This film is part of Free
Preston North End Football Club at Deepdale
Preston North End play Liverpool (probably) in a regional football competition during WWI.
Overview
Time-ravaged though it is, this film presents some rare wartime footballing action. The FA suspended the League and Cup in 1915 in response to WWI, but set up regional competitions in their place. There are few confirmed details about this match - though we know it took place at Preston North End’s Deepdale ground, and it's probably a winter 1916 game in the Lancashire Section: Principal Tournament. Preston are in white shirts and black shorts, while their opponents may be Stoke City or Liverpool (whose away kit featured red and white stripes).
With many of the professional players called up to fight, both teams would probably have included guest players, possibly drawn from local munitions workers. Unusually for a match at this time, there are two cameras filming the action (we see one of them in shot near the tunnel). We can't be sure that both are from the same company, but this would explain the two camera positions and, perhaps, why the footage is out of sequence - opening mid-play, while the coin-toss and kick-off appear towards the end of the film.
