1937–38 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa played the 1937–38 English football season in the Football League Second Division.

Aston Villa
1937–38 season
ChairmanFrederick Rinder
ManagerJimmy Hogan
2nd Division1st
FA CupThird round
Main article: 1937–38 in English football

In the summer of 1938 Villa toured Nazi Germany.[1] The day before their first match, the England football team bowed to pressure from the British Foreign Office and performed the Nazi salute during a friendly match on 14 May 1938.[2] Despite this diplomatic protocol the Birmingham Gazette reported the performance of Villa's Frank Broome beside headline, “GESTAPO”, in which it detailed the surveillance of 20,000 Germans in England by the German Secret Police.

The atmosphere in the Villa's first match against a German Select XI was in marked contrast to the England game with continual jeering and whistling. Villa's use of the offside trap was frustrating to the unfamiliar German players and fans. When future Villa manager, Alex Massie fouled Camillo Jerusalem, the referee needed to separate the teams. Hostility from the 110,000 crowd intensified when the Villa players left the pitch without the required Nazi salute and Joseph Goebbels was called to suppress subsequent hostile German press coverage.[3]

The second game, in Düsseldorf, passed without incident but, following the third match, in Stuttgart, SS guards and Stormtroopers were needed to protect the players from the crowd.[3] During the war TIME Magazine reported that the Villa reserve team, all captured at Dunkirk, thrashed their captor SS guards.[4]

Second Division

Pos Team Pld HW HD HL HGF HGA AW AD AL AGF AGA GAv Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Aston Villa 42 17 2 2 50 12 8 5 8 23 23 2.086 57 Division Champions, promoted
2 Manchester United 42 15 3 3 50 18 7 6 8 32 32 1.640 53 Promoted
3 Sheffield United 42 15 4 2 46 19 7 5 9 27 37 1.304 53
4 Coventry City 42 12 5 4 31 15 8 7 6 35 30 1.467 52
5 Tottenham Hotspur 42 14 3 4 46 16 5 3 13 30 38 1.407 44
6 Burnley 42 15 4 2 35 11 2 6 13 19 43 1.000 44
7 Bradford Park Avenue 42 13 4 4 51 22 4 5 12 18 34 1.232 43
8 Fulham 42 10 7 4 44 23 6 4 11 17 34 1.070 43
9 West Ham United 42 13 5 3 34 16 1 9 11 19 36 1.019 42
10 Bury 42 12 3 6 43 26 6 2 13 20 34 1.050 41
11 Chesterfield 42 12 2 7 39 24 4 7 10 24 39 1.000 41
12 Luton Town 42 10 6 5 53 36 5 4 12 36 50 1.035 40
13 Plymouth Argyle 42 10 7 4 40 30 4 5 12 17 35 0.877 40
14 Norwich City 42 11 5 5 35 28 3 6 12 21 47 0.747 39
15 Southampton 42 12 6 3 42 26 3 3 15 13 51 0.714 39
16 Blackburn Rovers 42 13 6 2 51 30 1 4 16 20 50 0.888 38
17 Sheffield Wednesday 42 10 5 6 27 21 4 5 12 22 35 0.875 38
18 Swansea Town 42 12 6 3 31 21 1 6 14 14 52 0.616 38
19 Newcastle United 42 12 4 5 38 18 2 4 15 13 40 0.879 36
20 Nottingham Forest 42 12 3 6 29 21 2 5 14 18 39 0.783 36
21 Barnsley 42 7 11 3 30 20 4 3 14 20 44 0.781 36 Relegated
22 Stockport County 42 8 6 7 24 24 3 3 15 19 46 0.614 31
Source:

References
  1. https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2012/11/27/from-the-archives-villa-say-no-to-the-nazis
  2. Football, fascism and England's Nazi salute Archived 31 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, BBC Magazine, 22 September 2003
  3. https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/sport/aston-villa-the-offside-trap-and-the-nazi-salute/
  4. Game Called. TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 1/13/1941, Vol. 37, Issue 2


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