Week 1 – 14 November 1942 – Hale 9 Yarvard 7

The Hale Blue Devils went in front in the first quarter with a touchdown run by the small Sergeant Raymond Chandler. The Yarvard Crimson Tide had a good back themselves in Corporal Robert Hopfer, who ran nearly every possesion for them until he was taken out of the game by a hard tackle. Hopfer equalised for Yarvard and Corporal Jay Wright kicked the conversion to give them a 7-6 lead at halftime. [Reference: 9]

The Hale team changed tactics in the third quarter to a passing game, with Quarterback David Zywicki completing passes to Carpenter, halfback John Urban, and Edmund Forzcek, to set up Carpenter’s 18 yard Field Goal to put the Blue Devils 9-7 up. Yarvard also went to a passing game, but their receivers found Private Armando Lopez guiding missiles that were too hot to handle, and the game ended 9-7 to Hale. [Reference: 9]

At Ravenhill, Belfast (Att: 8,000)	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Hale Blue Devils	6	0	3	0	9
Yarvard Crimson Tide	0	7	0	0	7
Scorers					Score
1st Quarter
HAL – Raymond Chandler TD Run (xp No Good)					6-0
2nd Quarter
YAR – Robert Hopfer TD Run (Jay Wright XP Kick)					6-7
3rd Quarter
HAL – Arnold Carpenter 18yd FG					9-7
4th Quarter
No Scoring					9-7

Reference: [9]

Roster 14 November 1942

Number	Name	Position	Hometown & State
	Players
1	Arnold Carpenter	Fullback	Eau Claire, Wis.
2	Raymond Chandler	Left Halfback	Huston, Texas
3	Frank Beck	Left Halfback	New Orleans, La.
4	Bryon St. Peter	Fullback	Milwaukee, Wis.
5	David Zywicki	Quarterback	Milwaukee, Wis.
6	Charles Kacena	Quarterback	Des Moines, Ia.
7	John Urban	Right Halfback	Brooklyn, New York
8	Edward Dix	Right Halfback	Elizabeth, New Jersey
9	Homer Cooke	Center	Eau Claire, Wis.
10	Robert Cummings	Center	Brooklyn, New York
11	Lee Dunham	Right Guard	Detroit, Mich.
12	Thomas Richardson	Left Guard	Rutherford, New Jersey
13	Frederick Stobaeus	Right Guard	South Orange, New Jersey
14	Anthony Fabrizio	Left Guard	Springfield, New Jersey
15	Erving Grosch	Left Tackle	Milwaukee, Wis.
16	Norman Rosenberg	Right Tackle	Brooklyn, New York
17	Edmund Forczek	Left Tackle	Cudahy, Wis.
18	Woodrow Laurie	Right Tackle	Redgranite, Wis.
19	Stephen Lochman	Left End	Albany, New York
20	John Gallagher	Right End	Brooklyn, New Jersey
21	Eugene Bolton	Right End	Rapid City, S.D.
22	Madison Rich	Left End	West New York, New Jersey
23	Saul Solow	Right End	Brooklyn, New York
24	Edward Kuderns	Left End	Cleveland, Ohio
25	Theodore Rix	Right End	Crisco, Ia.
	Coaches
Captain	Harry G. Chowins
2nd Lt.	E.K. Sauer
S. Sgt.	Louis J. DiSalle
	Team Physician
Major	Joseph A. Ridgeway

Reference: [7]

About

During World War II, American Soldiers based in Northern Ireland, England & Wales, played a series of matches for the European Theater of Operations Football Championship. These American Football matches were sometimes played in front of the Irish & British public at large stadiums in aid of the Red Cross. [Reference: 11] The match at Ravenhill, on 14 November 1942, was the first ever match of American Football in Ireland [1-5]

The first such match, held at Ravenhill on 14th November 1942 (the first ETO Championship was played in Northern Ireland in 1942), featured the Hale Blue Devils and Yarvard Crimson Tide. [Reference: 9]

The names Hale & Yarvard aren’t mis-spellings. The teams were made up of Soldiers stationed in Northern Ireland during World War II, and the British & Irish public would have been familiar with newspaper reports of the time on the big American College Football games, so the names Yarvard, Hale and Tech (the third team in the ETO Championship in 1942), were chosen to reflect this. [Reference: [9]

References

_________________________________________________________

Websites

[1] Irish American Football Association (2016) Journey to Thirty [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/journeyto-thirty/ [Accessed 08 August 2016]

[2] Irish American Football Association (2016) History of US Teams playing in Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/history-of-us-teams-playing-in-ireland/ [Accessed 22 November 2016]

[3] Irish American Football Association (2016) History [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/iafl/history.htm [Accessed 26 October 2016]

Sources

[5] Anon. (1942) . “Photo caption: American Football at Ravenhill”. Belfast News-Letter. 16 November 1942. pg. 6.

[6] Anon. (1954) . “Photo caption”. Northern Whig. 18 November 1954. pg. 6.

[7] Edgar, Scott | Wartime NI (2019) Hale Team at Ravenhill [Internet] Available from: https://wartimeni.com/wwiini-story-american-football-ravenhill-programme-06/ [Accessed 17 November 2019]

[8] Magee, Damian. “English Beer and American Football: Exporting American Football as a Cultural Commodity to the British Isles.” Irish Journal of American Studies, vol. 7, 1998, pp. 121–148. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30002410.

Bibliography

[9] Foglio, Massimo & Ford, Mark L. (2015) “Touchdown in Europe” pg. 51-52. Published by the Author.

Images

[10] Belfast Blitzers | Facebook (2019) Post 21 August 2019: “ As promised, a never before seen photo of the game held at Ravenhill in 1942. “ [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/photos/pcb.2258995414211601/2258986244212518/?type=3&theater [Accessed 23 August 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Richard Declan Mulcahy

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 17 November 2019

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2019

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Resereved.