LOAFRS 18 – Early ENGLISH Legends 1

Fred Wheldon, Harry Hampton, Colin Veitch Joseph Smith

The Football League 100 Legends list and the English Football Hall of Fame were designed to honour the greatest players of Football and Premier Leagues. However, one legitimate criticism of these tributes is that they are too heavily weighted towards modern or at least post-1950 players. This should not come as a surprise as many of those who selected the players for the lists had either watch or played against the players that were chosen. However, many deserving players who helped to shape the early game of Football were not included despite being as talented and important to the game as those that followed.

In this segment, we look at the first cigarette cards of four early football stars that were among the best in the world in their era.

Fred Wheldon

A proficient inside forward, who is best known for his time at Small Heath and Aston Villa, Wheldon was also an English International, who scored an impressive 6 times in only 4 matches. In the early 1890s, Wheldon became a star at Small Heath with his natural scoring ability and caught the eye of the best club in England: Aston Villa. In his first year at Villa in 1896/97, Wheldon burst onto the top tier football scene and became the top scorer, not only at Villa, but the entire league with 21 goals. He had an impressive career and continued to play until he was 37 years old. At his best, Wheldon was considered the finest inside forward in England.

Rookie Card: Year – 1897 – Manufacturer – Cohen, Weenen & Co. – Set – Heroes of Sport – Card # – Unnumbered

Card Notes:

Wheldon’s photo shows him with another Birmingham team, Small Heath, which he played for prior to joining Villa. His card is one of the few cards that is not included in the earlier Guinea Gold series that used many of the same photographs. The picture is solely attributed to Reinhold Thiele suggesting that it was taken after Symmons and Thiele disolved their partnership in May 1896.

Harry Hampton

Best known as Aston Villa’s scoring sensation, Hampton terrorized keepers throughout the 1900s and 1910s. He was still in top form when football was stopped due to World War 1. Scoring 215 times in 339 appearances, Harry Hampton still remains Villas all-time leading scorer in League play.

Rookie Card #1: Year – 1905 – Manufacturer – Singleton & Cole – Set – Footballers – card # – 12

Rookie Card #2: Year 1905 – Manufacturer – Cohen, Weenen & Co. ~ Sweetcrop Cigarettes – Set – Actresses, Footballers & Jockeys, Set # unnumbered

Card notes:

The cards from this exceptionally rare series are significantly smaller than most cigarette cards measuring less than 3 cm across.

Colin Veitch

The most versatile player ever to play the game, Colin Veitch is said to have been able to excel at any position on the field. He was selected to captain a Newcastle team that was arguably the consistently best team in the League between 1900 and World War 1. He led Newcastle to three league titles and five FA cup appearances. Veitch’s personal life was equally remarkable. He was a scholar, playwright, artist, solider, producer and musician/conductor as well as a union activist for the Professional Football Association. In short, Veitch did pretty much everything both on and off the pitch, and he did it very, very well.

Rookie Card: Year – 1905 – Manufacturer – Singleton & Cole, Set – Footballers, Card # – 22

Joseph Smith

Bolton Wanderers scoring sensation, Joseph Smith, tallied 254 goals during his career placing him 11th on the list of top tier English goal scorers. This statistic is impressive as he earned most of these goals prior to the offside rule change in 1925 as well as missing seasons during his prime years due to World War One. Had he played these years, he almost certainly would have been a member of the prestigious 300 career goals club and likely would have made a serious run at breaking Steve Bloomer’s career goal record.

Rookie Card: Year – 1909 – Manufacturer – Cope Brothers – Set – Cope’s “Clips” Noted Footballers – 120 backs – Card # 90

Card Notes:

The Copes Noted Footballers series is often treated as one set; however, it is, in fact, three separate sets that are differentiated by the backs of the cards, which state the number of cards in the set either 120, 282 or “nearly 500”. The cards were first issued in 1909 with the 120 backs and then the 282 backs and finally the 500 backs in 1911.