Charlie Hurley's European debut in the first English side to play in Europe

 

On a night when the Wembley floodlights were finally plugged in to allow the first English side to play in Europe a new teenage star in Charlie Hurley was born.

Still a teenager, Charlie Hurley’s form for Millwall was so good during the first few months of the 1955-56 season that despite playing for a Third Division South club he was picked as part of the London XI side that became the first English team to play in a European competition, the Inter-City Fairs Cup. In Scotland, Hibernian, by entering the European Cup, became the first British club side to play in Europe.

The London XI game took place at Wembley against Frankfurt on Wednesday October 26th 1955 when the floodlights at the stadium were also employed for a match for the first time.

The line-up gives some idea of just how good Hurley already was at just nineteen:

Ted Ditchburn [Tottenham], Peter Sillett [Chelsea], Stan Willemse [Chelsea], Danny Blanchflower [Tottenham], Charlie Hurley [Millwall], Cyril Hammond [Charlton], Vic Groves [Orient], Bobby Robson [Fulham], Bedford Jezzard [Fulham], Roy Bentley [Chelsea], Charlie Mitten [Fulham].

Hurley and Vic Groves, both from Division Three South clubs, were the only players selected from outside the top flight.

Hurley’s teammate John Shepherd recalls: “It was no surprise that Charlie got selected to play at Wembley as he was a great player. He was very good in the air but he was also good with his feet. He’d get the ball down and look up and play it; in those days you didn’t see many defenders do that.

“Also nothing got by him. He’d knock it down off his chest. You could see he was going to be a special player. I played against John Charles when I was in the forces; Charlie was on a par with him in my view. He was a class act, but he was no stuck-up git and off the pitch he’s a nice bloke,” says a man who made 170 League and Cup appearances for Millwall, scoring an impressive 82 goals.

At Wembley, London recovered from going two-nil down before half-time to win the match 3-2. Hurley had an impressive match with Roy Peskett, writing below a massive ‘HURLEY HOLDS GERMANS’ headline in the Daily Mail, proclaiming that “cool, elegant, at times almost classical in his action, Hurley I think is going to figure among the great ones of soccer within a few years.”

Charlie Hurley remembers: “The fact that it was reported I had a good game at Wembley was great. I saw being picked for the London XI as my first honour in professional football. I’d gone from playing for Rainham Youth Club to running out at Wembley in less than two years. It was mind-boggling and I was a nervous wreck before the game. I believe that Alan Brown was at that match and I think my performance must have planted a little seed in his mind that led to him later signing me for Sunderland.

“I played alongside Danny Blanchflower, a quiet man. He had tremendous vision. It was said of him that he rarely tackled and he was frail, but he was the best one-touch player I ever saw and I learnt a lot from playing next to him.”