Kettering Football Sensation 1905

[anthony.brown]

For the 1905/6 season cash-strapped Hitchin, £50 in debt, had to dispense with paid players for a time. Drawing Kettering in a preliminary round of the FA Cup, Hitchin had choice of ground but switched the tie to Kettering for a guarantee of £20 plus half the gross beyond that sum. Hitchin lost the match by four goals to nil. Hitchin did rather better in the following season, beating Kettering 5-0 with centre forward J.Chamberlain scoring four goals.

KETTERING FOOTBALL SENSATION
The recent English Cup tie between Kettering and Hitchin has had a very unpleasant sequel in the suspension of Mr Charles Forman, the financial secretary of the Kettering Town Football Club, by the Southern Divisional Emergency Committee as the result of a complaint laid before them by the Hitchin Club.
Hitchin stated that they had choice of ground, but agreed to go to Kettering for £20 and half the gross beyond that sum. Before the match three rolls of tickets were checked, but when the gate was checked it was discovered there were numerous tickets from a roll which had not been checked, and should not have been used. Attention was called to this, and a careful count showed that the money for 100 tickets had not been brought into account. The Hitchin representative decided he would take all the tickets away, but a heap of 100 was then missing. Subsequently it was found that this number was missing from the tickets sold from one of the checked rolls, but there were 100 from a roll which had not been checked, and was not produced when demanded. When Kettering were asked for an explanation they replied that they left the whole arrangements to their financial secretary, Mr Forman, and the latter wrote accepting entire responsibility. He emphatically denied that any tickets had been sold which had not been accounted for, and during the past 12 years that he held office such a suggestion had never previously been made.
Northampton Mercury Friday 1st December 1905

[russell]

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, so hopefully this Saturday is the perfect opportunity to punish Mr Forman's dishonesty