Rome Wasn't Built in a Day, Chapter Five; There is only time for one thing now

World War One changed the world forever, and it almost permanently tarnished footbal's reputation. And during this period there were also crisis involving match-fixing and liquidation.

When the declaration of war on Germany was made on the 4th August 1914, the start of the new football season was still four weeks away. There was little suggestion of what this war might look like, and talk of immediately closing everything down was tempered by the fact that the government found the first four weeks of their recruitment drive to end in somewhat disappointing results.

Football, the FA, the Football League and Southern League all claimed, could act as a significant recruitment tool to go and fight and raise money for the war effort. Married men with children were not expected to go at the time, and a substantial number of them were professional footballers. Why should they suddenly be rendered unemployed by this?