Category Archives: 1904-05

Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Ten)

I’ve missed a few weeks, but today we’re restarting the series of subscriber posts from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of men’s football in Manchester and today’s section is the ninth chapter of the book (a 9,000 word section). This may be quite topical in that it focuses on City’s illegal payments scandal (United’s match fixing scandal comes next week!) and on the building of Old Trafford. It also covers the shock departure of Ernest Mangnall from the Reds to the Blues. Fans of both Manchester’s League teams should find something in it for them while those not familiar with the scandal at City will be able to read the facts, not the fiction.

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‘The “Missus” gets her wages’ – Christmas Day 1904

Here’s an interesting snippet from an article I found while researching something else. It was published in the Umpire newspaper on Christmas Day 1904. John Bentley, more commonly known as JJ Bentley, was a Manchester United & Bolton manager who also wrote for a variety of newspapers. He was often perceived as a knowledgeable football man and his views influenced many. If ‘JJ’ said something it was usually accepted as fact. So, when in 1904 there had been criticism of the money working class men were spending on football he spoke out.

As you can see by this brief cutting Bentley used his column to claim that the wives of working class men benefited by their husbands going to football because it meant he didn’t go and spend his money in the pub! Consequently, she got her housekeeping! What a ridiculous argument!

Can you imagine the justifiable furore today if Gary Lineker or similar said something like this? There are so many aspects to this simple piece that could be explored but perhaps I’ll save that for another day. It is also worth noting that many women did attend football matches themselves back then too.

Ah well! Happy Christmas.