Old Soccer Films

I'm a great fan of old soccer films. Many of these were lost forever, or so we thought, and then resurrected many decades later after some chance discovery in a dusty attic. Take the films of the pioneers Mitchell and Kenyon as examples - many of which provide us with exquisite glimpses of the English soccer match of the turn of the last century (hopefully more about these in future posts).

The film I've been watching today was also rediscovered and shows us the skills of that Swindon Town stalwart and legend, Harold Fleming - they even named a road after him in Swindon, Fleming Way.

Not only was I interested in the player in the typical heavy kit and boots of the day (we're talking early 1900's here) but also how much Swindon Town's ground had changed over the last century or so (I'm also a great fan of sporting architecture).

The film can be clicked to at the bottom of the following web article. Hope you find it as fascinating as  I did. Enjoy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2009/01/28/harold_fleming_footage_feature.shtml