The development of the railway network and the availability of cheap return tickets meant that footballers could travel further afield in their search for worthy opponents, and helped to fuel the advent of League football. However, it was not without it’s own perils, for those not used to travel beyond their immediate locality, and those unfamiliar with the operating patterns of the railway.
This was the story of the Blackburn Rovers 2nd team in 1885, who were due to play a friendly at Earlestown. Their adventures were recounted, humorously, in the Widnes Examiner.
It had been arranged that four of the players, and the umpire, would board the train at Blackburn, with the rest of the party joining them at a station just outside the town. To their surprise, the train was an express which did not stop until it reached Wigan. If the players waited for their teammates to catch up by the next train, it would be at least 5 o’clock before they reached Earlestown. A number of the Blackburn Olympic team were changing trains at Wigan on their journey to Liverpool. Recognising the plight of their fellow townsmen, they advised the players to return home. “No, we shall show willing”, they said, and set about the remainder of their journey.
To pass the time, the 5 men began a game of Nap – a card game similar to Whist.
However, they “napped” in more senses than one, as the train sped onwards, passing through a number of stations without the slightest acknowledgement by the players. At one stop the players became aware of the voice of the Porter as he walked alongside the train, “Warrington” shouted the railwayman as he passed the players’ compartment. One of the players stuck his head out the window and asked when they would get to Earlestown?
“The Porter didn’t quite burst, but his mouth won’t assume a natural shape for some time to come. The grin which danced around his lips caused his jaws to open as wide as the mouth of the Penistone tunnel, and he experienced great difficulty in telling the Blackburn lads that they were five miles past their proper station", noted the newspaper.
The lads resumed their card game as they travelled back from Warrington on another train. However, they became engrossed in their game, again, until they suddenly realised that they must be somewhere near Earlestown. When the train stopped at the next station, they asked the station porter if they were at the right stop for Earlestown. “No” replied the Porter, ”You are three miles past it”.
Undaunted, the intrepid band boarded yet another train back the way they had come – and even chanced another game of cards, but all the while saying, “Keep a look out for th’reet station, lads”.
During the card game, someone played an incorrect card, which wasn’t spotted at the time and, at the end of the hand, this led to a scrutiny of all the cards played. So absorbed were they in resolving the dispute that the Blackburn men, once again, failed to be aware of the surroundings.
“Thirty seconds of a stop at a by-station to these intent young men was only like a fly alighting on a chap’s nose – it was there and off again”
The next jolt of the train as it came to a standstill brought the men back to reality. “We’ll best get out here, so where the deuce is it?” said one of them. This time they found that they were just one stop beyond their intended destination!
Sensibly, they decided to walk the final stretch to the football ground.
So, instead of eleven players and an umpire turning up at three o’clock, there were just four and an umpire, sweating profusely, who stepped onto the field at 5.30 pm. There was a big crowd of spectators present, and the Earlestown officials were engaged in returning the admission money when the roving Rovers appeared. At first there was a cheer, but this quickly turned to hoots when the onlookers realised that the team was of only four players.
Of course, there was no match to be played, and the travellers returned to East Lancashire without further mishap.
The Widnes Examiner was moved to verse…
Roving Rovers “napping” caught,
Everybody complaining;
They couldn’t face the Earlestown lads,
And all through “over-training”!
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