Mystery Ground - London

[Baltimore]

Happy New Year to all.

Can any one help me identify this ground?

The advertising covers Gamages,E. Mash, and references to High Rd,Tottenham.The reverse has press stamps,Fleet St,London.

Amateur teams I would imagine?

Over to you.... Many Thanks, Ian

[Baltimore]

Oh...and meant to say...why would there be no fans present?

Could it be training, or Reserves in some kind of mid week league etc?

Or maybe during WW1 ? ( 1914-1 .

Just a thought.

I don’t suppose anyone can draw any conclusions from the kits on display?

[Westbourne]

Spurs Ground before the shelf was built.

[Baltimore]

Cheers ! ( good to hear from you....trust you are well!)

I think you are bang on. Dumb really...it does advertise Tottenham addresses.

So if the shelf didn’t get built till 1934, that looks right.

So perhaps a training match 1920 or so?

[Westbourne]

[Baltimore]

Can any Spurs fans / experts add anymore to this update.

It doesn’t look like a Spurs team playing?

[Baltimore]

According to the Historical kits website....it states that Spurs wore a similar striped kit between 1895 to 1898.

Could it be them?

Where are the Spurs experts?

[NWM Football]

The ground is definitely WHL. The houses in the background were demolished to make way for the East Stand in 1934.

Despite having a chocolate/gold striped kit in the 1890's (hence that brown kit Spurs had for a season around ten years ago), WHL was opened in 1899, so it appears that the picture doesn't involve a Spurs team.
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[Pete’s Picture Palace]

The keeper seems to be wearing a different kit to everyone else so that suggests it's 1909 or later.

[Five and In]

I have two rather grainy images which may help (or confuse) a little.

The first one shows Spurs playing against Newton Heath in 1899 wearing the striped kit.
I would agree with NWM that it is not Spurs in Baltimore's photo as they look different and as we only had the kit for four years, I assume there were no changes in that period.



The second image shows Spurs against Millwall in 1903 and now wearing white. The stand is identical to Baltimore's photos and only the advertising board names are different, so I assume it is close to that period.



My best guess is that it was either a trials match or an amateur final of some sorts where WHL was used to stage the occasion. Either way, where is the crowd?

[Five and In]

In Baltimore's first photo one of the advertisement boards is for Swan Vesta's.
I've done a little digging and Bryant & May did not name and start "pushing" that brand until 1906.

The things we do to solve mystery football photos...I love it

[sydenham hill]

Five and In wrote:

I have two rather grainy images which may help (or confuse) a little. The first one shows Spurs playing against Newton Heath in 1899 wearing the striped kit. I would agree with NWM that it is not Spurs in Baltimore's photo as they look different and as we only had the kit for four years, I assume there were no changes in that period. The second image shows Spurs against Millwall in 1903 and now wearing white. The stand is identical to Baltimore's photos and only the advertising board names are different, so I assume it is close to that period. The team wearing the striped shirts in the first photo are Newton Heath, Spurs are wearing the white shirts, i believe Spurs adopted the white shirted kit at the start of 1898/99 season but this hasn`t been confirmed and still remains a bit of a mystery My best guess is that it was either a trials match or an amateur final of some sorts where WHL was used to stage the occasion. Either way, where is the crowd?

[Five and In]

sydenham hill wrote:

The team wearing the striped shirts in the first photo are Newton Heath, Spurs are wearing the white shirts, i believe Spurs adopted the white shirted kit at the start of 1898/99 season but this hasn`t been confirmed and still remains a bit of a mystery

The photo comes from the official Spurs book The Lane and states it is Spurs in the striped kit Sydenham.
You are right about the white shirts coming in in 98/99.

[JJPROGRAMMES]

Not an expert when it comes to these old postcards....
But maybe Baltimore`s postcard is of (someone like) Barnet in the London Senior Cup Final/Semi-Final???

[sydenham hill]

Hi Five and In
Somewhere i have got about 5 or 6 action shots from a match played between Spurs and Newton Heath, i will try and dig them out to have a look at the players and the captions, my photos show action from Northumberland Park in January 1899 when Spurs played Newton Heath, in this match NH are wearing the striped kit.

[Five and In]

The mystery deepens Sydenham.

According to Historical Kits, Spurs stopped wearing the stripes after 1898/99 while Newton Heath wore white between 1896 and 1902 which ties in with my image from 1899.

Your photo from 1899 would throw a spanner in the works as Newton Heath only wore stripes in 1893/94 and we had moved on to white shirts

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

And what about the keeper who's wearing what looks like a green roll-neck jumper, no cap..... i.e. post 1909 ?????

[sydenham hill]

Hi Five and In

Are you sure your photo is from WHL it looks like Northumberland Park which would date the photo from the 1898/99 season

[sydenham hill]

Here`s a photo of the Spurs v Newton Heath match played at Northumberland park 1898/99 season

[Five and In]

sydenham hill wrote:

Hi Five and In Are you sure your photo is from WHL it looks like Northumberland Park which would date the photo from the 1898/99 season

I've just checked again Sydenham and apologies are due...it is Northumberland Park.
However the striped kit is stated as Spurs.