Cardiff City history (pre-war)

Hello all - my name is Steve and I'm a Dulwich Hamlet fan. I'm currently writing a history of the four Hamlet players who died during WW2 on active service and have a question for the Cardiff City historians out there.

One of the players I'm researching is Reg Anderson. He was an England Amateur international and by the time of the outbreak of war, was vice captain at the Hamlet. He was a teacher by profession and in 1938, a change of job took him to teach in Cardiff (I don't know at which school.) His reputation as a decent footballer preceeded him and he was approached by The Bluebirds to play for them. He played one trial match (I've seen one account that said he played twice but the consensus seems to be once) and by all accounts was man of the match and was offered terms by Cardiff for a permanent move. On reflection though, he decided that the life of a professional player wasn't for him and he continued to commute back to London to play for Dulwich at weekends, as well as no doubt to visit his parents, who still lived in South London.

So my question is - I'm guessing it would have been the 1938-39 season that he played his one (or two) match(es) although it could have been the season before. Are there any Cardiff historians out there know who this was against, dates etc., and whether it was a league match, friendly or basically any information that might be out there.

Reg joined the RAF on the outbreak of war and volunteered as aircrew. He died on 24 February whilst serving with 106 Squadron when his Hampden bomber was shot down over the German island of Sylt and is today buried at the CWGC cemetery in Kiel. He was 25 when he died.

Any information gratefully received - thanks Steve

Scored on his debut for City in a league match they won 4-1 in April 1939 against Notts County.He made 2 appearances for the city as far as I can tell though he was retained as an amateur for the rest of the 1939-40 season.Thats all I can find.

Scored on his debut for City in a league match they won 4-1 in April 1939 against Notts County.He made 2 appearances for the city as far as I can tell though he was retained as an amateur for the rest of the 1939-40 season.Thats all I can find.

That's great - already a lot more than I knew. He certainly made some further appearances for the Hamlet in wartime football before he joined the RAF as I have seen his name in programmes for that era. Thanks for your help.

The clubs official historian, Richard Shepherd, is an expert in such matters. It might be worth getting in touch with him

The clubs official historian, Richard Shepherd, is an expert in such matters. It might be worth getting in touch with him

Thanks - does he have an email address, or is he contactable via the club?

Via the club.I think he does match day commentaries.

The clubs official historian, Richard Shepherd, is an expert in such matters. It might be worth getting in touch with him

Thanks - does he have an email address, or is he contactable via the club?

Answering my own question but I've emailed him via the club website, so will see what he comes up with.

Thanks all for your help thus far. All the best - Steve

Reginald S. Anderson is mentioned in the fine book "The who's who of Cardiff City" by Dean Hayes,,,although there in no more information to add than you have already got. His only two games for City were both against Notts Co, on the 15 April (away) and at home on the 17 April, 1939, scoring one goal, in a 4-1 city win.

Reginald S. Anderson is mentioned in the fine book "The who's who of Cardiff City" by Dean Hayes,,,although there in no more information to add than you have already got. His only two games for City were both against Notts Co, on the 15 April (away) and at home on the 17 April, 1939, scoring one goal, in a 4-1 city win.

Thanks - that is all good information. You guys have been really helpful.

I've had a quick look through what is considered to be the 'bible' of Cardiff City history (The Official History Of The Bluebirds - John Crooks) and can't see a mention in there. Sounds like the best bet is your email to the club historian. Good luck with your project and post back your findings on here.

I've had a quick look through what is considered to be the 'bible' of Cardiff City history (The Official History Of The Bluebirds - John Crooks) and can't see a mention in there. Sounds like the best bet is your email to the club historian. Good luck with your project and post back your findings on here.

Just had a look at the John Crooks book myself and he's definitely in there for 38/39 season, but shows he only played one game and scoring against Notts Co.
Also had a look at 'The Definitive Cardiff City', by Richard Shepherd and it shows Anderson made two appearances, as has been said, both against Notts County.
Good luck with the project.

Just had another look at Shepherds book, this time for 39/40 and it shows an Anderson scored in a war time league game v Torquay. Unfortunately there are no line ups, so doesn't say what other games he might have played in.

I've had a quick look through what is considered to be the 'bible' of Cardiff City history (The Official History Of The Bluebirds - John Crooks) and can't see a mention in there. Sounds like the best bet is your email to the club historian. Good luck with your project and post back your findings on here.

Just had a look at the John Crooks book myself and he's definitely in there for 38/39 season, but shows he only played one game and scoring against Notts Co.
Also had a look at 'The Definitive Cardiff City', by Richard Shepherd and it shows Anderson made two appearances, as has been said, both against Notts County.
Good luck with the project.

I've just checked again and indeed your right.

According to the book, His debut was the 38/39 season (Football League Division 3 -South) against Notts County at Ninian Park. City won 4-1 and Anderson scored. He was wearing the number 8 shirt. Attendance was 5000. The stats say he made only one league appearance, no cup appearances with a total of 1 goal for the season. Another source says the match date was 17th April 1939. Scored on his debut, good lad.

For 39/40, all Football League fixtures were suspended due to the outbreak of World War 2.

.......and there's more from the Crooks book that might help.

For season 1939/1940, Football League fixtures were suspended with the government instructing only local leagues/friendlies were to be maintained for the purpose of morale.

So for 39/40 it appears he also had a total of two appearances and a total of one goal scored. The local league at that time was South-West League (Wartime). In that, he scored against Torquay United at Ninian Park in a 2-2 draw. Attendance 1500. Date was December 2nd 1939.

He also played and scored in a friendly v Birmingham City where we lost 4-5. Attendance 4000. Date was January 6th 1940.

From Terry Philips


Annis,
Have just been reading a query on your MB from a guy in Dulwich Hamlet re Reg Anderson, who played once for Cardiff.
He played 1938-39 League v Notts County (home) 4-1 win for Cardiff on April 17, 1939. He scored a goal for Cardiff.
Sir Herbert Merrett was instrumental in bringing the English amateur international from Dulwich Hamlet to Cardiff City.
Anderson was an employee of Merrett and was retained by Cardiff City for 1939-40 as an amateur.
Sgt Observer Anderson was killed on an operational flight April 1942.
Inside forward, born London

Info from a book by John Crooks

Thank you all for your help - i'm truly grateful. So far, my email to Mr Shepherd hasn't had a reply but still early days. For now, I'm going to go with the information from his book that he played the two matches against Notts County. As far as his registration for the 1939/40 season, perhaps Cardiff City cancelled this on the outbreak of war as he definitely appears as a Hamlet player in some of the early wartime matches that I have programmes for and he also was described as a Hamlet player when he was selected to play for an FA XI (ironically against his future 'employers' the RAF) in March 1940. I've attached a somewhat grainy photograph of him from our 1938/39 Club Handbook. I've got pretty much all of the information with regard to his death in service with the RAF thanks to a few visits to the National Archives and help from the RAF for his service history. Thanks again for all your help guys - all good stuff from the football family. Best of luck for the rest of the season and in your struggles with the owners.

For some reason, Reg's photo didn't upload. Try again.

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Thank you all for your help - i'm truly grateful. So far, my email to Mr Shepherd hasn't had a reply but still early days. For now, I'm going to go with the information from his book that he played the two matches against Notts County. As far as his registration for the 1939/40 season, perhaps Cardiff City cancelled this on the outbreak of war as he definitely appears as a Hamlet player in some of the early wartime matches that I have programmes for and he also was described as a Hamlet player when he was selected to play for an FA XI (ironically against his future 'employers' the RAF) in March 1940. I've attached a somewhat grainy photograph of him from our 1938/39 Club Handbook. I've got pretty much all of the information with regard to his death in service with the RAF thanks to a few visits to the National Archives and help from the RAF for his service history. Thanks again for all your help guys - all good stuff from the football family. Best of luck for the rest of the season and in your struggles with the owners.

He only played the one match against notts county not 2

Thank you all for your help - i'm truly grateful. So far, my email to Mr Shepherd hasn't had a reply but still early days. For now, I'm going to go with the information from his book that he played the two matches against Notts County. As far as his registration for the 1939/40 season, perhaps Cardiff City cancelled this on the outbreak of war as he definitely appears as a Hamlet player in some of the early wartime matches that I have programmes for and he also was described as a Hamlet player when he was selected to play for an FA XI (ironically against his future 'employers' the RAF) in March 1940. I've attached a somewhat grainy photograph of him from our 1938/39 Club Handbook. I've got pretty much all of the information with regard to his death in service with the RAF thanks to a few visits to the National Archives and help from the RAF for his service history. Thanks again for all your help guys - all good stuff from the football family. Best of luck for the rest of the season and in your struggles with the owners.

He only played the one match against notts county not 2

Nobody knows more about Cardiff City than Richard Shepherd and his book states he played against Notts County twice. Other reference books by other authors say the same thing. Maybe John Crooks was wrong?
Thanks to the op for the great picture of Reg Anderson by the way.

As a final bit of interest on this subject, I thought you might be interested in the attached team line-ups from the FA XI v Royal Air Force match played at Champion Hill on 30 March 1940. The RAF side won 3-2 with Kirchen scoring twice and Doherty the winner. Some great old names of 40s and 50s football in those line-ups. The match was played in front of a crowd of 11,400! All the best, Steve

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