Anfield stadium in 1894-1895
Liverpool’s 19th top flight league success earlier this year puts the club firmly back in the big time. Going back into the depths of history, however, I've found that Anfield has in fact been the host of the English football champions on twenty occasions. Because of course Anfield was home to Everton FC from 1884 until 1892 and Everton won the 1890-1891 First Division title.
Everton FC was originally
known as St. Domingo’s, a football club formed in 1878 for the congregation of
the church of that name. The name was changed to Everton FC in 1879, called after the area of the city in which the club was based.
The crest of Everton FC, Liverpool FC's closest and (perhaps) fiercest rivals. The combined twenty eight top flight titles of the two clubs makes Liverpool the most successful footballing city in England.
In the year following Everton's first league title success, a number of seismic developments took place,
pitting the biggest characters within the club against each other and leading
to Everton’s departure from Anfield and the subsequent formation of Liverpool Football Club.
I have attached a link below to a detailed description of these events, for those who are interested:
https://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/2022
In summary, John Houlding
was Everton Chairman, the main owner of Anfield and effectively the landlord
for Everton Football Club. The pitch was located between Anfield Road and Walton Breck
Road. The previous owner of the land had been John Orrell and
he had sold the land to John Houlding in 1885. However, Orrell retained a
section of land and road beside the football ground and this small strip of
land would ultimately lead to the split between Houlding and his allies from
the majority of the board of Everton FC, who were led by George Mahon.
Both Orrell and Houlding requested a rent increase for the stadium and the adjoining land in 1891 and Houlding had suggested that Everton form a limited liability company to buy the entire property. In a number of tempestuous meetings from late 1891 through to the summer of 1892, Houlding’s proposals were ultimately rejected and he and Everton parted company. Everton would go on to rent land on nearby Mere Green at Goodison Road. Goodison Park remains their home ground.
The explosive events at Anfield captured the attention of the footballing public and were widely reported in the local and national media. The events were summed up (presumably by a Houlding supporter) in a satirical song, to the tune of 'The Irish Rover':
'In the year of our Lord eighteen ninety and two,
John Houlding evicted the blues,
From their Anfield abode on the Walton Breck Road,
He was tired of seeing them lose.
Years behind in rent all their money was spent,
A bank that held nothing but zeros,
But Houlding instead built a team dressed in red,
Liverpool his Anfield heroes'.
Irish connections...
Along with the song, some of the key figures in these early days of the two clubs were of Irish origin. On Houlding’s side were John McKenna and William Barclay, who ultimately became the first managers of the new Liverpool Football Club that was formed by Houlding after the departure of Everton from Anfield. McKenna and Barclay were the leading figures in the formation of Liverpool’s first team, made up primarily of Scottish player and known as ‘The Team of the Macs’ (see link to earlier blog: https://sportyman2020.blogspot.com/2020/05/aston-villa-5-liverpool-0-1899-and-2019.html). On the Everton side was accountant George Mahon, who was born of Irish parents and spent much of his childhood in Dublin.
George Mahon (1853-1908): accountant, local politician, co-founder and Chairman of Everton FC (1892-1895). His parents were Irish and he spent much of his childhood in Dublin.
John McKenna (1855-1936) from Co. Monaghan, who would become the first manager of Liverpool FC and who had a key role in putting together Liverpool's 'Team of the Macs'.
Dubliner William E. Barclay (1857-1917) has the distinction of being the first manager of both Everton FC and (jointly with John McKenna) of Liverpool FC
Liverpool FC and an even earlier Irish connection...
Delving into the history
books reveals that there was another Irishman in Liverpool who would leave a
mark on Liverpool FC long before the key players in the 1892 events and long before before even the existence of the original St. Domingo’s club.
His name was Samuel Robert
Graves (1818-1873), a businessman and shipping magnate from New Ross in Co.
Wexford. Graves relocated to Liverpool and built up his business and political
interests there. Graves served as a Conservative MP for Liverpool from 1865
until his death in 1873 and, in 1861, he became the first Irishman to be Lord Mayor of the city.
Graves also purchased land
in Liverpool and named it after his home townland in Co. Wexford.
The name of the townland in New Ross where Graves’ family seat of Rosbercon Castle was located is derived from the Irish for ‘the river field’ or ‘abhainn field’, anglicized to Annefield.
In Liverpool, the name Annefield was of course shortened to Anfield and it became the name of both an area of the city and, ultimately, the name of the world’s greatest football stadium.
Rosbercon Castle, home of Samuel Graves and located in the townland of 'the river field' (Annefield), New Ross, Co. Wexford.
The modern Anfield stadium
For this week's blog I am extremely thankful again to Dr. Denise Rogers ('Sportyman Southeast correspondent'), who very enthusiastically sent me on lots of fascinating background material on the Wexford connection to this story.
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