On this day (23rd May) 1946, in the transitional post WW2 season, the Sky Blues played the second game in their first post-war overseas tour – to Denmark. Having beaten Aarhus 2-1 in their first game a couple of days earlier, their next opponents were Danish outfit Vejle Boldklub. The game was an evening fixture kicking off at 7.45pm!
The ‘Bantams’, as CCFC were than known, who had finished the 1945-46 season thirteenth in the Football League South, proved far too strong for their opponents.
City centre forward Ted Roberts (father of CCFPA member and sixties Sky Blues striker Dudley Roberts) bagged a hat-trick.
The other goals came from a Harry Barratt brace and another from Tommy Crawley. City were 3-0 up at half-time with Harry netting on seventeen and 42 minutes each side of Ted’s first goal on forty minutes. Ted completed his treble with a second half brace (62 & 66 minutes) and the comprehensive victory was sealed with Tommy’s strike fourteen minutes from time.
The ‘Bantam’s team that day, who were managed by Dick Bayliss, was:-
Alf Wood; Dennis Tooze & Stan Kelley; Jack Snape, George Mason & Tom Crawley; Dennis Simpson, Harry Barratt, Ted Roberts, Emilio Aldecoa & Alf Setchell.
The club had a core of players who stayed with CCFC for many years including over war-time. City’s prolific centre forward Ted Roberts (86 goals in 223 appearances for the Bantams between 1936-52) later became first team trainer. Harry Barratt was a one-club man and tremendous club servant signing for CCFC in 1934, debuting in 1938 and becoming a versatile and dependable part of the side from this season until he retired in 1952 with 178 games under his belt (thirteen goals). A Scot, Tommy Crawley, was signed from Preston North End in 1935 starting out as reserve centre-forward later converting to centre half was playing with CCFC until retirement in 1948 48 appearances – 3 goals).
Both goalkeeper Alf Wood and ‘iron man’ centre half George Mason became Club ‘legends’. Alf, in two spells with club (1935-52 & 1955-59), clocked up 246 ‘official’ appearances for the Sky Blues. He made his debut in 1938 as a 23 year old (signed in 1935) and played his last game for us as a 43 year old in 1958-59. If his wartime appearances, also being ever present in 1945-46, had been included he would have made 260 consecutive appearances for the club up to 1950-51! He had come back to the City as player-coach in 1955 after a spell at Northampton Town and worked after retirement for many years at Massey Ferguson in Coventry.
George was the rock around which the club’s defence was built for nigh on 20 years. The Brummy made his debut for CCFC in 1932 and by the time of his last game in the club’s colours had clocked up 350 games, many more if wartime appearances were added. WWII disrupted what many feel would have been a long England career, though he did get two wartime caps for his country.
Emilio Aldecoa was one of two Basque refugees from wartime Spain who featured for the Bantams in these wartime years. The other was Jose Bilbao.
Another couple of matches remained in the Danish tour, against a Jutland XI (drawn) and Randers Freja (won).
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.