Like a vast number of others who have spent many years watching football (over fifty in my case), the thought sometimes occurs of great players predating our time we were never fortunate enough to see play.
The two most obvious to this observer were found linked in the opening seconds of the documentary entitled ‘MATTHEWS‘ that I sat down to watch at the weekend. In the first caption to appear on screen is a quote from the incomparable Brazilian Pele who says of Sir Stanley Matthews, subject of the 2017 film directed by Ryan Scott Warren:
‘Sir Stanley Matthews is the man who taught us how football should be played.’
High praise indeed from a footballer generally regarded as the greatest of all time to bestow on a player for whom the documentary makes the argument of Matthews being the most important figure in 20th Century football – and by the closing credits it feels a compelling case has been made for such.
Matthews, an outrageously talented right-winger, or outside-right in the parlance of his times, appears not only the most skillful footballer England has ever produced, but light years ahead of his time in terms of diet and approach to personal fitness – these innovations allowing Matthews to play at the highest level through four decades, retiring at the age of 50 in 1965.
Not only does the documentary do a fine job in showing what made him year on year the most gifted and talked-about player in the world. It also offers commendable insight in presenting a life story that took him from Stoke-on-Trent to the black South African townships of Soweto where he defied the appalling spectre of apartheid to coach barefooted children – Matthews a lifelong believer in the power of football to shape and enhance lives.
Born February 1st, 1915, in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, a child actor depicts young Stanley dribbling a tightly bound ball of rags between objects in the street – flowerpots rooted to the spot in the way full-backs of renown would later be left in his wake. Born into a working-class Potteries family, his father Jack was a barber and well-known amateur boxer, who instilled into Stanley, if not fighting spirit, then a determination to always give of ones best, no matter what the task.
By the time Stanley Matthews was a teenager his best on the football field was very, very good indeed. Signed as a fifteen-year-old by second division Stoke City in 1930 at £5 per week, his speed and ball skills had already marked him out as a remarkable prospect.
Matthews earned rave press notices as Stoke won Division Two in 1933, his burgeoning reputation further enhanced on scoring the winning goal for England against Wales on his international debut in September 1934 – the only real surprise being it took eighteen months of headlines for him to be capped.
Such acclaim made him the focus not just of newspaper reports but opposing teams. The first team acknowledged in the documentary to work out a way of nullifying the Matthews threat being the German national side – whose full-back Muenzenberg, a quick and experienced operator, had much the better of their exchanges in a 1934 fixture played at White Hart Lane.
But four years later in Berlin, the tables were turned as Matthews produced a mesmerising display in taking apart the highly regarded German defence, scoring a brilliant individual goal (captured on newsreels of the day) as England record an emphatic 6-3 victory.
It is the match perhaps best remembered for the visiting team giving the Nazi-salute prior to kick-off – the England players given clear instruction by the FA for the gesture to be made.
The documentary makes clear the team had been told on arriving at the stadium any player who did not adhere would be dropped and never selected again – the British government still adopting a policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany in the hope of avoiding war.
Such was the anger within the England team at the position they were put in, a magnificent performance ensued. The grainy black and white footage captures Matthews, all swerves and shuffles, in his pomp – the centre he provides for the sixth goal a thing of beauty.
After rounding Muenzenberg for the umpteenth time, Matthews lifts his head and floats a cross over twenty yards to Len Goulden of West Ham, who smashes home to complete the scoring.
Unfortunately, World War Two could not be avoided and although he played numerous war time internationals and exhibition matches due to his role as an RAF Physical Training Instructor, it was thought when the conflict ended in 1945 Matthews, now thirty was past his prime.
Resumption of English league football appeared to bring no decline in his prowess, but a flurry of personality clashes with Stoke manager Bob McGrory went largely unresolved and, in the spring of 1947, Matthews was transferred to Blackpool, a club who had courted him since a war-time RAF posting to the north west.
Determined to serve his new club with distinction, Matthews upped his training regime, rising at 6.30am each morning to run six miles along the Blackpool beaches before heading to Bloomfield Road to train with the team.
At the end of his first season, Matthews is named ‘Footballer of the Year‘ as Blackpool reach the FA Cup Final, where they lose 4-2 against Manchester United – a Wembley return in 1951 bringing Matthews another runners-up medal when Blackpool go down 2-0 to Newcastle United.
With his fortieth birthday approaching, there was a long-held wish of the British public for the most famous sportsman in the land to have in his possession an FA Cup winners medal (in ‘Matthews‘ Gary Lineker paints an excellent picture of how important the FA Cup once was).
Such wishes looked to be going unfulfilled when Blackpool reached the 1953 final – only to trail Bolton Wanderers 3-1 with less than twenty-five minutes left.
Thus comes the legend of the ‘Matthews Final‘ – the story given interesting new perspective by Bolton right-winger Doug Holden.
‘We were 3-1 up and playing well. Whether Stan realised it was his last chance to get a cup-winners medal I don’t know. But what I do know is that in the last twenty minutes he tore us to pieces. Stan was mentally tough, incredibly fit – and started popping up all over the pitch.’
With Stan Mortensen completing a hat-trick to bring Blackpool level, there are only seconds remaining when Matthews beats his man – crossing for Bill Perry to shoot home and win the FA Cup for Blackpool.
At the age of 38 Matthews finally had his winners’ medal. The private and public modesty referred to by Michael Parkinson in the documentary is evident as Matthews deflects praise from his performance when addressing a huge crowd gathered in Blackpool for their return with the FA Cup:
‘It’s been said by some I was the match-winner,’ he tells the cheering throng, ‘but that’s not true. At Wembley we had eleven match winners.’
Yet even after fulfilling the ambition of being an FA Cup winner, Matthews showed no sign of lowering his standards. In May 1956 at the age of 41 he produced what many consider as the finest performance ever produced by an Englishman in an international fixture.
The coming men of Brazil (containing six of the team who two years later would win the World Cup) were unable to repel his wizardry as England run out 4-2 winners – this virtuoso display a significant factor in Matthews being named the first ‘European Footballer of the Year‘ twelve months later.
Due to the onset of a niggling knee injury, in the summer of 1961 Blackpool made known they would listen to offers for him – Matthews going back to Stoke City, who were once again languishing in Division Two, as the returning hero.
From drawing crowds of 9,000 to the Victoria Ground, Stoke saw attendances quadruple with Matthews once more in harness. The next four seasons would see Stoke win Division Two (his second division championship winning medals coming thirty years apart) and re-establish themselves as a topflight club – with Matthews named ‘Footballer of the Year‘ (1963) for a second time.
With the New Year Honours List of 1965 looming Prime Minister of the day Harold Wilson consulted Senior Civil Servants with regard to a knighthood for Matthews, only to encounter opposition due to Matthews still being an active professional footballer.
‘Who has the final say on the matter?’ Wilson is reported to have asked. ‘Well you do,’ replied the Whitehall mandarins. ‘In that case he receives it,’ said Wilson – thus Matthews became the first (and only) footballer to be knighted while continuing to play.
On retirement he had a brief, unsuccessful spell as manager of Port Vale, but after establishing coaching links in South Africa while still a player, returned for 17 consecutive years to establish football communities in Soweto, working with thousands of young black children in the process.
Some of those coached, now respected community coaches in their own right, agreed it was ‘a courageous thing to do‘ given the volatile political climate, another offering the opinion: ‘Sir Stanley wanted people to fulfil their potential.’
Sir Stanley Matthews died at the age of 85 in February 2000, his passing particularly felt by a generation for whom he was not just the greatest footballer of his time, the era itself was also being mourned – by-gone days when football was infused with more dignity and sportsmanship.
True, winning has always been important, but the manner in how the game was played still held virtue.
Watching ‘Matthews‘ was to be transported back to those times – but also a reminder that with his incredible balance, outstanding skill and remarkable football brain, Sir Stanley Matthews would have been a phenomenon in any era of the game.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is also the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
