John Houlding

Everton & Celtic Brothers: The Royal Blue Jersey Song

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• published: 13 Nov 2012
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A video I made of Englands 4th most successful club. 9 Titles, 5 FA Cups, 9 Charity Shields, 1 European Cup Winners Cup, More Top Flight Seasons than anyone. JOHN WILLIAMS (FOOTBALL SOCIOLOGIST): "People dressed their houses, though my Mum would never allow my brother's Evertonian blue to go up in case neighbours or passers-by mistakenly took us for Catholics" JOHN WOODS (LIVERPOOL AUTHOR): "It was strange in the 1930s for a Catholic to support Liverpool" CILLA BLACK (LIVERPOOL SINGER): "In Liverpool, even in the two-ups and two-downs, most Protestants were Conservative and most Catholics were Labour, just as Everton was the Catholic team and Liverpool the Proddy-Dog one" TOMMY SMITH (EX LIVERPOOL FC PLAYER AND CAPTAIN): "Pop Moran even tried to turn me off football at Anfield -- Catholics were traditionally Everton supporters and players, Liverpool were the Protestant team. Pop honestly thought that being a Catholic I wouldn't be happy at Anfield" JAMES HANDLEY (CELTIC FC HISTORIAN): "Everton Football Club, like Celtic Football Club, owed its success to immigrant support, the Irish in Liverpool rallying wholeheartedly round it' DAVID KENNEDY (AUTHOR): "In the mid twentieth century Everton forged connections with clubs in Ireland, such as Dundalk and with Dublin teams Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. By contrast, Ireland was a virtually untapped market for Liverpool FC until the end of the twentieth century. During the 1980s Liverpool signed a host of Irish international stars including Ronnie Whelan, Steve Staunton, Jim Beglin and Michael Robinson. This relatively late influx into the club has led some to talk of a less welcoming attitude toward Irish born players at Liverpool FC. Everton were the first English club to have a supporters' association set up in Ireland, becoming the first example of a club with a large 'overseas' support, as hundreds of Irishmen travelled to Liverpool for Everton games. Symbolically, the connection between Everton and Ireland was cemented with the move of Everton's greatest ever player and iconic figure, Dixie Dean, to Sligo Rovers in 1939. Everton's forging strong links with Ireland was a "follow on" of some aspect of its boardroom profile. Such a policy might explain the large amount of evidence professing Everton to be a team supported by Liverpool Catholics: the amount of Irish players the club attracted to it igniting a certain degree of ethnic pride in Everton amongst the city's Irish-born or those of Irish descent. I have highlighted elsewhere the strongly partisan political dimension to the Everton split in 1892. In the wake of that event the Everton boardroom became a relative stronghold of men involved in Liberal politics, whereas the Liverpool boardroom was an almost exclusive preserve of men involved in some way with the local Conservative Party. Six Liverpool directors were members of the Constitutional Association, which exercised complete control over district Conservative Associations in Liverpool and affiliated societies such as the Orange Order. From figures amongst the Liverpool FC hierarchy, there was a public outpouring of feeling toward the Protestant-Unionist cause. Founder and Chairman of Liverpool FC, John Houlding, found it difficult to contain his religious leanings as a Orangeman whilst carrying out his duties. Houlding pointedly refused granting to Catholic priests any payment for ministering to Catholic inmates of workhouses. Another Liverpool FC director, Edwin Berry, leaves us evidence of his vigilance against the re-emergence of an influential Roman Catholic Church in British society. A close associate of both Houlding and Berry at Liverpool FC was MP of the National Protestant Union, Sir James A Willox. Willox, was not a club director but was an influential large shareholder in Liverpool FC, using a "proxy" on the board to advance his interests in the club. A firebrand in the defence of British dominion over Ireland, Willox, speaking to a meeting in his Parliamentary Division, attacked Liberal policy on Ireland: 'To conciliate four million people in Ireland' he asked his audience, 'are we going to sacrifice one million and a half of loyal Protestants and faithful lieges of the Queen?'. Speaking to another Conservative audience, Willox called for 'more of Cromwell's courage and more of his religion' in public life. The Unionist sentiments of the hierarchy of Liverpool FC are firmly underlined by the connections many of their directors had with the WMCA. Described as 'the engine of Protestant power' the WMCA were at the vanguard of anti-Catholic politics in the city. An organization 'held together by its tough Orange fibre', it was predictably staunch on the Irish Question. The amount of people involved in the ownership and control of Liverpool FC in the period under review who were also key figures in the WMCA is quite remarkable. But the link was a longstanding affair at the club, stretching beyond the First World War to the 1950s.