It was midsummer 1902 (8 July to be precise) when James Young joined Bristol Rovers. He was 20. 1902 was of course the end of the Boer War and the summer of the Coronation of King Edward VII. The Coronation itself had to be postponed from June until August because of the King’s health and his being obliged to undergo the then very dangerous operation for appendicitis.
Back in Scotland, although Young would then have had only a passing interest in such things, Celtic won the British League Cup (sometimes called the Coronation Cup) by beating Rangers 3-2 after extra time with a young fellow called Jimmy Quinn scoring a hat trick. Football of course had been rocked by the Ibrox Disaster on April 5 1902. Over 20 people had been killed when a stand collapsed at the Scotland v England game, as people swayed from one side to another (so it was claimed) to see Kilmarnock man Bobby Templeton run up the wing.
Bristol was a huge city in 1902, although the feeling persisted that Bristol had perhaps passed its peak. If Glasgow was the “Second City of the British Empire” in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Bristol had had that role in the eighteenth century, being the chief city and port for the Americas and, in particular, the West Indies. It was a sad and uncomfortable fact that a large part of Bristol’s wealth and glory had derived from the slave trade, but slavery had been abolished for almost a hundred years now thanks to the strenuous efforts of William Wilberforce and others, and it was only the slightly more respectable trade of tobacco that held sway now.
The railways had made a great difference to Bristol as well, with the GWR (the Great Western Railway, or as it was more commonly referred to, “God’s Wonderful Railway”) had opened up the south west for Londoners, who were thus able to establish business contacts and enjoy holidays in the beautiful countryside of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The famous engineeer Isambard Kingdom Brunel had also built in Bristol the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a remarkable feat of Victorian engineering, and to this day a scary-looking walk and drive across.
But Bristol never has been a great footballing city. Rugby was strong there even as early as 1902, and cricket in the summer, but even so, the records of the two teams Bristol City and Bristol Rovers have never really made as big an impact on English football as their population and fan base might have led us to expect.
Birmingham is another under-performing footballing city, but Aston Villa, for example, have had their moments. In comparison with Liverpool and Manchester (and Newcastle long ago) Bristol has been a sad disappointment with the FA Cup and and English League Trophy yet to make an appearance in the great city of the south-west, although City came close in 1907 and 1909.
A visit to Bristol on a match day can be a disappointing experience. There is little sign that there is a game on, few supporters’ scarves or colours, no excited animation of anyone asking whether injuries have healed up or whether the team will be third in the League by tonight.
Asking a passer-by for details of the way to the game can see one being directed, politely and courteously, to the wrong ground! This is in total contrast to a city like Newcastle for example. Similar prolonged and chronic under-achievement have not led to similar apathy there. Black and white scarves are ubiquitous, enthusiasm is prevalent – and how one wishes that they had a worthy team to support! But Bristol is different. It is not, by nature, a footballing city, and probably was the same in 1902 when Young arrived.
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