Jim Appleby: Past Times

But what do you expect when some of them are over-paid, under-employed and short on brain cells?

Although in the public eye they seem to have no idea how to behave. In short they lack a sense of that old-fashioned virtue, duty.

It was not always like this. In the past there were sporting heroes who were true heroes in reality.

Donald Simpson Bell - thought to be the only professional footballer to win the Victoria Cross - was such a man.

He played for Bradford (Park Avenue) in the 1913-14 season in which the club won promotion to the First Division, although he wasn't what used to be called an ever-present and made only a handful of appearances in the first team.

There was no questioning his all-round sporting ability, though. After starting his education at St Peter's School, Harrogate, and moving to Knaresborough Grammar School, he went on to Westminster College, London, where he gained his colours in soccer, rugby and cricket.

He was the school's fastest footballer and ran the 100 yards in ten and three fifth seconds - which was just a second under the then (1906) world record, and not at all bad for a teenager.

A big, cheery man, he became a teacher and an assistant master at Starbeck School, Harrogate, and played football as an amateur for Newcastle United. Later he moved to Bradford, still as an amateur, but later turned professional. Surprisingly, for a big, fast player, he was a full-back. He did have a spell at centre forward but it seems to have been marked by everything but goals.

Then, in 1914, war broke out. Bell saw no alternative but to serve his country and from Starbeck he offered his services in the cavalry. Because of his size he was seen as more suitable for the infantry, and found himself in 1915 in the Green Howards and in France. He was commissioned in 1916.

His letter to Bradford FC is from another age: 'I have given the subject very serious consideration, and have now come to the conclusion that I am duty bound to join the ranks. Will you therefore kindly ask the directors of the Bradford Football Club to release me from my engagement?'

It was his athleticism and speed which helped him to win the Victoria Cross, on the fifth day of one of the most ill-conceived, pointlessly prolonged, stupidly managed and bloody battles in military history - the Somme.

On July 5, 1916, British troops launched yet another attack on a German position defended by machine guns. The troops came under fire, as they had done throughout the battle, and one particular gun was taking a heavy toll.

Bell, on his own initiative, took two comrades along a communications trench then sprinted across open ground under deadly fire towards the machine gun position. He reached it, shot the gunner with a revolver and destroyed the position with bombs. This allowed the British attack to continue and - a rarity indeed - to succeed for a while.

Bell's name was put forward for recognition, but he would not live to see it.

Five days later, while helping to repel a German counter attack, he was shot and killed.

In his last letter home to his parents and to Rhoda, his bride of five weeks, he wrote: 'Be of good heart and fear not...I am in God's hands.'

Tom Maley, secretary/manager of Bradford FC, said of Bell: "A big, cheery chap, he took great interest in his men. As most of them came from football areas, he soon found a way to their affection.

"He has triumphed, and if blameless life and unselfish and willing sacrifice have the virtue attached with which they are credited, Donald is in the position of eternal happiness, and in his glorious record and great reward there is much to be envied.

"He was a fine fellow and a good friend, and while I regret his loss, I fell privileged in being able to place him among my boys, my big band of heroic and noble boys. God bless them every one."

Maley's band of heroic boys was later swelled by one whose loss would be even more keenly felt. His son Jose was killed in France.

Cup Final hero who was a prize capture for the Germans

Donald Bell may not have been the greatest footballer to fight in the First World War, though his VC suggests he was one of the bravest.

For Bradford fans there was no doubt who the best player in the trenches was. Dickie Bond (above), probably the most glamorous and spectacular player in Bradford soccer history, had played in the 1911 FA Cup-winning side as part of his 13-year spell at Valley Parade.

He was the darling of the crowd, 'a firebrand outside right with the face of a cherub' said one contemporary. City had signed him from Preston North End in 1909 for a reduced fee. Preston were under the (mistaken) impression that Bond was a permanent crock.

The following season Bond played in all three home internationals for England...

When war came, Bond enlisted and joined the Bradford Pals. It was while serving in the trenches in France in 1916 that he was captured. He was obviously unaware of any danger. His captors found him shaving!

Bond as a prisoner was big news. The Germans hoisted a sign over their front line which said: 'We have captured Dickie Bond'.

Whether this was a boast, or a reassurance that the local hero was safe is not, 80 years on, too clear. But there must have been a lot of regulars from the terraces at Valley Parade who were relieved to see that their idol was unharmed.

Dickie Bond died in 1955, a week after visiting a pal in Brighouse from his home in Preston. Their talk had been of dogs - they were both collie-fanciers - and of Valley Parade.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.