Saints in the Great War

Little more than a fifth of the 210 men who wore Southampton's red-and-white stripes in the Great War were registered "Saints". The rest came from clubs nationwide to play as "guests" under the special war rules of 1915-1919.

Southampton was especially well-placed to attract guests – from the pre-embarkation training camps on Winchester Downs and Salisbury Plain; from the forts and castles guarding the coast; the air mechanics at RFC Netheravon; and, most especially, the boilermakers in the Woolston and Isle of Wight shipyards.

Some of those men would go on to serve overseas. The Battle of the Somme features especially large, recording the experiences of seven Southampton footballers on the calamitous first day alone. Two men from Pals Battalions – one from the Grimsby Chums; the other from Leeds Pals – fell that day.

Further fatalities on the Somme incluided a Pompey Pal and a Southampton hotelier, who was an officer in the line a Le Transloy, opposite Private Adolf Hitler of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment.

The book touches upon such controversies as the class-conscious argument that football's "lusty louts" (to quote Wilfred Owen) should cease playing in 1914, like the gentlemanly cricketers and answer the call to arms.

Yet, some of Hampshire's cricketers, including Saints all-rounders, effectively enlisted to play some serious sport in India while the Indian soldiers they replaced were struggling in France, under-trained, under-armed and under-dressed. And then, if those Indians were sick or wounded, Hampshire would be, ironically, a prime location for their recovery. Published in 2024.

Size: 166mm x 244mm – 350 pages.