August 31, 1946: The Football League Returns After World War II

Jack Balmer

August 31, 1946: After almost exactly 7 years, England’s Football League resumes play. As it had proven to be in 1919, when it resumed after World War I, the British public's appetite for what we would call soccer was ravenous, and the largest crowd on this day was 61,000 at Stamford Bridge in West London, where host Chelsea beat Lancashire club Bolton Wanderers 4–3.

As for the leading club before The War, North London's Arsenal? The Gunners' postwar debut was a disaster, as a visit to Birmingham-area club Wolverhampton Wanderers (a.k.a. Wolves) resulted in a 6-1 defeat in front of 50,845. Clearly, the prewar players were now too old, and new players had to be brought in. Arsenal would finish 13th in the 22-team League.

The title race would be very close., as 4 teams would finish within 2 points: Liverpool beat out Manchester United by 1 point, and Wolves and Stoke by 2. Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins each scored 28 goals for Liverpool -- in each case, 24 in League play.

After the season, George Allison retired as manager of Arsenal, and former player and physiotherapist Tom Whittaker took over. He having rebuilt the team, he led them to the title in 1948. But Wolves, along with Hampshire team Portsmouth FC and North-East team Newcastle United, would soon take over English football: Portsmouth won the League title in 1949 and 1950; Newcastle won the Cup in 1951, 1952 and 1954; while Wolves won the FA Cup in 1949, and the League title in 1954, 1958 and 1959, before winning the Cup again in 1960.

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August 31, 1946 was a Saturday. In America, these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 4-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Bill Bevens pitched a 7-hit shutout. Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Monte Kennedy outpitched Kirby Higbe.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 10-6. Dick Mauney went the distance to win, while Warren Spahn didn't get out of the 4th inning. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 14-2.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rookie Ralph Kiner went 1-for-3 with a walk. Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-5. Skeeter Webb went 4-for-6 with 3 RBIs. Dick Wakefield went 3-for-5 with a walk and 3 RBIs. And Paul Richards went 1-for-3 and Eddie Lake went 0-for-3, with each of them drawing 3 walks.