Lord Burghley in the steeplechase at Stamford Bridge

400 metres hurdles gold medallist, Lord Burghley, at the water jump in the steeplechase at an athletics meeting at Stamford Bridge, shortly after his win at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. David George Brownlow Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter (1905 - 1981.

Lord Burghley was an athlete, sports official and Conservative party politician As an athlete, Burghley was a very keen practitioner who placed matchboxes on hurdles and practised knocking over the matchboxes with his lead foot without touching the hurdle.

In 1927, his final year at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he amazed colleagues by sprinting around the Great Court at Trinity College in the time it took the college clock to toll 12 o clock.

This was the inspiration for the scene in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ (whose character Lord Andrew Lindsay is based upon Burghley) in which Harold Abrahams accomplishes the same feat. Lord Burghley did not allow his name to be used in the film because of the inaccurate historical depiction in the movie.

There was never a race upon which Harold Abrahams beat Lord Burghley in this feat as the movie depicts. Burghley is also said to have set another unusual record by racing around the upper promenade deck of the Queen Mary in 57 seconds, dressed in everyday clothes.

Burghley later served as president of the Amateur Athletic Association for 40 years, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation for 30 years and as a member of the International Olympic Committee for 48 years. He was also chairman of the Organising Committee of the 1948 Summer Olympics. 

Bit of a history lesson that !😀

Edited January 14, 20242 yr by erskblue

Tommy Law

www.chelseafc.com

Three of Scotland’s ‘Wembley Wizards’ who thrashed England 5-1 at Wembley in 1928 passed through Chelsea’s portals, but only one was actually with the Pensioners at the time: left-back Tommy Law.

With characteristic modesty he would say ‘I was little more than a spectator. The ball always belonged to our forwards.’ Those forwards included future Stamford Bridge team-mates Hughie Gallacher and Alex Jackson. 

The Scot – ‘as stylish a full-back as Chelsea can be a team,’ the Daily Mirror once wrote – was plucked from Glasgow youth football aged 18 and would have been at home in the modern game. 

Other than reliability and quick-thinking, his prime assets were brilliant positional sense (compensation for a lack of pace), fine interceptions (including crowd-pleasing slide tackles) and excellent distribution that would accurately convert defence to attack in one fell swoop. 

His sound technique extended to the penalty spot and over one season, 1930/31, Tommy weighed in with seven penalty goals. 

Unlike some Chelsea players Law turned down the offer to more than double his salary in France in 1932, extending his own lengthy stay,but helping finally topple secretary-manager David Calderhead from his cosy perch at the Bridge. Tommy finally hung up his boots in 1938 and played for no other side.

Tommy Law (right) greets new signing Sam Weaver in 1936

In the 1950s, as manager of Ware, he witnessed Bishop Auckland’s Seamus O’Connell beat his side 5-1 in the 1953/54 Amateur Cup; O’Connell was soon recruited by the Blues. 

More commonly Law could be seen chatting to fellow fans in the grandstand at the Bridge along with the likes of Andy Wilson. In February 1976 he passed away in Wandsworth aged 67.

 

 1913 - 14 season - Team Group
Back, l-r: Fred Taylor, James Sharp, Jack Whitley (trainer), James Molyneux, Nils Middelboe, Laurence Abrams, Bob Thomson, Jack Harrow.
Front: Harry Ford, Harold Halse, Tom Logan, Harold Brittan, Robert McNeil

 

 

March 1920: Some of the 47,000 crowd at The Bridge watching us play Sheffield Wednesday. A 1-1 draw.
We finished Third in the League that season. The title was won by West Brom.

April 1929. No info on who we are playing.    Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images.

Edited February 4, 20242 yr by erskblue

Len Casey (back right) on a run around the Bridge in the 1950s

Page one of Len Casey's final Chelsea contract

Just realised I meant to posted the above two of Len Casey and his contract in the Vintage Pictures Thread ! DOH !!

Picture from us hammering Liverpool 6-1  in August 1937 .
 

2 hours ago, erskblue said:

Picture from us hammering Liverpool 6-1  in August 1937 .
 

Must be AI generated. That's over 60 years before we were formed.

8 hours ago, Backbiter said:

Must be AI generated. That's over 60 years before we were formed.

Yeah true enough!

 

 

A group photo of the first Chelsea team in 1905

Supporters outside The Bridge in April 1920.

23 hours ago, erskblue said:

Supporters outside The Bridge in April 1920.

6 pm KO !

Didn't know SKY was about back then !

Actually I wish our night games kicked off earlier. Always was 7.30 and 10 minutes halftime.

Now it can be 8.15, ..15 minutes halftime and 10 minutes added on time !

I’ve checked again the great bounder friardale site.  39,902 attended and we won 2-0. There must have been ‘a few supporters’ leaving work early that day!😀

Incidentally, it was our last home game of that 1919/20 season.

10 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

6 pm KO !

Didn't know SKY was about back then !

Actually I wish our night games kicked off earlier. Always was 7.30 and 10 minutes halftime.

Now it can be 8.15, ..15 minutes halftime and 10 minutes added on time !

Agreed !😡

Don’t get,me stated on VAR! Talking of which.

What VAR looked like in the 1920s and 1930s.😀😀😀😀

Details

It is believed that the circle represents the football!😀

 

 

Edited April 23, 20242 yr by erskblue

1922 FA Cup Final at The Bridge.

From www.corbychelsea.com

1920s I think.

www.corbychelsea.com

1920s.

'The trophy awaits the winner at the finish at Stamford Bridge.' 1920s

This magnificent trophy is The Sporting Life Polytechnic Marathon Trophy and was presented to the winner.

http://www.ianridpath.com/polymarathon/trophy.htm

To go with their new world-beating marathon, The Sporting Life commissioned a world-beating trophy. Made by the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company of Regent Street at a cost of £500 (equivalent to at least £50,000 today), it stands 4 feet 9 inches high and requires several people to lift it.

Another of the large trophy. As if running a marathon wasn’t hard enough. The organisers wanted the winner to carry this massive trophy home!😀

Edited May 20, 20242 yr by erskblue

The Highland Gathering 1899

The Great Highland Gathering of the London Highland Athletic Club followed on 17th June, also at Stamford Bridge. The President, the Marquis of Tullibardine, presided and the prizes were presented by his mother, the Duchess of Atholl. The piping began at 10am and the athletics at 2.30pm, or as one London reporter put it: “The pipers settled their differences in the morning, for which the ignorant Saxon may have felt thankful, and the afternoon was productive of some excellent sport.” The weather was bright and sunny and there was a large attendance.

 

www.bagpipe.news

 

2M3T520Alec Nelson (1872 - 1944), beating Joe Binks in a three-quarter-mile race in 3min 15sec at Stamford Bridge in 1899.
 

 

 

Photo taken in 1929.

This one from 1948.

Posted them for a comparison  of the 1899 photos.

Edited May 20, 20242 yr by erskblue

 

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