THE GIBRALTAR FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

Its Golden Years

The Gibraltar Football Association, the GFA, is one of the Worlds

oldest, dating back to 1895

This site describes a little of its history and the positive impact on the

ball skills and competitive edge of their players that the influx of

thousands of National Servicemen made in the late 1940’s and early

1950’s,

This, combined with visits of senior professional teams from mainland

Europe, turned them into a group of players who punched well above

their weight and enabled them to compete at any level, it also raised

the level of support from the indigenous populous of 30,000

The site also highlights the subsequent negative effect resulting from

the Spanish football authorities’ embargo on senior Spanish teams

from playing in Gibraltar and their subsequent impasse on the GFA’s

attempts to obtain affiliation with Uefa

First recorded Civilian match in 1901

Gibraltarians inherited their love of football from kick about games with the British Garrison in

the late 1800’s. With a genetic mix of Spanish, Italian (survivors from a shipwrecked Italian

galleon who settled at Catalan Bay, on the south side of the Rock) and the Brits (who have had

a large garrison there since 1704) they took to the beautiful game with passionate enthusiasm

On the isthmus, the flat area of land connecting Gib and Spain, they built a circular racetrack

enclosing a grassed football pitch and had their first competitive match against the military in

1901

An 1895 photograph of Gibraltar’s first civilian representative side

From their early days with a break during WW2, the GFA grew into a well organised structure,

with a number of divisions and shortly after the War’s end a new stadium was built on land

close to the Airport

Pictured in January 1952, the visiting team was Red Star Beogradski from Yugoslavia.

Their red star flag can be seen on then left of the Union Jack

The Military return to Gibraltar

In the early years following the War’s end, especially through the period from 1949 to 1955

the GFA came of age, and was given added momentum by the onset of military conscription

in the UK with many thousands of young men being posted to Gibraltar as part of their two

year military training

This added to the few hundred permanent military based there so that there was a very large

garrison of testosterone fuelled young men were looking for a way to use up their surplus

energies and football was by far the number one sport

A number of military football leagues were formed some units fielded more than one team and

league and cup games were fiercely competitive

At least three military pitches were constructed, two at Europa Point on the eastern side of the

Rock and a third in the town—this was generally known as the Naval ground and in the main

hosted those games played by the permanent Naval base and teams from the visiting Navies,

these swelled the Naval force by many thousands

The following describes the experiences of two of those National Servicemen;

Faber Dewar, an RAF conscript who had represented Scotland as a Youth International

and subsequently at a semi-professional level in Scotland.

He was posted to Gibraltar in 1951

Trevor Sidaway, a REME conscript, on Aston Villas books as an amateur

Posted to Gibraltar in 1953

Both played for their units in the Military leagues and both were selected to play for the

Combined Services in a series of games against the Gibraltar Football Association

Both also played for a Rock eleven selected from the pick of the Military and

Civilian teams to play against visiting professional teams from mainland Europe

Representative teams

Representative teams were selected from three distinct groups from both the Military

and Civilians;

The GFA

This team was drawn from players registered by the Gibraltar Foot ball Association and was

regarded by Gibraltarians as their “National” team

The Combined Services

Selected from all the military—Army, Navy and Airforce-- serving in Gibraltar and from visiting

British Navies

Rock Select VI

A team selected from the best civilian and military players

The games

GFA versus Combined Services

The Gibraltar Cup competition was introduced as an annual series of five matches between

the GFA and the Combined Services team which included a number of players on the books

of senior UK professional teams

These games were fiercely contested by players and spectators alike, the stadium was usually

filled to capacity and was an automatic Saturday evening draw for many of the troops

In the 1953/54 season the Combined Services narrowly lost the series by three games to

two, this was one of the most successful performances by the Combined Services in

the history of the competition

GFA versus visiting European teams

These are some of the professional teams that visited Gibraltar:

From Spain---------Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Real Valiolid

From Yugoslavia--Hadjuk Split, Beogradski Red Star

From Sweden------Jonkopings, Degafors

From Austria-------Whacker

Teams from the UK also visited, including an RAF eleven that included five established British

Internationals and a Bomber Command select eleven. Against these senior professional teams

The GFA did well, including a notable 2;2 draw against Real Madrid and a win against the RAF

and Jonkopings

Rock Select VI versus European teams

Some of the visiting European teams were also pitched against a Rock Select VI

These included Hadjuk Split, Jonkopings, Beogradski and Whacker

Both Faber Dewar and Trevor Sidaway were selected for some of these games and a number

of other military personnel were picked to play, these included Charlie Twissell/Navy,

Duncan/RAF and McMahaon/Army

Picture Gallery

GFA versus Combined Services

October 1953, a full house at Victoria Stadium

The most successful Combined Services team of the 1953/54 season, four of the players;

Duncan/RAF, McMahon /ARMY, Twissell/NAVY, Sidaway/ARMY

went on to represent the Rock Select eleven against visiting European Teams

Trevor Sidaway scoring for the Combined Services

also in shot, GFA players—keeper Marin and full back Gonzales

Visiting European teams 1951/52/53/54 seasons

Whacker (Austria)

Admira (Austria)

Red Star Beogradski (Yugoslavia)

Degafors (Sweden)

Rock select eleven versus visiting European teams

Jonkopings (Sweden) 1954

Trevor Sidaway/Army, far right—only one military player

Whacker (Austria) 1952

Faber Dewar/RAF, second from right, one of three military players

The player behind the ball is Gibraltarian Victor Byrne the captain of the GFA for many seasons

Versus Whacker (Austria) 1952

Faber Dewar/RAF, number 3, protecting the near post

Versus Red Star Beodgradski (Yugoslavia) 1952

Faber Dewar/ RAF, far right

The end of the GFA’s Golden Years

Spain places an embargo on Spanish Clubs playing in Gibraltar

Steve Menary in his book “OUTCASTS! the lands that FIFA forgot” writes;

“The 1950’s were to be turbulent times for Spain and Gibraltar. In 1956, Spain granted

independence to its territories in Morocco, but, crucially, retained two enclaves on Moroccan

soil in Ceuta and Melilla—a distinct parallel with Gibraltar but not one seemingly apparent

in Spanish political circles.

The previous year, Spain’s Delegacion Nacional de Deportes had decided that all Spanish

Sports Clubs needed written permission to play in Gibraltar. Teams without this permission

were turned back at the border, including Real Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla---and so started

what many in Gibraltar see as the slow death of football in the colony”

This decision by Spain was the beginning of the end of the era when top European teams

were being drawn to play in Gibraltar and in 1960 National Service was ended in the UK

meaning that the number of Military based there fell from several thousand to a few

hundred

This added to the dilution of competitive representative games and a growing lack of

interest by the average Gibraltarian.

Spain however places no restriction on those Gibraltarians who have the necessary skills

to play at a professional level in Spain. These talented players, for one reason or another,

rarely turn out for their “International” side, again reducing the potency of the GFA

The GFA authorities have long since recognised this and have probably fought he longest

legal battle in the history of football in an attempt to get the GFA recognised by the

European football authorities—Uefa

Approval was effectively vetoed by Spain in spite of a decision by Uefa and Fifa in favour

of Gibraltar’s facilities and a similar quasi-legal decision by the European “Court of

Arbitration for Sport” in Gibraltar’s favour

There have been suggestions that the only way of resurrecting real interest in the GFA

would be for them to apply for entry in one of Southern Spain’s semi-professional leagues

Who knows what the final outcome will be!

A FIFA approved Victoria Stadium, pictured in 2002, with its artificial grass pitch

It is currently being upgraded

trevor_sidaway@hotmail.com Link to Home Page

Football in Gibraltar (part 1)