Although in recent years Burnley have
played few games against foreign opposition, such matches are commonplace today, but in
the last century they were few and far between. This was mainly because of the time it
took to travel abroad and also because football had not yet become popular in many
countries. Burnley did, however, play two interesting games against foreign opposition in
the 1890s.
In 1891 a team representing Canada embarked on an extensive tour of
Britain, playing over twenty games, managing to beat Middlesbrough 1-0, Lincoln City 2-1,
Shropshire 6-4, South Wales 9-0 and drawing 1-1 against Wales. They also lost a number of
games, and these included another international against Wales 2-1, Scotland 5-1 and
Ireland 5-2.
The game against Burnley took place on October 31st 1891 at
Turf Moor, and at the time Burnley were lying eighth in the Football League. Such a
novelty did the game proved to be that some 5,000 people turned up to watch and Burnley
lined up: Jack Hillman, James Walker, Alex Lang (captain), Walter Place Snr, James
Matthews, Thomas Nash, Tom Nicol, Alex McLardie, William Graham, Alex Stewart, James Hill.
The stars of the Burnley team at that time were goalkeeper Hillman, fullback Lang and
forwards McLardie and Stewart. Their Canadian opponents lined up: W Waring, T Whittaker, M
Ellis, J Warbrick, W Manson, W Buckingham, J Dalton, W Hale, D Shea, W Bowman (captain), J
Buckley. Rather surprisingly, Burnley were held to a 2-2 draw, despite Tom Nicol twice
giving Burnley the lead. The Clarets were fielding nearly their full League team, missing
only William McFeteridge. Hale and Shea scored the Canadian goals.
Eight years later, on October 28th 1899, a team from Africa
called the Kaffirs played at Turf Moor. This was something of a farce, with the Africans
fielding several Burnley players, and the game ended up in a 7-6 win for the Clarets. Only
1,000 people turned up to watch the game, and Burnley’s team included several
reserves: Faulkner, Harry Ross, Tom McLintock, Fred Barron, Joe Taylor, Alex Livingstone,
Walter Place Snr, William Bowes, Walter Jenkinson, Edgar Chadwick, James Savage. The
Burnley goalscorers were Chadwick 2, Savage, Taylor, Bowes, Barron and Jackson.
Apart from these two games, Burnley were regularly playing friendly
matches against sides from Scotland and Ireland.
David Ellis
February 1984
