THE IMPERIAL War Museum has recently opened a Northern branch in Manchester, which has begun with an exhibition entitled: 'The Greater Game - Sport, War and Peace'.
With the contribution the O's made to World War One so well documented, the club features prominently in the exhibition, with a number of items on loan from the O's.
Orient fan Alan Chandler attended the opening on behalf of the club. Here's his account of the evening...
I told my wife that, should I get a call from Leyton Orient FC, it wouldn't be to ask me to turn out for them next season!
It would be about taking advantage of their official invitation to an exhibition on July 1 at The Imperial War Museum in Manchester about the experiences and heroism of professional sportsmen in both world wars.
At this point, you may ask why was I the one to get the ticket? Orient's excellent official website contains a thoughtful and sensitive article by Steve Jenkins, who visited the war cemeteries of Northern France to place a citation on the three graves of former Clapton Orient (as they were known) players, who died in the first great conflict.
This set me thinking that there should be a permanent memorial or exhibition about footballers who gave their lives, like so many others, in their prime. I contacted the club and as chance would have it, was told of the exhibition - The Greater Game - in Manchester.
The O's have been my team for about 50 years. Being a keen student of the club's history (albeit relatively uneventful apart from nearly going into liquidation a couple of times!), I was aware and proud of their players' long and honourable history of wartime service.
Also, having lived in Germany in the 1980s and having enjoyed that experience and learned from it, I am also painfully aware that there were tragedies and grieving families on both sides of the conflicts.
It was therefore something of a bitter sweet moment for me to attend this special exhibition at the official opening of The IWM North, situated in the architect Daniel Libeskind's stunning building at Salford Quays, appropriately in the sporting city of Manchester.
That I was also the official representative of Leyton Orient FC is bound to raise a smile from family and friends the world over, given my well known and often irrational support for The O's! I know my late father, an O's supporter for some 70 years, would have been thrilled.
The exhibition, which used personal stories and iconic objects to look at sport in general in war time, was officially opened by ex-cricketer Clive Lloyd, following an introduction by Jim Forrester, the Museum Director. It turned out to be an event which will long remain an evocative and stirring memory.
In one of Neil Kaufman and Alan Ravenhill's many books on The O's, we learn that at the outbreak of WW1, some 41 members of the staff of Clapton Orient's joined The Footballers' Battalion of The Middlesex Regiment - the largest number to join from a single League club.
It made me very proud to see this reported in the exhibition. In fact, there were many references throughout to Clapton Orient, who were as prominent as many of their illustrious rivals. Admittedly though, I noticed the names of only about half a dozen clubs in the list of acknowledgements.
The first thing visitors saw on entering the exhibition hall was a TV screen with footage of Clapton Orient's final league game of the season 1914/15, in which they beat Leicester Fosse 2-0; it even showed one of the goals!
This was followed by a parade around the pitch by players and staff with everyone smiling as they were about to go off and carry out their patriotic duty. The newspaper headlines were: "Clapton's Khaki Team". Just about every visitor to the exhibition paused to take in these grainy images, which seemed full of foreboding about what was to come for these brave men.
In the next display cabinet was a Clapton Orient match programme from that season and also the Memorial Plaque loaned by The Club, still in pristine condition after all these years, with the names of the three players who were killed and the many others injured in WW1.
At the time, tributes to the three Orient players killed (Company Sergeant Major McFadden and Privates Jonas and Scott) poured in, including an Arsenal match programme which referred to "three of a noble band of Clapton Orient players....we say thank you to Clapton Orient FC for taking the lead..&for others to follow".
The King sent a note to the club wishing them luck as "no other football club has paid a greater price for patriotism".
At different times during the exhibition, there were interactive performances by German and English actors acting out scenes from WW1, which was novel and well received by the audience and gave a good idea of contemporary uniforms and attitudes towards the enemy.
My generation has little idea of the hard times suffered by pretty well everyone, let alone soldiers, during the early part of the 20th century, only what we read and see on TV.
The Greater Game, dealt not only with the heroics and activities (antics even!) of footballers but of many other sportsmen and women and how war shaped their lives. Although there were plenty of interesting images of unusual events (like American football played at Stamford Bridge during WW2), my only interest was football and of course what part my team played.
It is well documented that a British Tommie kicked a football over the trenches to start an attack during WW1 (the actual ball was on display!). Perhaps better known is the football match between German and British troops during the Christmas truce in 1914 (the last known survivor having died only in the recent past).
A German officer wrote in his diary: "The English are extraordinarily grateful for the cease fire so they can play football again." (No change there then!). I doubt there were any professionals, as we lost 3-2.
This was simply one of the most interesting days of my life. Like most others who attended, I stood transfixed by the many stories of heroism and the sadness war brings.
The exhibition continues for a short time. If the Imperial War Museum were ever to repeat this special exhibition, whether in Manchester or in the South, I would recommend everyone - especially supporters of Leyton's finest - to attend.
In my frequent contact with the backroom staff at Orient during this period, I was at all times treated with courtesy and kindness, as befits a small club with a reputation for friendliness, so thank you Orient for making it a day to remember.
Alan Chandler
The author would be pleased to hear from Orient supporters on this and any other subject by email
