Historical Accuracy of Netflix’s ‘The English Game’

Following on from my review of the recently-uploaded Netflix football drama ‘The English Game’, I thought it only proper to delve into the real history the story was inspired by.

Set in the early days of association football, the series tells the story of the working class strive to topple their upper-class opponents to win the FA Cup. Interwoven with the personal and professional struggles of real and fictional people, it was always going to distort, amalgamate and make-up plot elements.

I’ve covered the major points here; there are other slight inaccuracies, but these are either not integral to the story or they’re extremely nitpicky – I wish to entertain and inform, rather than inform and send you to sleep. (There will be spoilers, by the way, so unless you’ve already seen it or aren’t’ particularly bothered about being spoiled, stop reading now – save this article in your bookmarks for later, obviously).

So, that’s the warm-up done, let’s kick-off!

How True-To-Life Was ‘The English Game’?

Two Blackburn’s

The major inaccuracy of the series was Fergus Suter captaining ‘Blackburn’ to the FA Cup win, becoming the first-working class team to lift the trophy. The Blackburn team is, in fact, a composite of Blackburn Rovers and Blackburn Olympic – and it was Olympic who were the first working-class team to win the cup in 1883. Suter signed for Blackburn Rovers in 1880 and did go on to lift the cup with them in 1884 (the first of three final wins; none against upper-class sides) – however, he was not part of that Olympic team, so the drama created the composite instead.

Intriguingly, both Blackburn sides wore light blue at the time – for some reason (possibly to have a clear distinction from the Old Etonians’ own light blue shirts), the Blackburn club in this series wore claret.

Three Ties

The opening episode portrays the Fifth Round tie between the Old Etonians and Darwen in 1879 – the match ending in a 5-5 draw. A major contention point between the two sides was that the Etonians settled for a replay, which Darwen weren’t happy with – believing themselves on top in the play, they wanted to finish the tie with extra time (the prospect of travelling down south again for a replay was another contention point). The drama then portrays the Etonians winning the second match comfortably. In fact, the tie went to a second replay after a 2-2 draw, with the third being a 6-2 win for the Etonians – they would go on to lift the cup that year.

Cup Conquerors?

The narrative portrays the Old Etonians as the dominant side of the era – in fact, they hadn’t won the cup at the start of the series and would *only* go on to add a second FA Cup win in 1882. They did, however, finish as runners-up on four other occasions – the last being the loss to Blackburn Olympic in 1883.

The portrayal of the side being dominant is possibly a device to tell the viewer of the supremacy of upper-class teams at the time – Arthur Kinnaird had won the cup three times with Wanderers before he founded the Old Etonians side. Kinnaird appeared in a total of nine FA Cup Finals – the most of any other player to date.

No Greater Love

One of the series’ closest relationships was that between Suter and his teammate, Jimmy Love (played by James Harkness). The story tells us that Love followed Suter to Darwen and later, Blackburn. Jimmy fits in well with the community, finding love (fulfilling his surname), but sadly ends up breaking his leg in his first match for Blackburn (against Darwen) and his playing career is seemingly over. In reality, it was Suter who followed Love down from their former club, Partick (not to be confused with Partick Thistle), Love never played in a competitive match for any Blackburn club and by the time his friend won the FA Cup in 1883, Jimmy was dead.

In The English Game, as a result of his broken leg, Jimmy finds work in a former teammate’s shirt-making factory. This didn’t happen; he left Darwen after a year and joined the Royal Marines. The reason for his departure and subsequent joining of the Navy seems to be linked to his reason for moving to England in the first place – a warrant was out of his arrest in Scotland over his non-attendance of a bankruptcy hearing after his cleaning business racked up debts.  His skills as a footballer offered a route out – he was recruited by the ambitious Darwen and as a result, he became (arguably) the world’s first professional footballer.

After participating in the bombardment and occupation of Ismailia, Egypt, in September 1882, Jimmy Love fell ill with enteric fever and died, aged just 24. He was buried in Tel-el-Kebir cemetery and has also been commemorated on a Royal Marine memorial in Rochester Cathedral. (For more information on Jimmy Love and the differences from his portrayal in The English Game, check out this great article on the Scottish Sport History website).

The Founder

William Kirkham, a Darwen native, was the link between the Lancashire mill town and Partick. Working in the area, he helped to found Partick FC before returning home and having a hand in the development of the local club. It’s said that he was instrumental in bringing down several players from Patrick – first Jimmy Love and then Fergus Suter. In the series, their professionalism is covered up by them working in a cotton mill, whereas in reality, they were both stonemasons and their reason for chucking in the trade shortly after arriving in Lancashire was that ‘English stone was too difficult to work’.

There is no mention of Kirkham in the series and it seems his role is being played by James Walsh, the owner of the cotton mill that ‘employs’ Suter and Love, and is the financer behind the team.

 

The Next Generation

A major storyline that runs throughout the series is Arthur Kinnaird’s relationship with his wife, more specifically their struggle to have children. After suffering a miscarriage early on, Alma Kinnaird (Charlotte Hope) goes on an emotional journey that makes her question her role in the family and whether she is of use if her ‘raison d’etre’ to create heirs for this aristocratic family doesn’t exist. The latter episodes see her getting involved with a women’s refuge and the questionable practice of an orphanage service that sells children off.

This was a total invention – the layering of a domestic storyline that wouldn’t look out of place in the series creator, Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey series. In reality, the Kinnairds had no such problems conceiving children – their first child was born in 1876, several years before the events depicted in the series. Over the next 25 years, they went on to have six other children, most of whom would survive into adulthood (which wasn’t a given in those days, by any means).

Reason For Leaving

One of the more controversial meddlings with history was Suter’s reason for moving from Glasgow. After keeping a lid on it for a couple of episodes, it’s eventually revealed that he took up the offer from Darwen to get away from a drunken, abusive father so he could earn enough money to bring his mother and sisters down from Scotland. This has no basis in fact and like the Kinnaird’s struggle to have children, is a complete bastardisation of history. Interestingly, there’s no mention of Suter’s brother, Edward – who would go on to follow him to England and turn out for Darwen Football Club himself.

I was left thinking, especially considering the other inaccuracies outlined here, that it would have been better to create fictional or composite characters, rather than distort and besmirch real people just to provide the narrative with some motivation. I’ve no doubt that representing history in drama can be difficult; the reality is that even some of the most action-packed events of the past won’t make for good drama, but I think we have a moral responsibility to uphold the characters of the peoples and events that preceded us. The events depicted are real, some of the people represented are not – you can still provide people with a historical look at an event (and even some of the main players within it), without necessarily having to change motivations or backstories. This was the main reason the series didn't hit home for me.

So what did you think? Have we a duty to protect historical ‘fact’ presented in our drama? You can watch The English Game for yourself now on Netflix.

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The English Game (Netflix) - Review

Football is in its infancy, an amateur game dominated by the upper class teams who invented its rules.

Arthur Kinnaird, the captain of the Old Etonians, has played in more FA Cup Finals than any other player, and won the cup three times.

Until 1879, no working class team had ever reached the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup.

And so begins The English Game, Netflix’s historical drama on the early days of association football and how it moved from the public schools to bfellecome ‘the working class game’ it has been perceived to be ever since. Developed by Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey fame), the six-part series places its focus on two figures at opposite ends of the social scale; the aforementioned (future Lord) Kinnaird and Fergus Suter; a Scottish player who moves south in the pursuit of fortune.

After codifying a set of rules from the various forms of football played throughout the country, the Football Association quickly recognised that their game needed a ‘Challenge Cup’ to take place for its members. Initially featuring alumni from public schools, the FA Cup opened up to include teams from working class towns and cities to broaden the game’s appeal. Competing was difficult for the working class, however – as their players had shift work for 6 days-a-week, travelling south to meet these well-honed Gentlemen and beat them in a match was a difficult prospect. Then local business owners hit upon the idea of compensating their players for loss time so they could take time off work to practice – something that the Gentlemen objected to, and quickly outlawed the practice…

The story initially focuses on Suter's move to the Lancashire mill town of Darwen, and the football team's Quarter-Final clash against Kinnaird's Old Etonians. Later, the series charts Suter's move to Darwen's rivals 'Blackburn' (a composite team of Blackburn Rovers and Blackburn Olympic) – bringing into focus the growing professionalism in the game and the northern clubs' ambition to establish themselves as leaders on the pitch.

Although the series plays fast-and-loose with some historical facts (more about this is an upcoming blog post), the detail in which they go to present a genuine 19^th century spectacle should be admired. Aside from things like the costumes and social etiquette being portrayed to a tee (again, no surprise, what with it involving Julian Fellowes), they didn’t compromise anything to present a realistic portrayal of what the play would have looked like. I particularly enjoyed a reference to Arthur Kinnaird’s ‘handstand’ goal celebration – which I saw at the National Football Museum recently.

Kinnaird (played by Edward Holcroft) is arguably the main driver of the story as his outlook on life changes from someone willing to gain an advantage any way he can, to someone who is willing to lose if it means to play fair – as a proper Gentlemen should. Conversely, Suter (Kevin Guthrie) is the working class hero that seems to be more of a Gentleman – despite him wrestling with guilt at being a professional footballer, whilst his Darwen teammates get nothing. The rest of the plot features Kinnaird and his wife’s attempts to have children, Suter’s REAL reason for moving south, his relationships with the locals, the labour conditions of the era and the attitude of the upper class towards their game being uspured by the working class.

As for the play presented in the series, the most successful tactics of the time seemed to involve a ‘kick and crowd’ style – reminiscent of what rugby union came to be. Working class teams tended to play the ‘combination game’ (a major reason being that they were not as ‘conditioned’ to play the same way as upper class teams was because they couldn’t train anywhere near as much. So the passing lets the ball do the running, solidifying football as a quick, fast-moving, exciting game to watch). This was explained well in the series, as the attitude towards the play of the working class was summed up by one of the Old Etonians who said “All that absurd passing, it’s nonsense”. How times change!

A major criticism I have of the series is that it leant too much on placing upper class characters as villains. Whilst I do not doubt that many of them did hold the attitude that was shown, I doubt that it would have been as widespread as it seemed to be. Another aspect that needed focusing on was the businessmen who bankrolled these teams – they’re portrayed as benevolent champions of the working class when in reality, it was a means to generate money (for most of them).  Having an upper class vs. working class conflict, with clear positions defined on both sides, just feels a bit cartoonish.

Another issue that I’d like to pick up on is a plot point involving Suter’s reason for moving away from Glasgow to make his money – it has no basis in reality and simply acts as a motivation for his character. Even though these events happened some 140 years ago, it felt somewhat disrespectful to (potentially) besmirch the name of a real, historical family just to give a character some depth.

Overall, The English Game is a decent-enough binge-watch but ultimately feels like a missed opportunity to explore the social impact of the game in the depth that it deserves. It feels very-much like a cut-and-shut of the intricacies of early football and the domestics of Downton Abbey – and it could have easily done without the latter. Concentrating solely on the football would have made for a great vehicle for a feature film and I hope one day that we get to see something like it.

You can watch The English Game on Netflix now.

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