Prince Eugene Of Sweden, Auld Lang Syne & Many Victories – Fosse's First Oversees Tour
One-hundred-and-eight years ago last month, on 18 June, 1913, Leicester Fosse played their first-ever match abroad on their maiden overseas tour.
The population of Leicester was initially alerted to this adventurous and ambitious overseas tour by a short article in the Leicester Daily Mercury on 17 June, 1913. In the brief opening paragraph of a regular column called ‘Football Pars’, the newspaper informed its readers: ‘Leicester Fosse FC players left for Sweden for a 10-day tour. Four games will be played. The first will be at Gothenburg tomorrow (Wednesday)’.
Possibly because Fosse had just completed a disappointing season, in which they had finished 15th in the Second Division and were in grave financial trouble, the party consisted of only 11 players and three directors. The Club’s manager, Jack Bartlett, did not go on the tour.
The Leicester Daily Mercury recorded: ‘The Club are represented on the tour by the following team: Bown; Clay, Berrington; Burton, Webber, King; Douglas, Mills, Mortimer, Benfield and Waterall. Messrs C. Crossland, W.B Stevens and H. Linney (directors) accompany the team’.
Sweden was not an entirely unknown country to Fosse. The previous season, a Swedish centre-forward called Karl Gustafsson had been on Leicester's books and he was to score against Fosse on the tour.
In addition, two Fosse players, goalkeeper Ron Brebner (who joined from Northern Nomads in May 1913) and Douglas McWhirter (signed as an amateur for Fosse in March 1912 from Bromley) had played for the Great Britain Football team which won the gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
However, neither Brebner nor McWhirter went on the Fosse tour of 1913. It took five days for news of Fosse’s historic first game overseas to reach the Leicester public.
The first fixture was against the combined clubs of Orgryte and Gothenburg. Around 5,000 spectators watched the game. Despite the handicap of only completing their long rail journey to Gothenburg immediately before the match, Fosse won the game.
The complete journey from England, by boat and train, had taken nearly two days.
The Swedes scored first but Tommy Benfield (who was killed in action in the First World War five years later) equalised with a beautiful header and Fred Mortimer (a new signing who went on to score 10 goals in the five games of the tour) gave Fosse the lead with a shot from a pass by Billy Mills.
Mortimer then headed a magnificent goal just before half-time following good work by George Douglas. Herbert Bown saved well on many occasions but the Swedes netted again to make it 3-2. The play in the second half was fast and furious and both goals had narrow escapes. Fosse, however, held out.
After the match, the visitors were entertained at a banquet which was attended by prominent members of the Swedish FA and a large number of local citizens.
The Leicester Daily Mercury reported that ‘unbounded hospitality was shown to the visitors.’ The opening match was deemed such a success that it was decided to extend the tour by another game and by another two days.
Fosse’s second game was against a Stockholm Select XI, with the contest taking place in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, ‘one of the best equipped grounds in the world.’ Up to 10,000 spectators watched the game.
It was reported that ‘the natives showed great enthusiasm. The English were anxious to uphold their prestige and the Swedes were anxious to show that they had made rapid strides to perfect the game.’
Fosse won 4-0. Douglas, Clay and King were singled out for praise, as was Mortimer ‘who is proving that his goalscoring feats during the last three seasons in which he notched about 220 goals (!) have not been in the nature of flukes. His five goals out of seven scored in the first two matches suggest that Fosse have captured an opportunist of great value.’
Three more victories followed. A Swedish International Federation side, fielding the ex-Fosse player, Karl Gustafsson, at centre-forward, was twice beaten 4-2 at another of Stockholm’s stadia, the Rasunda.
In attendance for one of these games was Prince Eugene of Sweden, ‘who honoured proceedings with his presence’. He was fourth in line to the Swedish throne and a prominent landscape artist who spent his summers in the Stockholm area. Mortimer scored another four goals in these games, including a hat-trick.
The Rasunda had only been open for three years. Its capacity was 12,000. It had one covered stand and three sides of uncovered terracing and banking. A white fence surrounded the pitch. The ground was one of the three football stadia used for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, hosting eight games.
The official report of the Stockholm Olympics praised the tramway communications, the quality of the dressing rooms and the fact that all spectators were certain of a good view. Its one recommendation was that matches in the summer should not start before 6pm because of the heat from ‘the blazing sun.’
In between these games, the Fosse defeated Gefle IF 5-1.
After the tour’s final game, the Fosse and the Swedish players were entertained to dinner by the Swedish Ambassador at one of the leading restaurants in Stockholm. Speeches were made, English songs (and Auld lang Syne) were sung and the Fosse players were presented with a ‘handsome silver cup’.
The referee for all of the games was also praised. He was Danish international centre-half, Nils Middleboe. The Leicester Daily Mercury reported that he was likely to be seen playing in the English First Division the following season. This did in fact happen as Middleboe signed for Chelsea.
Leicester Fosse weren’t able to take up the offer of another tour to Sweden the following year in the momentous summer of 1914, when the First World War broke out. However, Leicester’s 1913 tour of Sweden, which opened with their first-ever game abroad 108 years ago this month, was ground breaking.
It was the first of many subsequent overseas tours which have seen Leicester City play in many countries around the world.