Sad Football FatalityA CORONER'S jury at Kidderminster, on Monday, returned a verdict of manslaughter against William Spilsbury, aged sixteen, for causing the death of Joseph Randall, aged eighteen years, and he was committed for trial to the Worcestershire Assizes. The youths were playing at football, when a quarrel arose about a kick-off. The coroner commented upon the roughness which so frequently characterised the playing of football.
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Illustrated Police News, 19 October 1889
Football FatalityBANDSMAN SNAITH, of the Northumberland Militia Artillery, while playing in a military football match at Berwick, fell dead after the ball had struck him in the stomach. The affair caused a painful sensation among a large crowd of spectators, and the match was stopped.
The deceased, who was a comparatively young man, belonged to Gateshead, Newcastle. His body was conveyed to the military hospital to await an inquest.
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Illustrated Police News, 13 June 1903
A FOOTBALLER'S GHOST WEIRD STORY FROM BRADFORD.
A strange story of a midnight visitation is reported by the "Bradford Evening Telegraph" from the Park Avenue football ground. After dark the famous Rugby rendezvous is a lonesome spot. Mr. John Jennings, who is known in Bradford football circles for his pluck and daring, shortly after eleven o'clock on Friday night noticed a light which had suddenly appeared in the bar of the cricket pavilion. On approaching the bar he could distinctly see the full figure of a man walking about inside the premises. Mr. Jennings summoned the aid of a police constable. Contrary to expectations the place was in good order, and nothing had been displaced. The doors, windows, and everything were intact, and a closer examination of the interior showed that nothing had been disturbed. No person could be found concealed on the premises, and there was absolutely no trace of any living soul about the place. One ghostly suggestion is that it is the spirit of a recently departed footballer who has come to inspire the Bradford organisation to the activity which characterised it in its palmy days.
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Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger, 14 January 1905
Inquests.
A Football FatalityAN inquest was held at Greenwich by Mr. H. R. Oswald on the body of Frederick Arthur Glover, aged nineteen, a stonemason's labourer, of Elderson Grove, Greenwich.
The evidence showed that on the afternoon of September 17 the deceased and several others were playing football on Blackheath, when the deceased tripped over the ball and fell, sustaining injuries to his left thigh. He was taken to the Miller Hospital, Greenwich, where he died the same night. The post-mortem examination showed that on the left side Glover was suffering from a cyst, which was half as large again as a cocoanut. This had burst, and death was caused by hemorrhage produced by his fall.
The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death."
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Illustrated Police News, 1 October 1910
Baby's Dead Body as a FootballAN inquest was held at Stepney on Saturday by Mr. Wynne E. Baxter, the East London coroner, on the body of a newly-born female child, whose parents are known, which was found in Sidney Street, Commercial Road, E. It was wrapped in an underskirt and an apron, and before the parcel came into the hands of the police some boys had been seen playing football with it. There were injuries to the head caused, according to Dr. Grant, the divisional surgeon, before death by either blow or a fall.
The coroner said that whilst the case was a suspicious one, there was not sufficient evidence to prove that a crime had been committed, and the jury returned a verdict of "Found dead." It was stated that this was the third body that had been similarly found during the week.
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Illustrated Police News, 8 January 1910
Sad Fatalities at a Football Match A LOST FOOTBALL CAUSES TWO DEATHS AT ABERAVON.
IT was shown at an inquest at Aberdare on Saturday that the loss of a football had been responsible for the loss of two lives and the narrow escape of a third person.
A ten-year-old lad, named Harold James, was engaged by the players in a football match at Aberavon the previous day to recover the ball when it went out of bounds. The ball was kicked into the river, and the lad, rushing after it, fell in, was carried away by the strong current, and drowned.
A young man, named Harry Wrentmore, who attempted a rescue, was seized with cramp, and was with difficulty brought to the bank. Artificial respiration had to be resorted to, and in the evening he was out of danger.
Bertie Veale, twenty, also ran to the rescue, but was seen to fall on his face. He became unconscious, and died soon after.
A verdict of "Accidental drowning" was returned in the case of James, and one of "Death from heart failure" in that of Veale.
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Illustrated Police News, 5 March 1910