On 3 August 1914, the British Empire declared war on Germany. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle captured the feeling of the time when he declared: ‘If the cricketer had a straight eye let him look along the barrel of a rifle. If a footballer had strength of limb let them serve and march in the field of battle.’ At first the football season continued without interruption, but by November 1914, as much of Britain's professional army lay dead in the mud of Flanders, the game came under increasingly hostile criticism in the press. Such criticism did not take into account the fact that many star footballers had been released from their contracts and were already in the army. Thousands more would join them as casualties mounted in France. By the end of the war, some of Britain’s greatest star footballers had paid the ultimate price for their bravery.
In early September 1914, the FA wrote to the War Office offering to abandon all football for the duration of the war. The official reply had left the decision to the FA but stated that the government ‘would deprecate anything being done which does not appear to be called for in the present situation’. It was the need to recruit a new army to support the shattered remnants of the British Expeditionary Forice and the obvious fact, by the end of October, that the war would not be over by Christmas which provoked a campaign against professional football, both inside and outside Parliament. Newspapers, most notably the Morning Chronicle and The Times, pressed for an end to what they regarded as a national scandal. A hostile letter published in The Times on 7 November was indicative of that newspaper’s campaign. ‘A man may be doing his duty in other fields than the front’, the writer conceded ‘But there is no excuse for diverting from the front thousands of athletes in order to feast the eyes of crowds of inactive spectators, who are either unfit to fight or else unfit to be fought for…Every club that employs a professional football player is bribing a needed recruit from enlistment, and every spectator who pays his gate money is contributing so much towards a German victory’.
Good Sportsmen
The press contrasted the actions of the FA with those of the amateur Rugby Union which had, nine days after the war broke out, made a country-wide appeal to its members. National, county and club games were cancelled for the duration and many leading players answered the nation’s call. The Times stepped up its campaign on 19 November with a strongly worded attack on football by the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges: ‘The amateur Rugby footballers set them a good example, for they not only discontinued their play, but volunteered a full complement of fighters; and thus acted as the true sportsmen that they are. As for professional football, the sight-seeing crowds are not, I hope, as much to blame as they appear to be; I take it that they are ignorantly misled by the small body of men who cater for them; but surely it is impossible that these few managers should be so unintelligent or unpatriotic as to be beyond the reach of an appeal to reason!’ Bridges warned against the dangers of apathy, ‘It is high time that our footballers let the world see what they are really made of and that they do not deserve the execration that is falling upon them’.
In response to such criticism a meeting took place between FA officials and representatives of the War Office. Although the FA subsequent decided to continue to play matches ‘where, by so doing they could assist, and did not hinder the authorities in recruiting’. It was also agreed to use the Saturday afternoon league match as a recruiting opportunity. The plan was that prominent men should make a recruiting speech during the half-time interval. Ideally a military band would be in attendance and at the end of the game those men who had volunteered would march behind it to the nearest recruiting station. But the scheme was far from successful. According to The Times for 23 November 1914, the first attempt yielded just one recruit at an Arsenal game and a speech by Colonel Burn MP at the Chelsea ground on the same day failed to produce even one recruit.

The Times contrasted association football’s failure with the patriotic approach adopted by cricket, rugby union and rowing clubs. In response a Special article appeared in The Times on 28 November defending football’s contribution to the war effort. Written by G. Wagstaffe Simmons, Hon. Secretary of the Herts Football Association, the article claimed that there were only about 5,000 professionals all told and 2,000 were already serving in the armed forces. Only about 6,000 unmarried men who depended on the game for their livelihood had not volunteered. On the same page a list of leading clubs was given together with some detail about the volunteers which they had provided. West Bromwich Albion, for example, had formed a special company attached to the Fifth South Staffordshire Territorials. Although it had been raised principally from among their supporters eight of the club’s players had enlisted. ‘Those who play and watch football cannot understand why this sport should have been singled out’, Wagstaffe Simmons complained ‘bearing in mind that it has contributed more men to the colours and more money to war funds than all other sports combined. Over 100,000 amateur football players have responded to the call to arms, and others are joining every day. Thousands of clubs have suspended operations because they have not players to play matches.’
The Kaki Final
Supporters of football pointed out that other sports, such as golf and horse racing were continuing. They were convinced that criticism of football was motivated by the upper class contempt for a workingman’s game. In spite of the controversy, the 1914-1915 football season was completed with Sheffield United defeating Chelsea in the FA Cup final. The match was dubbed “The Khaki Final” because of the number of uniformed spectators present. Despite a hostile press the recruiting campaign among football followers had been so successful that by the end of the season attendances fell by half and most of the best players were in uniform. The pressures from falling attendances and associated financial problems, the increasing difficulty of keeping up team strengths and the perils of travelling on a wartime railway, persuaded the football authorities not to continue after the 1914-15 season. After he had presented the FA Cup and medals in 1915, Lord Derby said, ‘the clubs and their supporters had seen the cup played for, and it was not the duty of everyone to join with each other and play a sterner game for England’. The Football League expressed much the same hope to its players: ‘every eligible young man will find in the service of the nation a higher call than in playing football’.
Pals
Unlike many continental powers, Britain in 1914 had no tradition of compulsory military service. War Minister, Earl Kitchener, undertook instead to raise a New Army of volunteers for the relatively small British Expeditionary Force that the government considered necessary. Half a million men joined up in the first month and a hundred thousand each month thereafter. The enthusiasm for volunteered was strongly influenced by the belief that it would be over by Christmas. The formation of a volunteer army in 1914 was greatly assisted by the decision to General Henry Rawlinson suggestion that men would be more willing to join up if they could serve with people they already knew. These regiments became known as ‘Pals Battalions’. Battalions such as the Hull Commercials shared an occupation; others, like the Glasgow Tramways Battalion, had the same employer while the Tyneside Irish had a common background.
The 15th (service) Battalion (1st Leeds) The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) was known as "The Leeds Pals". Amongst its ranks were sportsmen such as Yorkshire County Cricket Club players, athletes and footballers. Prominent among the later was Evelyn Lintott, a teacher who became a professional footballer, appearing for Plymouth Argyle, Queens Park Rangers, Bradford City and Leeds City. He was the first professional footballer to gain a commission. He was killed in action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme offensive. According to a letter published in the Yorkshire Post, ‘Lt. Lintott's end was particularly gallant. Tragically, he was killed leading his platoon of the 15th West Yorkshire Regiment, The Leeds Pals, over the top. He led his men with great dash and when hit the first time declined to take the count. Instead, he drew his revolver and called for further effort. Again he was hit but struggled on but a third shot finally bowled him over.’

The 17th Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge's Own Middlesex Regiment was known as the "Footballers' Battalion". Its numbers included no less than forty players and staff from Clapton Orient (now Leyton Orient) the first English Football League club to enlist together. The club’s leading goal-scorers Richard McFadden and William Jonas were amongst those killed during the Battle of the Somme. William Jones was a great pre-war favourite with the female fans - he requested that the club put a statement in the programme thanking the ladies for their kind letters but please stop sending any more as he did not want to upset his wife!
Shortly before his own death, his life long friend and team mate Richard McFadden witnessed Jonas die on the battlefield. He wrote to tell fans of the bad news before he himself became a victim of the conflict. He said: ‘I, Richard McFadden, sadly report the death of my friend and O's colleague William Jonas on the morning of Thursday 27th July, aged 26. Both Willie and I were trapped in a trench near the front in Somme, France. Willie turned to me and said 'Goodbye Mac, best of luck, special love to my sweetheart Mary Jane and best regards to the lads at Orient. Before I could reply to him, he was up and over. No sooner had he jumped out of the trench, my best friend of nearly 20 years was killed before my eyes. Words cannot express my feelings at this time. Yours, Company Serjeant (sic) Major Richard McFadden.’
Walter Tull, one of the first black professional footballers, was another outstanding footballer who abandoned his career and joined the 1st Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Walter’s father had arrived from Barbados in 1876 and had married a girl from Folkestone. Walter was serving an apprenticeship as a printer when he was signed for Tottenham Hotspur. He played only a few games; in a game at Bristol City in 1909 he was racially abused by fans in what the Football Star called ‘language lower than Billingsgate’ He was subsequently sold to Northampton Town where he flourished, played 110 first team appears for the club.
Walter joined up immediately at the outbreak of war, and despite military regulations forbidding "any negro or person of colour" being an officer, he had received his commission by May, 1917. On 25th March, 1918, Walter was ordered to lead his men on an attack on the German trenches at Favreuil. Soon after entering No Mans Land, he was hit by a German bullet. It is a testimony to Tull’s popularity within the Regiment that several of his men made valiant efforts under heavy fire from German machine-guns to bring him back to the British trenches. These efforts were in vain and Tull had died soon after being hit. His commanding officer wrote to Walter’s brother, ‘He was popular throughout the battalion. He was brave and conscientious. The battalion and company had lost a faithful officer, and personally I have lost a friend’