For fans of the England national side, the wait for success goes on. Despite those near misses at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, no English skipper has lifted a significant trophy since Bobby Moore did the honours back in 1966.
Almost 60 years of hurt is nothing compared to the yawning chasm back to Great Britain’s most recent triumph at the Olympic Football tournament. Not since 1912 has a glittering gold medal adorned the neck of a British footballer at the quadrennial sporting jamboree. With all due respect to any 112-year-old readers, memories of this event likely live only in the history books.
Over a century of failure seems all the more improbable considering the electric start Great Britain made to life at the Olympics. Having won three of the first four Olympic tournaments in 1900, 1908, and 1912, few would have believed such a barren spell would follow. However, Great Britain has only entered a men’s team on seven occasions since that 1912 triumph – largely due to the wranglings of the English, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish FAs.
London 1908 – A First for the Olympics
Here we hark back to a time when assembling a Great British squad appears to have been much easier. Included in that 1908 squad were a couple of Chelsea heroes who, in addition to their other achievements, became the first Pensioners to claim Olympic gold.
Having been fought out by club sides from the competing nations at previous games, 1908 represented the first Olympics contested by representative national sides. That said, the rest of Great Britain didn’t get much of a look in, as every member of the Great Britain squad was English. Included in that number were Great Britain captain Vivian Woodward, who would join Chelsea a year after the games, and backup goalkeeper Ronald Brebner, who represented the Blues between 1906 and 1911.
Three Steps to Gold
The turnout for the 1908 tournament was low by modern standards, with only eight nations registering to compete for the medals. Following the withdrawal of Hungary and Bohemia, only six teams remained: Great Britain, France A, France B, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
England 12-1 Sweden
With the draw made prior to the withdrawals of Hungary and Bohemia, France A and the Netherlands were handed a bye at the quarter-final stage. Great Britain made short work of Sweden in a 12-1 rout, with Woodward hitting a first-half brace.
England 4-0 Netherlands
The Netherlands came next in the Semi-Finals at White City, with Henry Stapley – of West Ham United and Glossop fame – hitting all four goals in a 4-0 cruise.
Denmark awaited in a final played out in front of 6,000 fans and looked set to provide Great Britain with their sternest test. Beating France B 9-0 in the quarters, they then ruined Gallic morale even further when going goal crazy in a 17-1 thrashing of France A – Sophus Nielsen helping himself to 10 of the goals.
England 2-0 Denmark
As expected, the final was a closely fought affair, with a Danish side, which included renowned mathematician Harald Bohr and his Noble Prize-winning physicist brother Niels Bohr, putting up stern resistance. However, a Frederick Chapman strike nudged Great Britain ahead in the 20th minute, with a Vivian Woodward effort one minute after the break handing the hosts the decisive advantage. The final score was Great Britain 2-0 Denmark, as the current and future Blues made their way to the gold medal podium.
Whilst reports of substitutions from the time are a little hazy, Brebner appears to have played a minimal role in the march to gold. However, having netted in two of the three games, including that crucial strike in the final, Woodward was central to the success of the side. Bu.t just who were these Chelsea Olympians?
Vivian Woodward
Given Sophus Nielsen’s 10-goal haul against France, frontman Woodward had little chance of claiming top scorer honours at the 1908 Olympics. However, his overall record at international level makes for astonishing reading.
Racking up 53 combined appearances for England and England Amateurs, the Surrey native scored an incredible 75 goals for his country when we include the goals he scored for Great Britain and in the non-official England Amateurs games. That tally is still the highest combined total of any player to represent England, whilst his goals per game average of 1.42 is the highest of any international player with more than 50 goals for their nation.
Scoring five times in six appearances for Great Britain, Woodward became a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner when captaining the side to success for a second time at the 1912 games in Stockholm.
At club level, Woodward began life at Clacton Town, Harwich & Parkeston, and Chelmsford, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in 1901. Scoring 68 times in 146 appearances for Spurs, he holds the honour of scoring the first-ever league goal for the North Londoners.
Having hung up his boots to concentrate on cricket and his first profession of architecture, Woodward returned for a short spell at Chelmsford before joining Chelsea at 30 years of age in 1909. Finishing as the top scorer in the 1912/13 season, Woodward left to enlist in the British Army with a record of 34 goals in 116 games. Suffering a career-ending injury whilst fighting for his country during the First World War, he returned to serve on the Chelsea board between 1922 and 1930. Woodward died in 1954 at 74 years of age.
Ronald Brebner
In comparison to Woodward, the tale of Ronald Brebner is tragically brief. Brebner played only a minor role at the 1908 games. However, he became the established number one at the 1912 Olympics, playing all three games and keeping two clean sheets on the way to a second gold medal.
Beginning at Edinburgh University, the much-travelled Brebner enjoyed stints at Northern Nomads, London Caledonians, Elgin City, Sunderland, Chelsea (19 appearances in two spells), his hometown club of Darlington, and Leicester Fosse. It was whilst representing Leicester Fosse in 1914 that Brebner suffered severe head injuries, leading to his untimely death at just 33.