1919-20 season and the flu

[feeb]

Just looked at the 1919-20 season at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic that killed more than died in the first world war, we played man united at meadow lane attendance 35000, every home game crowds over 10,000 , away games Birmingham 30,000 Liverpool and Villa 35000, and not one fixture cancelled.
what a bunch of wusses we've turned into nowadays, the programme seller gets a sniffle and off the lot goes!, then again back 100 years ago, i suppose when you've just return from a war, survived the trenches of the Somme and constant death and shelling on a daily basis, a virus with a risk factor of 1 in 173 of killing you , that's not going to bother you.

[Mapperleypie]

Just looked at the 1919-20 season at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic that killed more than died in the first world war, we played man united at meadow lane attendance 35000, every home game crowds over 10,000 , away games Birmingham 30,000 Liverpool and Villa 35000, and not one fixture cancelled.
what a bunch of wusses we've turned into nowadays, the programme seller gets a sniffle and off the lot goes!, then again back 100 years ago, i suppose when you've just return from a war, survived the trenches of the Somme and constant death and shelling on a daily basis, a virus with a risk factor of 1 in 173 of killing you , that's not going to bother you.

60-100m died as a result of the Spanish flu. The fact that there were so many at those football matches should not be a cause of celebration.

[upthemaggies]

Just looked at the 1919-20 season at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic that killed more than died in the first world war, we played man united at meadow lane attendance 35000, every home game crowds over 10,000 , away games Birmingham 30,000 Liverpool and Villa 35000, and not one fixture cancelled.
what a bunch of wusses we've turned into nowadays, the programme seller gets a sniffle and off the lot goes!, then again back 100 years ago, i suppose when you've just return from a war, survived the trenches of the Somme and constant death and shelling on a daily basis, a virus with a risk factor of 1 in 173 of killing you , that's not going to bother you.

And the most at risk age group during the Spanish Flu outbreak was 18-40 year olds, therefore including all of the players.

Football continued throughout the last war as well, teams were back playing friendlies three weeks after war had been declared, the only reason they cancelled competitive competitions (the league and the FA Cup) was because clubs were having to borrow players and make do because so many had been called up. So it is unprecedented for football to go this far. We'll only know with hindsight if it was the right thing to do or if we didn't go far enough, but life is for the living and for many people football IS life. Once the novelty wears off the demand for a return to some sort of normality will be a powerful one, misguided or not.

[feeb]

60-100m died as a result of the Spanish flu. The fact that there were so many at those football matches should not be a cause of celebration.

248,000 died in the uk out of a population of 43.4 million, do the sums.
Im willing to risk it , even if your not, stay at home under the table and listen to the game on the radio if your happy to accept that Slater and Mark Stalland still have enough bottle to risk their lives and and comment on the game.

[Mapperleypie]

248,000 died in the uk out of a population of 43.4 million, do the sums.
Im willing to risk it , even if your not, stay at home under the table and listen to the game on the radio if your happy to accept that Slater and Mark Stalland still have enough bottle to risk their lives and and comment on the game.

What are you on about? Who said anything about hiding under the table?

I'm sure many of the 248,000 could have easily been avoided by avoiding large public gatherings.

[OP67]

Hygiene and the health service wasn't anywhere near it is today though.

[countygump]

Hygiene and the health service wasn't anywhere near it is today though.

No National Health Service and no antibiotics for secondary infection either.

[upthemaggies]

Feel I should add that the height of the Spanish Flu epidemic was 1918/19 (not 19/20), nevertheless wartime football was played regularly throughout (we were in the 'Midland section' with Albert Iremonger in goal for most of them). Crowds wouldn't have been huge but 7000 turned out for a game in October 1918. The general public wouldn't have been aware how bad things were though unless you were in the worst hit areas, it was only reported as a Spanish problem because Spain were not under the same reporting restrictions due to the war.

For the 2nd World War there was a 50 mile travel restriction, so that too would have put an end to the regular league and FA Cup, but they did play on, even through the 40/41 blitz season. Air raids were obviously at night, but they made time for sport throughout serious hardship and great terror.

[macstop]

Health.com date:11/02/20

While everyone is in a panic about the coronavirus (officially renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization), there's an even deadlier virus many people are forgetting about: the flu.

Flu season is hitting its stride right now in the US. So far, the CDC has estimated (based on weekly influenza surveillance data) that at least 12,000 people have died from influenza between Oct. 1, 2019 through Feb. 1, 2020, and the number of deaths may be as high as 30,000.

The CDC also estimates that up to 31 million Americans have caught the flu this season, with 210,000 to 370,000 flu sufferers hospitalized because of the virus.

Didn't see many stopping going to sports last year? do we catch flu the same as corona virus?

https://www.health.com/condition/col...flu-every-year

[BigFatPie]

Feel I should add that the height of the Spanish Flu epidemic was 1918/19 (not 19/20), nevertheless wartime football was played regularly throughout (we were in the 'Midland section' with Albert Iremonger in goal for most of them). Crowds wouldn't have been huge but 7000 turned out for a game in October 1918. The general public wouldn't have been aware how bad things were though unless you were in the worst hit areas, it was only reported as a Spanish problem because Spain were not under the same reporting restrictions due to the war.

For the 2nd World War there was a 50 mile travel restriction, so that too would have put an end to the regular league and FA Cup, but they did play on, even through the 40/41 blitz season. Air raids were obviously at night, but they made time for sport throughout serious hardship and great terror.

Utm, you might know this, how did football clubs survive during the war without any income from league games? Did they rely on the money from the friendlies?