The West Riding Territorials in the Great WarMagnus, Laurie
History
The West Riding Territorials in the Great War
Magnus, Laurie
Great Britain. Army. Division, 49th; Great Britain. Army. Division, 62nd; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
So much in this place for the past fighting. Meanwhile, let us follow one
unit of the 62nd to its interval of rest between the fights. Here, too,
we need not particularize. We noted at the end of the last chapter how
quickly sport succeeded war, and in all units alike, at Achiet-le-Petit
and elsewhere, the typical Battalion Sports Officer would ‘get a move on’
very quickly. We may imagine the kind of man he was; say, a subaltern
Officer with a wound-stripe, perhaps recently rejoined, and wearing,
no doubt, the ribbons of a Military Cross and a Croix-de-Guerre. We
may imagine, too, the shell-pocked field, which, in order to exercise
his men, he would set himself to convert into a football ground, with
its holes neatly patched and darned, and its goal posts and other
appurtenances requisitioned as urgently as ammunition. Or take the signal
example of the great crater-coliseum,[92] on which a whole Battalion had
been set at work, and which was ingeniously constructed to accommodate
about two thousand spectators. It was chiefly used for boxing contests,
and the R.E. took a hand in erecting its 18-foot ring. The next step
was to find and train the teams, and special mention is due to the
middleweight champion of the 62nd Division, Company Sgt.-Major Schofield,
D.C.M., of the 2/5th West Ridings, whose fight with Pte. Hayhurst, of
the 2/6th Duke of Wellington’s, filled the Coliseum one fine day. They
were not too particular about the seasons. When the weather was hot,
they played cricket; when it was not, they played football, and an
inter-Brigade Summer football match resulted in the victory of a team
composed of the R.E. and R.A.M.C.; the 2/4th West Ridings being second,
and the 2/5th West Ridings third. Later, a Divisional Cup was competed
for at Beaulencourt, and was won by the 2/5th West Ridings, who beat the
R.E. and R.A.M.C. by the handsome score of six goals to one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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