Leicester City In The Second World War: Securing Players Despite The Conflict
However, the guest player system could be open to acts some could consider to be misuse. Sometimes, in order to boost the small wartime crowds, clubs would seek out a star player and play him at the expense of their own registered and available players.
There is no evidence that Leicester City did this but, as we have seen, the Club did field some top international players as guests throughout the war.
However, the majority of City’s guest players had a much more modest footballing pedigree. They were sometimes difficult to find. On many occasions, a player’s availability wasn’t confirmed until the Friday before or even the Saturday of the match.
An added complication was that guest players who were registered with other clubs, even those confirmed at the last minute, had to obtain clearance from the Football League in order to appear as a guest.
This meant that the programmes printed by clubs often failed to reflect the actual players appearing. It wasn’t unknown for players to be listed as A.N.Other, A.G. Player (A Guest Player), A. Newman or S.O. Else (Someone Else). Sometimes, for their own reasons, some players also played under false names.
To help fans identify the guest players appearing in matches, the names were often chalked onto a blackboard and paraded around the ground before kick-off.
Even so, the mandatory lists that each club had to send to the Football League were sometimes inaccurate. This makes it difficult for archivists today to be 100 per cent certain that we have a totally accurate record of who played in each match.
In the Club’s archives, there are some letters written by Leicester manager Tom Bromilow. They give an insight into how he managed to secure a guest player.
Bromilow wrote the letters because outside-left Danny Liddle, (who had played 273 games before the war for City, together with over 100 wartime games for the Club) was not available for a Wartime Football League North fixture at Northampton Town on 10 April, 1943.
On the Monday preceding the match, Bromilow wrote to a gunner called William Rutherford, who was stationed with the 9th Reserve ‘A’ Battery at Park House in Market Harborough.
He wrote:
5th April 1943.
Dear Sir.
Mr Williamson, the Secretary of the Leicestershire FA has brought your name to my attention. We are much in need of an outside-left for Saturday in our first XI and would like to know if you can play at Northampton. We shall leave Filbert Street at about 1.20 pm by private bus. Will you please let me know per return if you are available?
Will you also let me know how you are placed? Are you a ‘free’ professional? What I mean by ‘free’ is, are you attached to any professional club?
Awaiting your early reply.
Yours sincerely.
T. Bromilow.
P.S. Envelope enclosed for your early reply. If you are a free player, will you sign the enclosed form where indicated to make you eligible to play next Saturday and return to me at once.
Gunner Rutherford evidently replied by return of post to say that he was available because on the Wednesday, Bromilow wrote to him again:
7th April 1943.
Dear Bill.
This is to confirm that we will pick you up on Saturday outside Woolworths at about 2pm or a little before. Will you be there about 1.45. I have written to Major Nunn and trust that he will give his approval,
Sincerely Yours.
T.Bromilow.
PS. I presume you have boots in good order.
On the Friday, Bromilow confirmed these arrangements by writing:
9th April 1943.
Dear Bill.
Just to confirm that we will pick you up at Market Harborough (outside Woolworths) round about 2pm on Saturday. I have received the OK from Major Nunn.
Sincerely Yours.
T.Bromilow.
PS. We will be travelling in a blue coach belonging to E.HERCOCK and Sons.
Gunner Bill Rutherford duly caught the bus, and played in a Leicester team which included established City wartime stalwarts; goalkeeper Alick Grant, Dick Walton, Bert Howe, Sep Smith, Fred Sharman and Jimmy Harrison, who played in the Club's FA Cup Final team six years later.
In the game, Bill scored in a 2-2 draw in front of a crowd of 3,000. The other goal was scored by Tom Johnston, who had been a Northampton Town player. Bill was also selected for the next game, a 3-1 home defeat against Coventry City, but the handwritten alterations on the teamsheet seem to indicate he didn’t actually take part in the match.
Rutherford never played for Leicester again. He disappeared from the Club’s history after being selected for just two games and only playing in one.
However, the letters to him from Tom Bromilow in April 1943 give an interesting insight into the state of wartime football at Filbert Street.