Champion Athletes at Birmingham (1902)
- Birmingham
- 1902
Dewsbury v Manningham (1901)
Rare film of Manningham FC's days as a rugby club, in a hard-fought contest at Dewsbury's Crown Flatt ground.
You might think an Edwardian rugby match would be a relatively gentlemanly affair, but not on the evidence of these torn shirts and bruised faces. After the players ceremoniously trot on to the pitch, the film is almost pure sporting action - unusually for Mitchell and Kenyon's productions, which typically presented a healthy portion of crowd shots to drum up interest in later film shows.
Manningham won the inaugural Northern Rugby Football Union season back in 1896, but the club's life in competitive rugby was to be shortlived. The Bradford side would play just eight seasons of the infant rugby league game before defecting to the round ball and re-inventing themselves as Bradford City Association Football Club in 1903. This film appears to be the only surviving footage of the club's rugby past.
Tags
Edwardian Sports
Their attention may not always have been on the pitch or the track, but Edwardian filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon were pioneers of filmed sport.
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.
54 videos in this collection
1
Champion Athletes at Birmingham (1902)
2
Arthur Mold Bowling to A.N.Hornby (1901)
3
Everton v Liverpool (1902)
4
Calisthenics (c.1905)
5
Race for the Muratti Cup at Manchester Wheelers' Annual Meet (1901)
6
Dewsbury v Manningham (1901)
7
Ambush II at Eyrefield Lodge, The Curragh (1902)
8
Leeds Athletic and Cycling Club Carnival at Headingley (1902)
9
Burnley v Manchester United (1902)
10
Great Local Derby, Accrington v Church Cricket Match (1902)
11
Mitchell and Kenyon 149 Hull F.C. V Wigan (1902)
12
AAA Championships at Fartown, Huddersfield (1901)
13
Hull F.C. v Hull Kingston Rovers (1902)
14
Leeds Lifeboat Procession and Sports at Roundhay Park (1902)
15
Bolton v Burton United (c.1904)
16
Bradford City v Gainsborough Trinity (1903)
17
Cambridge University Sportsday (1903)
18
Crews Practicing on River Lee at Cork Regatta (1902)
19
England v Ireland at Manchester (1905)
20
Blackburn v... (1904)
21
Everton v Newcastle United (1902)
22
Everton v Newcastle United (1903)
23
Halifax v Salford (1901)
24
Hull City Football (c.1905)
25
Hunslet v Leeds (1901)
26
Moss Street v St Philips Football (1907)
27
Manchester Races (1902)
28
Northern Union Challenge Cup Final - Halifax v Salford (1903)
29
Kingston Rowing Club at Practice (1902)
30
Liverpool v Small Heath (1901)
31
Manchester to Blackpool Road Race (1903)
32
Newcastle United v Liverpool (1901)
33
Notts County v Middlesbrough (1902)
34
Oldham v Swinton (1901)
35
Preston North End v Aston Villa (1905)
36
Preston North End v Notts County (1904)
37
Preston North End v Wolverhampton Wanderers (1904)
38
Rotherham Town v Thornhill (1902)
39
Runcorn v St Helens (1901)
40
Salford v Batley (1901)
41
Sheffield United v Bury (1902)
42
St Helens v Swinton (1901)
43
Sunderland v Leicester Fosse (1907)
44
Sunderland v Middlesbrough (1904)
45
Trotting Match at Springfield Park, Wigan (1904)
46
Two Oared Boat Race, Sunday's Well, Cork (1902)
47
Wales v Ireland at Wrexham (1906)
48
Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa (1904)
49
Final of International Cup at Cork Regatta (1902)
50
Warrington v St.Helens (1901)
51
Water Polo Match (c.1901)
52
Burnley Football (1903)
53
Bolton Football 2 (c.1900)
54