Today marks the centenary of Exeter City visiting Amsterdam and playing in the Ajax stadium against a team packed with Ajax players. The Grecians came home with an impressive 5-1 victory.
Exeter’s match in Holland was their first overseas trip since playing Brazil in the Laranjeiras Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 1914.
City made the journey straight after a Division Three South victory (1-0; Billy Compton) at Norwich on Saturday 14 March 1925. They sailed to Amsterdam from Harwich and ten of the team who had played at the Canaries turned out again the next day resplendent in ‘red jerseys with a white “V”.
For many years The Football Express was the authoritative voice of local football and its edition of 21 March 1925 has a full account under a headline ‘The trip to Holland’.
The reporter known as ‘The Chiel’ stated that ‘The absence of several players of the Ajax Club on international duty in the match Holland v Belgium, led to Exeter City being opposed by a mixed representative side styled Zwaluwen (The Swallows) at Amsterdam last Sunday’.
The Swallows had been set up in 1907 inspired by the English Corinthians team. The Corinthians with their promotion of gentlemanly amateurism had toured the Netherlands in 1906 and again in each of the three years prior to City’s trip.
Although the Grecians didn’t officially play Ajax they pretty much did the next best thing. The Swallows side included five Ajax players and the game was played at the Ajax stadium. It is perhaps no great surprise that in many local reports and history books all this got translated over the years to a game against Ajax.
The game was played at the famous old Ajax ground Het Houten. It was their home from 1907-1934 and held 15,000. The Football Express reported that ‘The Ajax ground was surrounded by flags in real gala fashion and places of honour were given to the Dutch and English flags – although, be it whispered, the layer was the Red Ensign’. The report added ‘There was a huge score board on top of the banking and as the goals went in they were registered in big numbers on this board’.
The crowd was variously described as ‘12,000’ and ‘15,000 or so’. The Swallows wore ‘blue jerseys and knickers’. The Express described the occasion as ‘an exhilarating Sunday afternoon match which the Grecians, playing excellent football ran out comfortable winners’.
The Swallows had added ‘first class players from other clubs’ to the core of Ajax players. ‘Some very good forward play was seen from the home side’ says the Express ‘but their half backs were weak and the strength of the Exeter defence and of the right wing of their attack were among the deciding factors in the game’.
City won 5-1 with Stan Charlton (pen), Harry Kirk (3) and Wilf Lievesley scoring the goals. In the second half, ‘amidst tremendous excitement’ Blinkhof, the Zwaluwen inside right, scored ‘a beautiful goal’. However, Dutch match reports say a different player, Pijl, scored.
The local reports said that Charlton and Albert Potter (who later died in the Exeter Blitz) were the outstanding City players. Potter was described as ‘de spil’ – the lynchpin.
‘Exeter’s superior training told heavily in the second half’ and another report commented that ‘a curious feature of the game in Holland is that charging is not permitted although in the match in question kicking went by unpunished’.
Details of the game were eagerly awaited back in England. One paper said ‘The performance of the Exeter team against the famous Ajax Club at Amsterdam has aroused great enthusiasm locally. Every follower of the code in the East Devon district has been anxious to know who did the damage’.
When reports emerged, they also included details of the off field entertainment enjoyed by the City party. They were taken to the Diamond works and to the Queen’s Palace. The day after the game saw the City players ‘driven round the city in a charabanc and amongst other places of interest visited the Stadium, where the Olympic Games are to be held’.
Thanks to the family of Albert Potter, the Grecian Archive also has a set of photos of the players relaxing in an Amsterdam Cafe and by a canal. Great images of a historic Exeter City overseas trip.