The Fred Keenor Story (Part One)

Cardiff City legend Fred Keenor can justifiably be described as the greatest Bluebird of them all. Although he was never considered one of the most gifted footballers of his generation, Fred’s fighting spirit, his will to win and his inspirational leadership qualities enabled him to carve out a remarkable career at the highest levels of the British game.

The tough-tackling defender spent the best part of two decades at Ninian Park, during which time his name became synonymous with both Cardiff City Football Club and the Welsh national side. In April 1927, the Bluebirds became the first and so far only team to take the FA Cup out of England thanks to a 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Wembley Stadium. Images of Cardiff captain Keenor proudly cradling the coveted trophy after that famous triumph have proved some of the most enduring in the history of Welsh sport.

As the campaign for a statue to commemorate the great man and his achievements gathers momentum, I thought it would be a good time to reflect upon the playing career of one of Welsh football’s most iconic figures. In the first part of Fred’s story, I’ll describe his experiences during the Great War, his successes with Wales and Cardiff City’s first visit to Wembley:

Frederick Charles Keenor was born in the Roath district of Cardiff in July 1894. The son of a stone mason and one of eleven children, he began playing football while attending Stacey Road School and captained his school team for three years. In April 1907, he gained the distinction of playing for Wales against England in the first-ever schoolboys international. The historic match took place at the Hillary Street Ground in Walsall, where the English youngsters scored a hard-fought 3-1 victory over their Welsh counterparts.

At the age of seventeen, Fred was turning out for Roath Wednesdays in the Cardiff junior leagues when he was snapped up by Cardiff City director Walter Riden, who had previously been one of his schoolmasters at Stacey Road. Fred originally signed for the Bluebirds on amateur forms before joining the club’s professional ranks in November 1912. His initial contract paid him the princely sum of ten shillings a week while he learnt his trade playing with the reserves in the Western League.

He made his first-team debut in December 1913 during a Southern League First Division clash with Exeter City at a wet and windy Ninian Park. The match ended in a 1-1 draw and nineteen year-old Fred made a favourable impression despite the treacherous conditions. The Western Mail’s football correspondent reported: "The most pleasing discovery of the afternoon was young Keenor. His was a highly promising first appearance."

Fred established himself as a regular in the Cardiff side during the 1914/15 campaign as they finished third in the Southern League table, but like all professionals of that period his career was suspended at the end of the season due to the escalation of the First World War.

He enlisted in the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, which was better known as the ‘Footballers’ Battalion,’ and was posted to Northern France before being sent into action at Delville Wood in July 1916 during the infamous Battle of the Somme. After many days and nights in the trenches facing a continual bombardment from the German artillery, Fred sustained shrapnel wounds to his left leg and right shoulder. The leg injury was such that he feared his professional career was over, but following several months of convalescence in a Dublin hospital he was able to rejoin the Army and start playing football again.

Upon his return to the British mainland, Fred was stationed at a depot in Chatham, where he became a member of the Army’s physical training staff. He signed for Brentford as a guest player in time for the start of their 1918/19 London Combination campaign and made nineteen appearances for the Griffin Park club as they surprisingly won the league ahead of teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Once the War had ended and he’d been demobbed, Fred returned to South Wales and rejoined Cardiff’s Southern League squad. He made his senior debut for the Welsh national team in October 1919 during a Victory International against England at Ninian Park and produced a solid display in the right-half position as Wales recorded an unexpected 2-1 triumph – their first over England in thirty seven years.

The South Wales Echo’s match reporter wrote: "One might have expected Keenor to show some nervousness on his first appearance in a representative side and before a Cardiff audience, but he played with remarkable self-assurance. He reproduced his best club form and will be a strong candidate for further honours."

In March 1920, Fred was a member of the Welsh side who chalked up another 2-1 victory against England, this time at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium. It was only the second occasion that Wales had won on English soil and, following earlier draws against Ireland and Scotland, it was enough to secure the British Home International Championship title for the first time since 1907.

At the end of 1919/20 season, most of the teams in the Southern League’s First Division became members of the Football League’s newly-formed Third Division. Cardiff City, however, were voted straight into the Second Division during a specially-convened meeting of the League’s management committee. It was a massive leap forward for the club and the beginning of a golden era in which Fred was to play a starring role.

The 1920/21 campaign proved a remarkable one for the Bluebirds. Fred scored one of his side’s goals in an opening day 5-2 victory at Stockport County and was a virtual ever-present as City cruised to promotion at the first time of asking. The team finished runners-up to Birmingham and also enjoyed an incredible FA Cup run that thrilled the Welsh public.

After defeating Sunderland, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton in the early rounds, they were drawn at home to First Division outfit Chelsea in the quarter-finals. A crowd of well over 50,000 crammed into Ninian Park and witnessed a terrific contest, which City won 1-0 with an early Arthur Cashmore goal. Fred and his team-mates then fought out a 0-0 semi-final draw with fellow Second Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield before losing 3-1 in a controversial replay at Old Trafford.

After doing so well during their debut Football League season, the Bluebirds initially struggled in the First Division. They lost the opening six games of their 1921/22 campaign and by mid-October were rooted to the bottom of the table, but they staged a miraculous recovery from that point onwards and following a series of impressive victories over the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and champions Liverpool, they eventually finished fourth. The team’s love affair with the FA Cup continued as they reached the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 2-1 by Tottenham in an exciting White Hart Lane replay watched by a sell-out crowd of 53,626.

The Bluebirds consolidated their top flight status in 1922/23 by finishing ninth. Alongside Fred, the squad included some very talented individuals such as Irish goalkeeper Tom Farquharson, Scottish full-backs Jimmy Blair and Jimmy Nelson, English half-back Billy Hardy and Welsh forward Len Davies. City looked ready to mount a serious challenge for the First Division championship and that challenge materialised during 1923/24.

The team made a fantastic start to the campaign and were beaten only once in their first twenty two matches. Despite a dramatic dip in form during March, when they collected just one point from five games, they were still sitting pretty at the top of the table going into the final day of the season. A victory over mid-table Birmingham at St Andrews would have secured the title, but the Bluebirds could only manage a 0-0 draw. Crucially, Len Davies had a penalty saved by Blues keeper Dan Tremelling midway through the second half.

Meanwhile, championship rivals Huddersfield Town beat strugglers Nottingham Forest 3-0 at Leeds Road. The result meant the Yorkshiremen finished on the same number of points as Cardiff. In those days, the method of determining league positions when clubs were level on points was by goal average, which involved dividing the number of goals each team had scored by the number they had conceded. The calculations revealed that Huddersfield had won the First Division title by just 0.024 of a goal, which has since proved the narrowest winning margin in the entire history of the top flight.

Fred gained some compensation for City’s disappointment when he captained Wales to the 1924 Home International Championship title. Under his leadership the Welsh side achieved a clean sweep of victories for the first time, beating Scotland 2-0 at Ninian Park, England 2-1 at Ewood Park and Ireland 1-0 at Windsor Park.

Having got so close to the championship in 1923/24, Cardiff’s league form was erratic during 1924/25 and they dropped to eleventh in the table, but despite their inconsistency they enjoyed another fabulous FA Cup campaign which took them all the way to Wembley. They needed three attempts to see off Third Division North champions Darlington in round one before defeating Fulham, Notts County, Leicester and Blackburn Rovers en route to the final. City’s opponents at Wembley were Sheffield United, who were also occupying a mid-table position in the First Division.

Tens of thousands of excited Welshmen invaded London on the day of the final but they returned home disappointed following a dour contest that failed to live up to expectations. United claimed the Cup thanks to solitary first half effort from English international winger Fred Tunstall, who capitalised on a dreadful defensive blunder by City half-back Harry Wake before slotting the ball past Tom Farquharson.

The Western Mail reported: "This final will probably go down in history as one of the most disappointing in the series. The better team on the day won, yet that is not saying a great deal for Sheffield. Compared to Cardiff they were a much better side, but from the standpoint of good football they were certainly not great."

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph was full of praise for the way in which the Bluebirds and their fans reacted to losing the match. The paper’s correspondent wrote: "Better luck to Cardiff City next time. They fought well and cleanly, and the Yorkshire people at Wembley were impressed by the magnificent sporting spirit which was shown both by the Cardiff players and their thousands of disappointed supporters."

During a civic reception at the City Hall two days later, team captain Jimmy Blair admitted that nerves had got the better of the Bluebirds. The veteran Scottish international left-back said: "I can assure you that we did our very best, although I must confess the occasion awed me, and I’m a more experienced player than most of the side. It takes a man of tremendous willpower to stand the awful strain of an occasion such as the Cup final."

Fred, meanwhile, refused to let the defeat dent his spirits as he vowed to make a swift return to Wembley and win the trophy for his countrymen. He told the press: "Just because we lost in our very first Cup final, I don’t think there is any cause to get down in the mouth. I can say here and now that one day soon Cardiff City will bring that Cup to Wales."

In the second part of the Fred Keenor Story, which I will publish on Friday evening, I’ll recall the famous day in 1927 when the Bluebirds lifted the FA Cup. I’ll also describe the club’s subsequent decline, Fred’s heroics as captain of the Welsh national side and the final years of his career following his release by Cardiff.

A bucket collection in aid of the Fred Keenor Statue Fund will be taking place outside the Cardiff City Stadium before Sunday’s game against Sheffield United. Please keep an eye out for the Supporters’ Trust volunteers and make a donation if you can.

Donations to the appeal fund can be made through the Co-operative Bank (account name: Fred Keenor Statue Fund or FKSF, account no: 65392368, sort code: 08-92-99). Cheques can also be sent c/o CCST to PO Box 4254, Cardiff, CF14 8FD. Please mark the words ‘Fred Keenor Appeal’ on the top of the envelope.