Brighton & Hove Albion 1902-03 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1902-03 Season Overview

Pre-season: New home, new league
The summer of 1902 was a busy time for Brighton off-the-pitch. Having played at the Goldstone Ground on two occasions in the 1901-02 season when the Sussex County Cricket Ground was unavailable, the club became joint tenants of the Goldstone alongside amateur club Hove.

As well as moving homes, the Brighton committee joined a new league. Southern Legue Division Two had only six clubs for the 1902-03 season, so Brighton become members of the South Eastern League too to flesh out their fixture list.

The South Eastern League gave Brighton their first exposure to more established clubs. The likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United and Watford all fielded reserve sides in addition to their own Southern League Division One commitments.

By and large, manager John Jackson fielded his strongest team in both competitions, although there were occasions when Southern League and FA Cup matches clashed with South Eastern League games. In such instances, Jackson ‘borrowed’ amateur players from local Sussex clubs to fulfil matches.

To strengthen his full-time squad who had narrowly missed out on promotion at the end of the previous campaign, Jackson made three important signings. Former England international forward Ben Garfield arrived from West Bromwich Albion, a remarkable coup for a Southern League Division Two club.

Defender Arthur Hulme came in from Bristol Rovers and almost unnoticed in comparison, Frank Scott arrived from New Brompton. Scott would go onto finish the campaign as top scorer with 31 goals in all competitions.

After hammering Hove 13-0 at the Goldstone in a pre-season friendly, hopes were high that Jackson’s side could go better than in 1901-02 and secure the club’s first promotion.

September 1902: Tough introduction to the South Eastern League
Brighton started their Southern League campaign as they meant to go on, winning 4-2 against Southall at the Goldstone Ground on Saturday 13^th September 1902. Scott scored a debut goal with Bert Baker, Jock Caldwell and Sid Thair also netting.

Life in the South Eastern League did not get off to the best of starts. Scott scored Brighton’s first goal in the competition but their opening fixture ended in a 3-1 defeat to Luton Town on Wednesday 17^th September 1902.

A maiden South Eastern League victory followed on Saturday 20^th September 1902 with Garfield netting his first goal in Brighton colours and Scott again on target in a 2-1 win over Grays United. The tough task the Albion faced in the competition though was nailed home by a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and a 2-2 draw away against Bedford Queen’s.

October 1902: Goals fly in FA Cup ties
October began with a 3-1 South Eastern League defeat to West Ham United before Brighton entered the FA Cup at the First Qualifying Round stage against Brighton Amateurs. The Albion rained 14 goals in on their part-time opponents at the Goldstone, including hat-tricks from Garfield and Barney Lee.

There was a disappointing 1-0 Southern League defeat at Fulham a week later on Saturday 11^th October 1902. On Saturday 18^th October 1902, Brighton faced both Shoreham in the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and St Albans Amateurs in the South Eastern League – two games on the same day for the first and only time in Albion history.

At Middle Road in the FA Cup, Brighton sauntered to another big victory, this time 12-0. Scott notched four against the Musselmen with Thair helping himself to a hat-trick. Meanwhile at St Albans, A Gooch scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Brighton win.

A 5-0 win over Chesham Town on Saturday 25^th October 1902 put the Southern League season back on track before a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur two days later in the South Eastern League.

November 1902: Gallant FA Cup comeback guts Grays
Brighton were third in Southern League Division Two at the start of November, behind Fulham and Grays United. The draw for the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round paired the Albion with Grays, giving Jackson and his players the chance to lay down a marker for the rest of the season.

The sides met at the Goldstone on Saturday 1^st November 1901, sharing an extraordinary 5-5 draw. Grays had been 4-1 ahead at half time, only for Brighton to launch a remarkable comeback through goals from Garfield, Scott, Caldwell and a Lee brace.

Four days later and Scott scored a double of his own in an excellent 3-0 victory in the replay at the Recreation Ground with Thair the other Albion player on target.

Grays did not have long to wait for revenge – the sides met again at the Recreation Ground three days after the replay in the Southern League, the hosts dishing out a 3-0 hammering.

That made it two defeats for Brighton in their first four Division Two matches of the season, although from that point on they would not lose again in the main competition.

Ilford ended the Albion’s hopes of making it to the First Round of the FA Cup when winning 1-0 at Ilford Sports Ground on Saturday 15^th November 1902 and the month was rounded off with a 3-2 South Eastern League defeat at Queens Park Rangers.

December 1902: Christmas comes early as Albion begin promotion push
There was more South Eastern League misery against Luton Town on Saturday 6^th December 1902 with the Hatters inflicting a 3-0 defeat on the Albion. That proved to be a watershed moment in the 1902-03 season for Brighton, who lost just twice more in all competitions over the remainder of the campaign.

The Albion gave supporters an early Christmas present when beating Grays 4-2 at the Goldstone in the Southern League on Saturday 20^th December 1902 to reignite their promotion bid, Scott scoring twice with Thair and Caldwell also netting.

A week later and Brighton rounded off 1902 in satisfactory style, hammering Wycombe Wanderers 5-0 at the Goldstone. Scott had to settle for only one goal as Albert Smith and A Taylor opened their accounts for the campaign with doubles.

January 1903: Big crowd enjoy table topping with against Fulham
Two South Eastern League matches kicked off January 1902 as Chesham Generals were beaten 3-0 at the Goldstone Ground and eventual runners up QPR held 1-1.

Chesham Town visited Hove in the Southern League on Saturday 24^th January 1903 and a 4-1 win via goals from Scott, Garfield and a Thair brace sent Albion top of the table for the first time.

That set things up nicely for the visit of fellow title challengers Fulham on Saturday 31^st January 1902. A record Goldstone crowd of 4,200 saw the Albion strengthen their position at the top with a 3-1 success through a Lee strike and a pair of Caldwell penalties.

February 1903: Southern League season ends… waiting game begins
It was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show a week on from that Fulham game as Brighton were held 1-1 in their penultimate Southern League match of the season away at Wycombe Wanderers.

A Valentine’s Day South Eastern League clash with Watford saw Brighton run out 5-1 winners before the joint heaviest defeat of the season, a 5-0 reversal away at West Ham United.

The Albion ended February by completing their Division Two campaign with an 8-0 win over Southall. Scott helped himself to five goals against Brighton’s hapless opponents. Caldwell converted another spot kick and Thair and Garfield netted.

With Fulham and Grays still having Southern League matches to play throughout March and April, Brighton now faced an anxious wait to see if they would remain at the top of the table by the end of the season.

March 1903: Five from five for motoring Brighton
Brighton attention was now fully diverted to the South Eastern League. Five games yielded five victories in March 1903 with 16 goals scored and only one conceded.

Chesham Generals were beaten 2-0 away from home on Monday 9^th March 1903, St Albans Amateurs defeated by the same scoreline at the Goldstone on Saturday 14^th March 1903 and an excellent 3-0 victory recorded away at Brentford on Saturday 21^st March 1903.

The Albion saved the best to last, hammering Hitchin Town 9-1 in their final game of the month. Garfield claimed a hat-trick, Scott and W Ward braces and Thair and Taylor singles.

April 1903: A promotion Test – but the committee do not want to go up
Following the good form of March, Brighton were brought back down to Earth with a bump in a 6-1 South Eastern League hammering away at Watford on Saturday 4^th April 1903.

The Albion faced Bedford Queen’s on Saturday 11^th April 1903, winning 4-0 through a Ward hat-trick and one from Garfield. More importantly that day was the Southern League clash between Fulham and Grays, where a victory for the Cottagers guaranteed Brighton a top two finish.

Grays and Fulham still had to play each other again and when Grays were victorious in that second meeting, it meant that Brighton and Fulham ended the campaign level on 15 points at the top of the table.

Normally when teams finished tied in the Southern League, a playoff would take place to decide the champions but for the 1902-03 season, it was instead decided that Brighton and Fulham should share the title.

There would still be a playoff game for the Albion to contest, however. Promotion and relegation between Southern League Division One and Two was decided by a controversial Test Match between the bottom two sides in the higher league and the top two sides in the lower league. Brighton therefore faced Division One’s bottom club Watford for the right to take the Hornets’ place in the top flight.

Before taking on Watford, the Albion had to complete their South Eastern League season. A 3-0 win at Brentford on Tuesday 14^th April 1903 was followed by a 1-0 win away at Hitchin on Saturday 18^th April 1903.

Brighton’s South Eastern League campaign ended in a 5-0 defeat at Grays United on Saturday 25^th April 1903 with Jackson naming a severely weakened team at the Recreation Ground, hardly a surprise given the Watford game was just 48 hours later.

A few days before the Test Match, the Brighton committee had controversially announced that they would decline promotion to Southern League Division One no matter what the result against Watford. The club felt that they did not have the financial support necessary to compete in the top division.

The result though at the at the neutral venue of West Ham United’s Memorial Grounds on Monday 27^th April 1903 brought pressure on the committee to reconsider. Brighton stormed into a 3-0 lead inside of 15 minutes through two goals from Garfield and one from Thair.

Watford fought back to level things up in the second half before Garfield added two more to complete a four-goal haul in a 5-3 win for the Albion.

Following the victory over Watford, Jackson and his players returned to the Seven Stars pub in Brighton where they appeared on the balcony to be greeted by a large and excited crowd.

A more important meeting was to come. On Friday 8^th May 1903, a special meeting was held at the Athenaeum Hall in North Street. Jackson spoke passionately about allowing his players to try their luck in the higher division.

Several prominent committee members reiterated their views that it was not financially viable for Brighton to step up but once 113 of the supporters present offered to buy season tickets, those money worries were lessened and the result of the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the Albion becoming a Division One club for 1903-04.