MONTHLY ROUND-UP: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1870
The Royal Artillery Barracks’ two-year reign as champions of the Metropolitan League is over, and it ended in circumstances remarkably similar to how it had continued a year ago. Last year it was a win over Greenwich in a tiebreaker game that secured a second title, this year defeat at home to Greenwich denied the Artillery another tiebreaker which could have brought a third success. They had begun October by drawing level with the City of London Club with two games to play, winning their final scheduled meeting 6-0. That seemed to shake the City Club who also lost their next game 6-1 to Greenwich, their third successive loss, but the Artillery couldn’t move ahead as they let slip a seventh inning lead to fall 2-1 to Kensington. That left the two teams tied with one game to play, and the weather was destined to play a part as a week of rain left the Artillery’s home field unfit for play, causing their game with Greenwich to be postponed.
The City Club’s meeting with Angel went ahead, and despite falling behind early on they turned the game around in the middle innings to record a 5-3 success. That forced the Artillery to win the rescheduled game with Greenwich a week later to force a tiebreaker, but they fell 1-0 behind in the fifth inning. Last year they took the title by turning around a 1-0 deficit late on, but this time it was Greenwich who added a second run in the eighth inning and the Artillery had no answer. They went down 2-0 and in doing so, handed the title to the City Club – a remarkable turnaround for a team who finished last with just eight wins to their name a year ago. Nineteen wins this time was enough to bring the championship for the first time, the fourth different winner in the league’s six season to date.
The defeat for the Artillery even denied them second place outright, as the Old Westminsters finished with four successive wins to join them on eighteen wins and twelve defeats, the same mark as both had posted a year ago before the tiebreaker games. The Westminsters performed admirably in the second half of the campaign to finish just one behind the City Club, winning fourteen of their final seventeen games. The Regent’s Park took fourth place having finished with two wins to end on an even record, while Angel’s promising campaign ended badly as six successive defeats dropped them into the bottom half of the standings. They shared fifth place with both Kensington, who also finished badly, and Greenwich – who won their last five games and eleven of the last sixteen having taking just two of the first fourteen. That left Clapham alone in last place, two games behind anyone else.
In the Manchester and District League, rain also caused problems with scheduling in the final weekend of the season, even as far as pushing the final game into November. Salford had begun the month closing in on the championship, but the postponement of their game with Stockport delayed the process somewhat. Victory over Oldham brought them to a meeting with Irwell, by then eliminated from the race, knowing that a win would secure the championship while a defeat would keep Oldham in the race a while longer. The game was tied going to the ninth inning but it was Irwell who found three runs to take the win, leaving Salford waiting at least one more week.
Another rescheduled game with Rochdale followed, where again the situation was the same – a win brought Salford the title, a defeat and the race would go on to their and Oldham’s final games a week later. Salford took a second inning lead and although Rochdale fought hard, this time the league leaders had done enough. A 1-0 victory secured the inaugural crown for Salford, and when both they and Oldham lost their final games the margin ended up at two games. Remarkably, that defeat left Salford having allowed more runs than they scored during the season, but that didn't stop them from taking the championship. Oldham had to share second place with Stockport, who disappointed for much of the year having been tipped to do well but finished strongly with four successive wins. The last of those came against Moss Grove in a twice postponed match-up which due to other rescheduled games, had to be played on the first Saturday in November. The clubs were not keen for the season to run so long with the days growing ever shorter, and having dealt with fading light in their previous games they agreed to start that final game at 2pm rather than the usual 3pm. In response, the league agreed that in future seasons, any game played after the intended end of the season would begin an hour earlier.
Defeat in that final game left Moss Grove on an even record in a tie for fourth place with Irwell, who finished the season poorly having looked potential champions for much of the year. At the bottom of the standings, Bolton won their final two games to end one ahead of Rochdale and Belle Vue. For Belle Vue, it was a disappointing end to the year after they looked to have put a poor start behind them with a good run in the middle of the season. Despite the issues with rain and scheduling in October, the league’s first season was deemed to be a resounding success and although the format will be unchanged next year, there are already rumours that the competition will grow to ten teams for the 1872 campaign. Both leagues now move on to their annual meetings, when the season’s awards will be handed out.
