Marine                       2          ??

Erith & Belvedere   1          Etherton          

FA Amateur Cup quarter-final, 9 March 1946

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, the Deres’ only trip to Lancashire on one of football’s darkest days.

This was the first post-war season of football, which was taking baby steps towards normality.  The newly formed Corinthian League comprised only nine teams, of which Deres finished third, ten points behind a dominant Grays Athletic.  The fixture list was still padded out by numerous friendlies, but the business of the FA Amateur Cup was as primary a target as ever.

Deres began the competition with a 2-2 home draw v Sutton United, winning the replay 4-2 having been 2-0 down with half an hour left.  In the second round we beat old rivals Clapton 2-1 away despite the loss of goalkeeper Jack Day to flu, with full-back Don Mercer having a great game in goal.  A 3-2 win at Eastbourne in the third round set up what was and remains the Deres’ only trip to Lancashire for the quarter-final: away to Marine of Crosby, a few miles north of Liverpool.

Collections raised money for the trip, and the team travelled on Friday afternoon, 8 March.  The local paper published travel details: “It is possible for any supporter wishing to travel on Saturday morning to catch the 6.54am or 7.15am train from Belvedere, which will allow time to catch the 8.30am train from Euston, arriving at Liverpool 1pm.  A L1 or L3 bus from Lime-street station goes straight to the ground (journey 25 minutes).”

Yet there was no match report in the following week’s edition, paper shortages still meaning that space was at a premium.  We know the team line-up and that Peter Etherton (a Charlton player in wartime and the uncle of Addicks favourite Brian Kinsey) scored our goal from a free-kick in a 2-1 defeat, but little else.  Marine went on to lose 1-0 to Barnet in the semi-final at Dulwich Hamlet, and Barnet beat Bishop Auckland in the final at Stamford Bridge on 20 April 1946.

Deres: Jack Day; Pat O’Brien, George Stevens; Bob Prescott, Stan Aldous, Cyril Hammond; Fred Wright, Albert Ansell, Peter Etherton, Harold Gurr, Billy Reay.

On the same day, further north in Lancashire, one of the darkest days in British football history was unfolding, some details of which sound horribly familiar.  Bolton Wanderers played Stoke City in the FA Cup quarter-final second leg.  With Bolton leading 2-0 from the first leg and the attraction of Stanley Matthews playing for Stoke, the crowd was estimated as over 80,000, despite part of the stand and some turnstiles not having been returned to normal use after the war. 

The Railway End turnstiles were closed at 2.40pm, but more people climbed in from the railway and over the turnstiles, leading to a massive crush.  Shortly after the game started, two barriers collapsed leading to fatal crushing.  A police officer went onto the pitch to inform the referee, and the game was halted.  The 33 dead were lain along the touchline, covered with coats … and incredibly the game resumed after half an hour, with a new sawdust-lined touchline separating the players from the corpses.  It ended 0-0.  The Burnden Park disaster was the worst in British football before Ibrox in 1971.