Champion Athletes at Birmingham (1902)
- Birmingham
- 1902
The game is held up for the camera to do a full tour of the cheering crowds at Trent Bridge, Notts County's home until 1910.
The cheering crowds on view are about to see a 2-0 home win that put Notts County at the top of the First Division, though the season would end with the Magpies in a disappointing 14th place, just behind Middlesbrough. The difference between the crowds in the standing and seated sections is striking - particularly the number of women, who are completely absent from the terraced sections.
M&K 120: Middlesborough enter onto the pitch, followed by the referee and lineman. Linesman[?] inspects the goal. Notts County onto the pitch. Game in play viewed from near the corner flag, with the home team attacking towards the camera.
M&K 122: Further footage of the game from the same postion. Notts County score. More gameplay. Shots of the crowd in different aread of the ground [presumably filmed at half time].
M&K 123: Further views of the crowd, included a seated grandstand with more women visible and a better class of dress, less waving. Further standing areas.
Note: Both Nottingham County and Middlesbrough were in the first division. This match was played on the 27th September 1902 and Nottingham County won 2-0. Neither team had a hugely successful season - Nottingham County finishing 15/18 and Middlesbrough 13/18.
Trent Bridge was the home ground for Nottingham County from 01-08-1882 to 31-07-1910.
From Smailes, Gordon, The Breedon Book of Football Records 1871-2000. Breedon Books: Derby, 2000. p.24.
M&K 120,122 and 123 make up this football title.
Sport was an increasingly booming industry in the early 20th Century. Banks of mud were gradually replaced by covered stands, filled by larger (overwhelmingly male) crowds of spectators thanks to growing leisure time. It was mostly these crowds, and the prospect of drawing them to paid screenings, that attracted Mitchell & Kenyon - which explains why their cameras were so often pointed at the terraces.
Even so, these pioneering films have left us with an evocative record of sport's emergence as the mass entertainment we know today. Over 50 sporting events feature here: mostly football and rugby, but also athletics, cricket, cycling, horse racing and rowing.