December 16, 1915
Next Saturday’s game at Anfield brings to our memory a fishy smell. Stoke and Liverpool will ever be associated with one of the few fiascos ever played. Considering the number of games played, the number of fiascos is infinitesimal and this fact is due to the admireable control of the League by the businesslike Management Committee and its head, our own Mr. John McKenna. The twenty year old Liverpool youth does not know why Stoke and Liverpool are connected with a fishy match. Therefore, I will put them “wide.” The teams met on January 4, 1902, at Anfield, and Stoke were beaten by seven goals to nil, four being scored in the first half.
Stoke were not well.
They were ill before the game, during the game, and afterwards.
They had had fish.
Finn did not agree with them, and a semblance of poisoning troubled them in the Narrows. The weather in the Dardanelles that day was terribly rough, and player after player had to leave the field and “heave to.”
At one time Stoke had but seven men on the field. No wonder Liverpool won by a clear margin and by seven goals!
For the pleasure of the old school who like to recall happy days I give the teams that played that famed day: –
Liverpool. – Perkins; Glover and W. Dunlop; Parry, Wilson, and Goldie; Robertson, McGuigan, Raybould, Hunter, and Cox.
Stoke. – Roose; Meredith and Clare; Leech, Ashworth, and Brady; Johnson, Whitehouse, Watkins, Higginson, and Hales.
Where are they now?
Dunlop is assistant trainer at Sunderland. I lost sight of Glover after his pilgrimages in various parts although he spent some time with the old Small Heath club. Maurice Parry is abroad fighting his country’s war. S.B. Ashoworth is following his profession – after leaving Stoke he, like Leigh Roose, had a period with Everton. McGuigan, unlucky fellow in his playing days, is still in the land of Anfield. Cox is at Blackpool. Ryabould goes down the mines of Derbyshire, and Hales, if I mistake not is at Chester – he was a very fine, if light, winger. Charlie Wilson, another of the unlucky sort is still on service at Anfield.
(Liverpool Echo: December 16, 1915)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 