The 1939-40 season was just three games old when it was aborted due to the outbreak of war. Initially all forms of football ceased, but Winston Churchill was among those who appreciated the morale-boosting role that the game could play. The Board of Trade even issued coupons to cover the purchase of football kit, effectively recognising that here was a commodity that had to be rationed, but not dispensed with entirely. Regional football was introduced, and although there were both league and cup competitions, the honours were hardly something to be coveted. Travel restrictions meant that clubs were allowed to field guest players, and those which had large numbers of soldiers stationed nearby reaped the benefit. Aldershot, for example, regularly fielded international players thanks to this highly flexible system.
Wartime internationals
After war was declared, in September of the following year, international football continued. But as with the revamped league competition, the matches were inevitably a victim of circumstance. In 1943, for example, Blackpool's young centre-forward Stan Mortensen made his debut - against England! Mortensen had been a substitute for the match against Wales and came on for the opposition after one of the Welsh players was injured.
30 games were played during the conflict, together with five "Victory" internationals between September 1945 and May 1946. These were not accorded official international status in the record books.
Football at war
Above: A scene at Upton Park where West Ham United played Leicester City showing the usual football fans watching the game - in Army uniform. This picture was taken the day before war was declared and emphasises the degree to which the war was becoming inevitable. Opposite: Manchester United’s
Stadium after a bomb had dropped through the roof of the main stand. Left: All factories and institutions had their own roof spotters, usually members of staff who did an extra shift. The roof spotter’s job was to act as an early warning to those inside the building of the approach of a raid. Here the roof spotter works on while West Ham play Chelsea in December 1940, at the height of the Blitz. The gate was less than 2000.
World History
