WWII & Sports: What Happened?
Shania Connelly
2025-04-28 22:05:50
Count answers: 4
Assessments of betting turnover suggest an initial decline in betting, largely perhaps because of the brief curtailment of horse racing, dog racing, and football, the three principal betting media. The paper explores some of the reasons why it then once more increased, according to the surveys of the Churches Committee on Gambling or Mass Observation. The argument focuses on provision and betting organization: the continued legal opportunities within Britain, including new ‘unity’ football pools, the reopening of some English racecourses and dog-tracks, and the new opportunities created by illegal ready-money bookmakers, such as Irish horse-racing results, which were unaffected by the war. The national government took the view that the betting sports were ‘entertainments’ and ‘in the public interest’, and also helped by providing scarce petrol to assist with the movement of horses and dogs to meetings.
Cora Lueilwitz
2025-04-28 21:12:44
Count answers: 3
The declaration of war in 1939 meant both The Football League and the FA Cup were suspended indefinitely. Over 780 footballers signed up to fight on the front line, leaving many of England’s best teams depleted. As a result, teams like Wolves, Liverpool, Huddersfield, Leicester and Charlton were left with nearly 350 fewer players between them. This meant that teams were permitted to field guest players to play for their sides in the ten regional “mini-leagues” which were established in 1939. To fill the void left by the FA Cup, a special War Cup was established by the Football League to boost morale and to keep the game going.
The Football League returned to somewhat normality in the 1945-46 season, but the wartime league structure continued for one more year.
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