Keeping Goal

Goalkeeper Kenny Campbell who guested for Southport during World War One.

Born in Cambuslang, Scotland, Kenny joined Liverpool from Cambuslang Rangers in 1911 for £4 a week and a £10 signing on fee. Between 1912 – 1920 he made 142 appearances for Liverpool including keeping goal in the 1914 FA Cup final against Burnley which the Clarets won 1-0.

In 1920 he was transferred to Partick Thistle, winning a Scottish Cup Winners medal the following season but in June 1922 he returned to England to play for New Brighton, something of a shock as they were a Lancashire Combination side. It was only a short spell at New Brighton however, followed by spells at Stoke City, Leicester City, South Shields and finally back to New Brighton where he played until retiring in 1931.

Kenny played for Southport Central (as we were known then) in the 1916/17 war-time Lancashire League season making eight appearances for us with a record of four wins, three draws and just the one defeat. To get Kenny to guest for Southport was quite a coup as he was a very highly regarded goalkeeper, two years before playing for Southport he played in a Military International for Scotland against England and after the War he played 8 international games for Scotland, only being on the losing side twice.

The war-time League was a regional competition that ran for the duration of World War One and results/appearances do not count in club’s official records.

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Thomas Capper

Born Newton Le Willows 14/07/1891 – Died Birkenhead 30/11/1971

The above photograph is taken from the 1918/19 season which was a unique one for Southport. We played under the name Southport Vulcan, a result of a short-lived takeover of the club by the Mayor of Southport Cllr T. Hampson who was also the Managing Director of the Vulcan Motor Works in Crossens. For the 1918/19 season the club was financed by this company on condition that it be called Southport Vulcan, an agreement that lasted just the one season before the word Vulcan was dropped. This was the last of the war-time leagues where results/appearances did not count in official club records

The photograph is from the game played at Blackpool on the 22^nd of March 1919 which finished Blackpool 5 Southport 0. The unfortunate custodian conceding five goals is Thomas Capper who before the War had played for Atherton and South Liverpool. He was an ever present for Southport during this season where we finished a respectable sixth out of sixteen teams, level on points with Manchester City and above, amongst others, Manchester United, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn.

Following the end of the war Thomas had a brief spell at Dundee before returning to England to join Southend United in Division Three South where he stayed for two seasons.  He made local headlines in Southend in March 1922 when he was summoned to court for furiously driving a horse and cart. His explanation that the horse shied at a piece of paper, broke into a canter and he was afraid to pull the horse in too quickly was successful and the case was dismissed.

Proof that his time at Southend had come to an end could be seen in the advert he placed in the Athletic News in August 1922 showing his availability:

February 1923 saw Thomas moving back up North to play for Wigan Borough but his time at Wigan was short and in July 1923 he signed for Wallasey United which is where it appears he finished his career.

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Finally, a chance to look back at the career of goalkeeper Paul Moore, one my favourite Southport players and a key member of the Northern Premier League title winning team of 1992/93. Was it really thirty years ago that the likes of David Gamble, Leroy Dove, Dave Fuller, Derek Goulding and Steve Haw, to name but a few, graced Haig Avenue. What a great team we had and what a great manager in Brian Kettle.