the publication (1928) this places the earliest origins of the present
Nomads in the 19th century with the formation of a club which played with
some success in the Chester and District League. This club eventually
folded and its entire assets were purchased for £5 by a new club,
the famous Connah's Quay Twenties, who went on to enjoy much success and
even despatched two star players to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a combined
fee of £50. Of the two, Edward "Ned" John Peers and Edward
Hughes, Ned Peers won a fine collection of Welsh international caps.
The club later joined the Chester Combination and changed
its name to Connah's Quay and Shotton United. During this period the players
were what we would now call semi-professional, each receiving two shillings
and sixpence (half a crown) a game, an amount approaching some people's
weekly wage at that time. The height of the side's run of success came
in their reaching the final of the Welsh (Senior) Cup, where they lost
narrowly to Chester at the Wrexham ground. Some evocative names occur
in the ensuing paragraphs, described as "personalities who stand
out as having achieved distinction after joining the Quay" and they
include: T. J. Hewitt (Chelsea, Swansea, Wales), Jacky "Bloomer"
Jones (Liverpool), Danny Ferguson (Manchester United and Reading), Albert
Williams (Port Vale), G. Smith (Bristol City), Albert Lumberg (Wrexham)
and Uriah Miles (Rochdale). Much is also made of the contribution of Councillor
W. H. Lloyd, J.P. who is described affectionately as the "Grand Old
Man" of local football!
We will draw upon this remarkable document more in
future months, when details of the move to Shotton and the effect of the
establishment of the "Welsh National League", one of which was
the disbandment of Shotton F.C, until then a successful side in the West
Cheshire League. This was a desperate time for many clubs in Wales, their
supporters fiercely opposed to their treatment by an autocratic FAW. Our
local clubs had high ambitions, as Connah's Quay's application to join
the expanding Football League showed. As a final note for the time being,
consider these apocryphal paragraphs which, remember, were written in
1928 ...
"Whilst it may some day be possible to produce
a fuller record of the past, we must pass now to present conditions.
The days when a purely amateur side, or one built from local talent
can represent these important districts are gone! This fact must be
included in any calculations to ensure spectacular football. Amateur
football is splendid: it does not, however, meet the wide demands for
"scientific" football. Many of the older folk remember with
pride the days when local talent lined up for their respective villages,
and partisans were ready to slaughter anyone who dared to suggest that
a better team than their own was possible. It would be well for us to
catch some of this spirit nowadays, although conditions have altered.
There is no reason why we should not desire to make these districts
a power to be reckoned with, and if weight of metal is the ruling standard,
we can progress along the lines which the times have forced on us.
* * *
Too much stress can be laid on the fact that thousands
of people are to be found watching football. The view that this is to
be deprecated unfairly singles out this fascinating game for attack
above the numerous other public amusements, and assumes that those who
are keen on it are blind to other public interests. Most assuredly football
"fans" are exceedingly discriminating, and as this raises
the standard of the game it is all to the general good."
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