The scorer of the first ever league hat-trick today in 1888
celebrated so wildly afterwards he was dropped from the Burnley team and later
transferred.
FIRST LEAGUE HAT-TRICK -15 September 1888
Bolton 3 (Brogan, Davenport, Cooper) v. Burnley 4
(Tait 3, Poland)
Just like the previous weekend, Bolton, wearing white
shirts, dark-blue shorts and socks, were to race into a three-goal lead before
ultimately losing a thrilling encounter.
Barbour set Wanderers rolling with a first minute effort
that flashed just wide. Tyrer then shot just over and on five minutes some
lovely play by Roberts set up Brogan for the opening goal.
The scorer shortly after barged Bill Smith over the line as
he collected a high cross, but had done so from an offside position and
Burnley, wearing striped blue-and-white shirts, dark-blue shorts and socks,
escaped. It was Davenport who ‘registered the second point’, arriving ‘like a
steam train’to hit ‘a splendid shot’, reported the Accrington Times.
When Burnley did escape their own half, Harrison and
full-back Parkinson combined to keep Bolton’s goal intact and, on twenty-five minutes,
the home side made it three when Couper dashed past Daniel Friel to finish from
10 yards out.
With the interval beckoning, Burnley got back into the match
when, from a long Pat Gallacher free-kick, Bill Tait drove home to make it 3-1.
When the game restarted, Smith kept his side’s deficit to
two goals with a brilliant save, and shortly afterwards Friel went close to
halving it with a long shot that passed narrowly wide.
On fifty-four minutes, Fred Poland made it 3-2 and it should
have been 3-3 soon after but Tait missed from just a few yards out on fifty-six
minutes. The Burnley inside-right, though, didn’t have to wait too long for his
second of the match, lashing the ball home from a scrimmage in front of goal.
With fifteen minutes to go, Burnley took the lead for the
first time when, following some fine passing, Tait ran through to finish and complete
a hat-trick, the first ever by any player in the Football League.
A clearly deflated Bolton side tried hard to push forward in
search of an equaliser but, with full-backs Bill Bury and Billy McFetteridge in
a determined mood, Wanderers rarely looked like scoring a fourth. At the end
Burnley had won for the first time in the Football League.
Tait, William (5/5)
William Tait was signed by Burnley during the first week of
August 1888 from Newton Heath. He made his League debut at inside-right in Burnley’s
first-ever Football League match on 8 September 1888, in a 5-2 defeat against
Preston at Deepdale. In Burnley’s second League match the following week, William
wrote his own page of football history when he scored three of Burnley’s goals
as the Turfites came from 3-0 down to beat Bolton 4-3. It was the first-ever
hat-trick in League football.
There were then reports of ‘certain excesses’ by a number of
Burnley players following the game at Bolton. A few days later, the Burnley Committee
met and William Tait was suspended for a week, along with teammates William
Bury and Jack Abrahams (both defenders) for ‘imbibing intoxicants too freely’.
All three players missed the following game as the Turfites
crashed 4-1 at Wolves, and Tait played his next game for Burnley on 29
September at West Brom. He scored the first ever League goal at West Brom’s
Stoney Lane ground, their base in those days, and Burnley led 2-0 and 3-2
before going down 4-3 to the Baggies.
He played again (and scored again) in Burnley’s next League
game, a 4-1 win in the return fixture against Bolton at Turf Moor, the
first-ever Football League game to be played at Turf Moor. He played his final League
game for Burnley on 13 October at Turf Moor as the Turfites crashed 4-0 to
Wolves.
The following Saturday (20 October), he simply didn’t turn
up for a game at Stoke and Burnley had to play a reserve (Tom Midgley) in his place.
The following week there was a comment in the local paper to the effect that
‘William Tait had now ceased to be a member of the Burnley team’.
The following season he played in Newton Heath’s very first
game in the Football Alliance, a 4-1 win against Sunderland Albion on 21
September 1889 at North Road, Monsall. He played in seven Alliance games that
season for Newton Heath, scoring once. He later played for West Manchester (Lancashire
League) and later Ardwick, the forerunners of Manchester City.
Pikes Lane
In 1888, Bolton’s home games were played at Pikes Lane.
Bolton had moved there in 1881 after wandering around seeking a permanent pitch
since being formed seven years earlier. This was a notoriously muddy ground
situated at the foot of a hill. Then a cotton-manufacturing town, the
population of Bolton was just over 90,000, making it big enough to support a
successful Football League team.
The first season of League football saw dressing rooms
installed at Pikes Lane, which was last used at the end of the 1894/95 season.
The ground hosted the first Inter-League game on 11 April
1892 when Football League drew 2-2 with Scottish League. Pikes Lane is now covered
by housing.
