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FROM THE ARCHIVES
Recalling previous meetings against teams from Amsterdam.
By Jon Rayner.
Tony Galvin is closed down by
three Ajax defenders at the Lane
We won all four of our matches on ourfirst visit
to the Netherlands in 1928, which included a
game in Amsterdam.
A couple of the matches served as
warm-up games for the Netherlands ahead
of the 1928 Olympics which were held in Amsterdam. The
Dutch were drawn to face Uruguay in the first round of the
football tournament at the Games on 30 May.
We faced a select side in all four matches. Taffy
O'Callaghan (2), Jimmy Dimmock, Arthur Grimsdell and
Andy Thompson were on target in the opening game in a 5-2
scoreline against an Olympic A' XI at Amsterdam on 6 May.
At The Hague three days later Dimmock netted a hat-
trick with Harry Skitt scoring twice and Thompson adding
the other. An All Holland XI were faced at Almelo in our
third game with Dimmock and Thompson being joined on
the scoresheet by Jimmy Townley. Thompson and Dimmock
maintained their goalscoring record into the final fixture with
O'Callaghan also finding the net in a 3-0 win at Rotterdam.
As for their Olympic clash, the Dutch disappointingly lost
2-0 to Uruguay at the Olympic Stadium, with their conquerors
going on to win the gold medal, beating Argentina 2-1 at the
same venue on 13 June.
Our touring party consisted of chairman Charles Roberts,
directors Fred Bearman and George Wagstaffe Simmons,
manager Billy Minter and trainer George Hardy. The 14-man
playing squad comprised Arthur Grimsdell, Cyril Spiers,
Matt Forster, Jock Richardson, Darkie Lowdell, Harry Skitt,
Andy Thompson, Taffy O'Callaghan, Jimmy Armstrong, Alec
Lindsay, Jimmy Dimmock, Bert Smith, Cecil Poynton and
Jimmy Townley.
Having finished our league programme earlier than
most clubs, it was while in the Netherlands that we were
relegated from division one with a record number of 38
points, equivalent to 53 under today's system of three
points fora win.
We were reigning English champions and FA Cup holders
when we next visited the Netherlands, arriving in Rotterdam
on 14 May, 1961, just eight days after we completed the
famous'Double!
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