Our first card referred to the Guernsey International Football team, whose nickname is "The Donkeys". As to why, well it refers to a little bit of gentle teasing which goes on between the Channel Islanders - the nickname for Guernsey islanders being "Les Anes", which means the donkeys, and which people of Jersey use because the inhabitants of Guernsey are so stubborn about any decisions that involve the other islands. However, Guernsey folk seem to have taken it another way, that being that they are strong willed - and they use it amongst themselves too.
As far as the nickname given to Jersey inhabitants by Guernsey ones, that is "Les Crapauds", meaning toads. And Guernsey folk swear that is because there is a type of toad, the spiny toad, which is only found in Jersey....
These cards show footballers from the Priaulx League, which is the senior league on the island of Guernsey. The name comes from a man, Mr. O. Priaulx of Bury St. Edmunds, who donated £5 so they could have their first ever trophy.
Up until 2016, it was administered by the Guernsey Football Association, and affiliated to the English Football Association, but not included in the English leagues. At the end of the season the winners of the Priaulx League go head to head against the winners of the senior league on the Isle of Jersey, who are also affiliated to the English F.A. but once more take part in no matches on the British mainland. The winners of this inter-island match win a trophy called the Upton Park Trophy, which was donated to the Guernsey Football Association in 1906, by Upton Park Football Club of London, to mark ten years of their tour of the Channel Islands.
By 1906 there had been several finals, the first being won by the Band Company of the 2nd. Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, in 1893-4. For several years the competition had a strong military presence, reflecting the number of men stationed on the islands. This was due to its proximity to France, with whom there had been several skirmishes and outright wars in the 19th century. In fact it was not until 1914 that the last British garrison was withdrawn, and only then because the men were sent off to fight in the First World War.
The first team with no connection to the forces to win the trophy was the Northerners Athletic Club in 1900. They retained the title the following year, Grange took it in 1902, and the Northerners rallied and won again in 1903. Then it returned to having military winners, save the three times that Northerners lifted the trophy, these being in 1908, 1910 and 1913. At the start of the First World War, football was cancelled for the duration. And since then there have been no more military winners.
Our man seems rather elusive online, so we only have the biography which appears on this card. That starts with the information that he was "Not a native of Guernsey, but a player who has rendered the Northerners excellent service whilst he has been resident in the Island." It then continues with "Originally he was played at centre-forward, but more recently he changed to the half line, where he is at home either on the flank or in the centre. A clever footballer who led the Guernsey attack against Jersey in 1934, played at right half two years later and centre-half the following year"
The teams represented in the set are as follows :
- Nos. 1 - 13: - Rangers
- Nos. 14 - 24 - Athletics
- Nos. 25 - 36 - Northerners
- Nos. 37 - 47 - Belgraves
- Nos. 48 - 58 - St Martins
- Nos. 59 - 69 - Sylvans
- Nos. 70 - 80 - Sherwood Foresters
The set is first described in our reference book to the issues of the British American Tobacco Company, RB.21, published in 1952, amongst several sets issued by Bucktrout. However there seems nothing to suggest that our set was issued by them, the grouping is merely because the cards all show footballers.
Our set is described as :
- 290-3 Guernsey Footballers - Priaulx League. Large cards, size 77 x 64 m/m. Front in brown. Back per Fig.290-3 in brown. Numbered series of 80. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the set is at the back of the book, amongst the other anonymous cards of section 2, with letterpress on the back, but without reference to tobacco, and sub-section 2.C.b for issues between 1919 and 1940, issued overseas through B.A.T. It is described as :
- GUERNSEY FOOTBALLERS - PRIAULX LEAGUE. Lg. 77 x 54, Brown. Nd. (80). See RB.21/290.3 ... ZB6-34
It is virtually the same text in the updated version of this book, but it adds in "Issued in Channel Islands only" and changes the card code to ZB07-360