THE
Its Golden Years
The
oldest,
dating back to 1895
This
site describes a little of its history and the positive impact on the
ball skills
and competitive edge of their players that the influx of
thousands
of National Servicemen made in the late 1940’s and early
1950’s,
This,
combined with visits of senior professional teams from mainland
their
weight and enabled them to compete at any level, it also raised
the
level of support from the indigenous populous of 30,000
The
site also highlights the subsequent negative effect resulting from
the
Spanish football authorities’ embargo on senior Spanish teams
from
playing in
attempts to obtain
affiliation with Uefa
First
recorded Civilian match in 1901
Gibraltarians
inherited their love of football from kick about games with the British
Garrison
in the
late 1800’s. With a genetic mix of Spanish, Italian (survivors from a
shipwrecked
Italian
galleon who settled at Catalan Bay, on the south side of the Rock) and the
Brits
(who have had a large garrison there since 1704) they took to
the beautiful game with
passionate
enthusiasm
On
the isthmus, the flat area of land connecting Gib and
enclosing
a grassed football pitch and had their first competitive match against the
military
in
1901
An 1895 photograph of
Gibraltar’s first civilian representative side
From
their early days with a
break during WW2, the GFA grew into a well organised
structure,with a
number of divisions and shortly after the War’s end a new stadium was
built on
land close to the Airport
Victoria
Stadium, pictured in January 1952
The visiting team was Red Star
Beogradski from Yugoslavia,
their
red star flag can be seen on then left of the Union Jack
The Military return to Gibraltar
In
the early years following the War’s end, especially through the period from
1949 to 1955
the GFA
came of age, and was given added momentum by the onset of military conscription
in the
year
military training
This
added to the few hundred permanent military based there so that there was a
very large
garrison
of testosterone fuelled young men were looking for a way to use up their
surplus
energies
and football was by far the number one sport
A
number of military football leagues were formed some units fielded more than
one team
and
league and cup games were fiercely
competitive
At
least three military pitches were constructed, two at Europa
Point on the eastern side of
the Rock
and a third in the town—this was generally known as the Naval ground and in the
main
hosted those games played by the permanent Naval base and teams from the
visiting
Navies,these swelled the Naval force by many thousands
The
following describes the experiences of two of those National Servicemen;
Faber Dewar, an RAF conscript who had represented
and
subsequently at a semi-professional level in
He
was posted to Gibraltar in 1951
Trevor Sidaway, a REME conscript, on Aston Villas books as an
amateur
Posted
to Gibraltar in early 1953
Both
played for their units in the Military leagues and both were selected to play
for the
Combined
Services in a series of games against the Gibraltar Football Association
Both
also played for a Rock eleven selected from the pick of the Military and
Civilian
teams to play against visiting professional teams from mainland
Representative teams
Representative teams were selected from
three distinct groups from both the Military
and Civilians;
The GFA
This
team was drawn from players registered by the Gibraltar Foot ball Association
and was
regarded
by Gibraltarians as their “National” team
The Combined Services
Selected
from all the military—Army, Navy and Airforce--
serving in Gibraltar and from
visiting
British Navies
Rock Select VI
A
team selected from the best civilian and military players
The games
GFA
versus Combined Services
The
Gibraltar Cup competition was introduced as an annual series of five matches
between
the GFA
and the Combined Services team which included a number of players on the books
of senior
These
games were fiercely contested by players and spectators alike, the stadium was
usually
filled to
capacity and was an automatic Saturday evening draw for many of the troops
In
the 1953/54 season the Combined Services narrowly lost the series by three
games to
two,
this was one of the most successful performances by the Combined Services in
the
history of the competition
GFA versus visiting European teams
These
are some of the professional teams that visited
From
From
From
From
Teams
from the UK also visited, including an RAF eleven that included five
established
British
Internationals and a Bomber Command select eleven. Against
these senior
professional teams the GFA did well, including a notable 2;2 draw against Real Madrid
and a win against the RAF and Jonkopings
Rock
Select VI versus European teams
Some of the
visiting European teams were also pitched against a Rock Select VI
These
included Hadjuk Split, Jonkopings,
Beogradski and Whacker
Both Faber Dewar and Trevor Sidaway were selected for some of these games and a
number of other military personnel were
picked to play, these included:
Charlie Twissell/Navy,
Duncan/RAF and McMahon/Army
Picture Gallery
GFA versus Combined Services 1953/54
season
A
full house at Victoria Stadium
Four of these players went on to represent the Rock Select eleven
against visiting European Teams:
Duncan/RAF, McMahon /ARMY, Twissell/NAVY,
Sidaway/ARMY
Trevor Sidaway scoring for
the Combined Services
also in
shot, GFA players-keeper Marin and GFA captain Victor Byrne
Visiting
European teams 1951/52/53/54 seasons
Wacker (Austria)
Whacker (Austria)
Admira (Austria)
Red Star Beogradski
(Yugoslavia)
Degafors (Sweden)
Rock select eleven versus visiting European teams
Jonkopings (Sweden) 1954
Trevor
Sidaway/Army, far right—only one military player
Whacker (Austria) 1952
Faber Dewar/RAF, second
from right, one of three military players
Versus
Whacker (Austria) 1952
Faber Dewar/RAF, number
3, protecting the near post
Versus Red
Star Beodgradski (Yugoslavia) 1952
Faber
Dewar/ RAF, far right
Faber Dewar/ RAF, far right
The end of the GFA’s Golden
Years
Spain places an embargo on Spanish Clubs
playing in Gibraltar
Steve Menary in his book “OUTCASTS! the
lands that FIFA forgot” writes;
“The
1950’s were to be turbulent times for
independence
to its territories in Morocco, but, crucially, retained two enclaves on
Moroccan
soil in Ceuta and Melilla—a distinct parallel with Gibraltar but not one
seemingly
apparentin Spanish political circles.
The
previous year,
Sports
Clubs needed written permission to play in
permission
were turned back at the border, including Real Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla
---and
so started what many in Gibraltar see as the slow death of football in the
colony”
This decision by Spain was the beginning
of the end of the era when top European
teams were being drawn
to play in Gibraltar and in 1960 National Service was ended in
the UK meaning
that the number of Military based there fell from several thousand to
a few
hundred.
This added to the dilution of
competitive representative games and a growing lack of
interest by the
average Gibraltarian.
Spain however places no restriction on
those Gibraltarians who have the necessary
skills to play at
a professional level in Spain. These talented players, for one reason or
another, rarely
turn out for their “International” side, again reducing the potency of
the GFA
The GFA authorities have long since
recognised this and have probably fought the
longest legal
battle in the history of football in an
attempt to get the GFA recognised by
the European
football authorities—Uefa
Approval was effectively vetoed by Spain
in spite of a decision by Uefa and Fifa in
favour of
Gibraltar’s facilities and a similar quasi-legal decision by the European
“Court of Arbitration for Sport” in
Gibraltar’s favour
There have been suggestions that the
only way of resurrecting real interest in the GFA
would be for them
to apply for entry in one of
leagues
Who knows what the final outcome will be!
A FIFA
approved Victoria Stadium, pictured in 2002, with its artificial grass pitch
It is currently being upgraded
trevor_sidaway@hotmail.com Link
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Football in
Gibraltar (part 1)