Remembering the days when March Town v Wisbech Town Christmas derbies drew thousands
What does Christmas football mean to local fans in 2022? Friday's March Town United game at Godmanchester Rovers was a victim of the weather, while Wisbech are in action today against Deeping Rangers.
Looking back to 1948, it was very different. The Hares were getting ready to play a festive double header against Wisbech, on Christmas Day at 10.30am and Boxing Day at 2.15pm.
As Geoff Morton, now 87 and a lifelong supporter of the Hares, recalls: “I would have opened my presents in the morning, gone to the football soon afterwards before having Christmas lunch after the match.”
March had shocked their local rivals the previous year when beating them 4-2 in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round. Local reports indicated a degree of optimism from the March camp for the festive fixtures, though the United Counties League table told another story at that time.
March Town United were in their first season in the United Counties league after joining as champions of the Peterborough League and languished near the bottom while Wisbech lay in fourth place, challenging for the title. However, the Hares had defeated league leaders Desborough Town 4-2 earlier in the month.
‘Record gates expected,’ said the local press... so much so that special trains were laid on.
The long anticipated local derby certainly caught the imagination of local football fans. Over 3,400 spectators, many in their flat caps, a few in their trilbys, most wearing ties, made their way to the GER Sports Ground for the early morning kick off. Geoff had by now opened his presents! The Hares began brightly but against the run of play the visiting centre forward Tamborkski netted after 11 minutes. Terry Robinson extended the lead midway through the half before a Brian Turner headed reduced the arrears. Despite reports saying the Hares were doing most of the attacking, Tamborski added a third before half time.
The fitter Wisbech side established their superiority in the second half, going on to win the yuletide fixture 7-2. A Preston scored the other March goal.
An interesting aside to the match day action was the lucky programme number prize of 50 cigarettes. The cost of the programme was threepence in old money.
The Boxing Day fixture at Fenland Park kicked off at 2.15pm, still time for spectators to go to the pub or recover from their Christmas Day excesses. There were fewer cars, petrol rationing limited travel so those extra trains would have helped.
A crowd of 3,312 saw Wisbech win 5-1 despite the Hares taking a sixth minute lead through Brian Turner.
March Reserves fared better in their Christmas Day derby against their Wisbech counterparts, drawing 3-3 at Fenland Park.
There was no Christmas Day fixture in 1949, the local derby double header moving to Boxing Day and December 27. Wisbech won the GER tie 5-2 while the return ended goalless. A total of 9,330 attended the two matches.
As Geoff Morton pointed out to me, in December 1949 the Hares played on 24, 26, 27 & 31. That would get the manager’s of today complaining about fixture congestion.
Even at my age it is hard to comprehend the crowds at the GER and Fenland Park but very few people had television sets at the time. There was no rush to get to the Christmas sales or log on to the laptop or tablet. Three years after the war a trip to the football was a day out.
I don’t know when the Hares played their last Christmas Day match but thanks to Gordon Smith, the fountain of Wisbech FC statistics, I discovered that Wisbech Town ended their Christmas Day games in 1957 against Grantham at Fenland Park while their reserve side travelled to play Holbeach Reserves on December 25, 1971.
As for the professionals, the late 40s and early 50s were a boom time for Christmas crowds. Like the March v Wisbech fixtures, double headers over the two days were the norm. The last full programme of Division 1 games on Christmas Day were played in 1957. The last ever match played on Christmas Day featured Blackpool and Blackburn in 1965. The Tangerines won 4-2 with
future World Cup winner Alan Ball playing for the home side.
The main reason the tradition stopped was the end of public transport on Christmas Day, together with the growth of television ownership around the country.
But for those like Geoff Morton and my father, they will never forget the days when, after opening their presents on Christmas morning, they went along to the GER Sports Ground to see the Hares.
