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1940's |
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During the war years big crowds flocked to the ground and were
entertained by several notable players who guested for the club.
These included Charlton Athletic stars Sam Bartram and Bert
"Sailor" Brown. They helped City reach the semi-finals
of the League North Cup and on 24th April 1943 a record war-time
crowd of 16,350 saw Sheffield Wednesday complete a 4-1 aggregate
win at Bootham Crescent. Local lad George
Lee scored that day to become the first player to record
100 goals for the club. The talented left-winger went on to
star for Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion after the
war. Other notable players to guest for City during the war
were Dixie Dean, Raich Carter, Hughie Gallagher and Leslie Compton.
During the war the tunnel at the back of the Popular Stand was
used as an air-raid shelter for pupils and staff of the nearby
Shipton Street School. The ground suffered slight damage after
the air raid on York in April 1942. Houses at the Shipton Street
end were bombed.
A representative match was staged at the ground on the 17th
October 1942 when a Football League XI defeated the Northern
Command 9-2, watched by 5,500. After the match Mr Fred Howarth,
the secretary of the Football League, wrote the following letter
to the club:
"May I take this opportunity, on behalf of the League,
of congratulating your club, directors and officials alike,
for the excellence of the arrangements. You will appreciate
that always in representative matches our chief concern is the
smoothness of the arrangements. You did your part splendidly.
The League thanks you for stating the match, which was a complete
success, both from the entertainment side and from the financial
site. They are grateful for the kindly attention of your directors
and will remember with pleasure their first official visit to
your lovely city"
In the post war soccer boom, huge crowds up and down the country
watched the resumption of peacetime Football. The average League
crowd at Bootham Crescent in 1948/49 was 10,412 - the club record
- and two memorable games stand out. On 20th November 1948 the
then Division Three (North) leaders, Rotherham United were thrashed
6-1 in front of 19,216 and the hero of the day was local hero
Alf Patrick, who scored five
times to set an individual scoring record which still stands.
Later that campaign on 23rd April 1949, an all-time record Bootham
Crescent attendance for a League Match was established when
21,010 saw Hull City win 3-1.
In the early post-war period, considerable improvement was made
to the ground. Deeper drainage was completed and also the concreting
of the banking at the Bootham Crescent end of the ground, together
with the installation of loudspeaking equipment.
At the shareholders' annual meeting in September 1948, it was
announced that the club had purchased the Bootham Crescent ground
which had been on lease since 1932. The chairman, Mr W H Sessions,
stated that an agreement had been signed and felt that the club
now owned one of the best grounds in the Third Division. At
the time the club's finances were on a very sound basis.
The company had £6,000 invested in Government stock. There
was a balance on transfer deals of £5,570 with donations
chiefly from the City Social Club of £2,105. The balance
sheet revealed that the ground was bought for £4,075 and
the buildings, which cost £7,444, had been depreciated
so that the whole ground and equipment was listed at £7,204
at current value in 1949.
To celebrate the purchase of the ground, a dinner was held at
the Royal Station Hotel at which the deeds were handed to the
chairman. Among those present were past and present directors
and many enthusiasts who had worked over the years for the club.
Also in attendance was the club's first captain back in 1922,
Billy Smith.
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Years At Bootham Crescent |
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