Champion Athletes at Birmingham (1902)
- Birmingham
- 1902
Preston North End v Aston Villa (1905)
Early football giants Preston and Villa face up in an epic Edwardian contest.
As Villa lead Preston out of the changing room at Deepdale, the teams seem relaxed - unfazed by the then unfamiliar sight of a cameraman. Preston, in white shirts, are soon pressing hard and Villa have a couple of narrow escapes, including a disallowed goal. But the home crowd soon have something to cheer with outside right Dicky Bond's unstoppable shot in a 2-0 win for Preston's 'Invincibles'.
Preston, among the founders of the Football League, were one of the game's early giants. They topped the table in the League's very first two seasons, 1888-89 and 1889-90 - the second time maintaining an unbeaten record in both league and FA Cup games - an achievement never matched since. They would finish the 1905 season in second place, four points behind league winners Liverpool. Rivals Aston Villa had been Preston's runners-up in 1888-89 and were already five-times league champions and five-times winners of the FA Cup. The peculiar striped hut seen in the film was in use as a changing room until 1906.
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
Champion Athletes at Birmingham (1902)
Arthur Mold Bowling to A.N.Hornby (1901)
Everton v Liverpool (1902)
Calisthenics (c.1905)
Race for the Muratti Cup at Manchester Wheelers' Annual Meet (1901)
Dewsbury v Manningham (1901)
Ambush II at Eyrefield Lodge, The Curragh (1902)
Leeds Athletic and Cycling Club Carnival at Headingley (1902)
Burnley v Manchester United (1902)
Great Local Derby, Accrington v Church Cricket Match (1902)
Mitchell and Kenyon 149 Hull F.C. V Wigan (1902)
AAA Championships at Fartown, Huddersfield (1901)
Hull F.C. v Hull Kingston Rovers (1902)
Leeds Lifeboat Procession and Sports at Roundhay Park (1902)
Bolton v Burton United (c.1904)
Bradford City v Gainsborough Trinity (1903)
Watch in libraries only
Cambridge University Sportsday (1903)
Crews Practicing on River Lee at Cork Regatta (1902)
England v Ireland at Manchester (1905)
Blackburn v... (1904)
Everton v Newcastle United (1902)
Everton v Newcastle United (1903)
Halifax v Salford (1901)
Hull City Football (c.1905)
Hunslet v Leeds (1901)
Moss Street v St Philips Football (1907)
Manchester Races (1902)
Northern Union Challenge Cup Final - Halifax v Salford (1903)
Kingston Rowing Club at Practice (1902)
Liverpool v Small Heath (1901)
Manchester to Blackpool Road Race (1903)
Newcastle United v Liverpool (1901)
Notts County v Middlesbrough (1902)
Oldham v Swinton (1901)
Preston North End v Aston Villa (1905)
Preston North End v Notts County (1904)
Preston North End v Wolverhampton Wanderers (1904)
Rotherham Town v Thornhill (1902)
Runcorn v St Helens (1901)
Salford v Batley (1901)
Sheffield United v Bury (1902)
St Helens v Swinton (1901)
Sunderland v Leicester Fosse (1907)
Sunderland v Middlesbrough (1904)
Trotting Match at Springfield Park, Wigan (1904)
Two Oared Boat Race, Sunday's Well, Cork (1902)
Wales v Ireland at Wrexham (1906)
Blackburn Rovers v Aston Villa (1904)
Final of International Cup at Cork Regatta (1902)
Warrington v St.Helens (1901)
Water Polo Match (c.1901)
Burnley Football (1903)
Bolton Football 2 (c.1900)
