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Thistles at Firhill


a f kincaid
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Did anyone see the first episode of the new “Thirties in Colour” series on TV this week? Against a background of the rise of Nazi Germany they showed clips of England v Germany at White Hart Lane in 1935 (3-0). Didn’t pay that close attention to the first few seconds as the teams ran out but when the images were colourised I discovered England were playing in blue jerseys with a large white thistle. Ring any bells?

A side story was that both FAs had agreed there would be no public display of German flags but one spectator noticed the swastika flying on a flagpole on top of the main stand. He climbed the flagpole and pulled it down.

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54 minutes ago, a f kincaid said:

Did anyone see the first episode of the new “Thirties in Colour” series on TV this week? Against a background of the rise of Nazi Germany they showed clips of England v Germany at White Hart Lane in 1935 (3-0). Didn’t pay that close attention to the first few seconds as the teams ran out but when the images were colourised I discovered England were playing in blue jerseys with a large white thistle. Ring any bells?

A side story was that both FAs had agreed there would be no public display of German flags but one spectator noticed the swastika flying on a flagpole on top of the main stand. He climbed the flagpole and pulled it down.

I wonder why they wore those shirts?

By the way, take a look at the news clip for that match on Youtube, and stand by for an unbelievably insulting comment by the news commentator!

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My guess is that Germany (playing in white) caught the FA out re a colour clash and that they had to find an alternative strip quickly. Still doesn't explain why they had access to a complete set of Scotland Jerseys.  Good pub quiz/trivia question.

PS. The title of the thread was meant to be Thistles at White Hart Lane!

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7 minutes ago, a f kincaid said:

My guess is that Germany (playing in white) caught the FA out re a colour clash and that they had to find an alternative strip quickly. Still doesn't explain why they had access to a complete set of Scotland Jerseys.  Good pub quiz/trivia question.

PS. The title of the thread was meant to be Thistles at White Hart Lane!

That's definitely a plausible scenario. I briefly wondered whether another (probably less plausible) reason was that somehow England thought they'd represent the "home nations," and one way of doing that was by wearing a Scotland top. But it seems unlikely that they would go as far as to completely change their top. What got me thinking about that was when on the news movie the commentator started off freely using "English" and "British" interchangeably, except towards the end, when it was clear that England would win, they were referred to only as........ well, you can guess!

Edited by Jaggernaut
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Pathe news clip of the event - definitely look like Scotland strips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaqyIn5aqUs

Given the Nazi treatment of Jews, even in the early stages of their reign, choosing White Hart Lane, with a significant Jewish following, seems a bit strange too.

A further search threw this article up; one of the England shirts up for sale and actually three lions, not a Thistle:

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rare-george-camsell-england-shirt-11980842

Edited by Aliballibee
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Really interesting stuff, Aliballibee. But I'm not yet convinced that the strip on that "three lions" shirt is the one in the video clip. If you look carefully at the video (in fact, you don't need to look so much at it), you can see a very thick white border around the badge, which seems to be absent in the other picture. But who knows for sure?

Boring fart that I am, I love these kinds of threads.

Edited by Jaggernaut
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Alibalibee has it on the button.  This was the only occasion where this strip was ever used.  You can get replicas  ( with white instead of blue buttons) from TOFFS  and other replica kit suppliers.

At least England didn't  give the raised arm Nazi salute on that occasion, unlike in Germany in 1938, see picture below.  To be fair to the players, their  captain Eddie Hapgood, Stanley  Matthews and the others refused to give the salute, but the furious players were ordered to do it by the British Ambassador to Germany, Sir Neville Henderson. England won 6-3.

Good bit of research  Alibalibee - we have a future for you!!  :thumbsup:

 

Screenshot_20210827-164240_Chrome.jpg

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