Flying Over an Olive Grove - The Remarkable Story of Fred Spiksley; A Flawed Football Hero

by Clive Nicholson, Ralph Nicholson, Mark Metcalf

Flying Over An Olive Grove is the first great working-class football story. Born at a unique moment in the history of the beautiful game, Fred Spiksley was amongst a new wave of teenagers who from 1885 onwards could aspire to be a professional footballer and dodge the inevitability of industrial labour. He became the first player to score a hat-trick against Scotland and in 1896 he guided Sheffield Wednesday to FA Cup glory with 4 goals and 8 assists during the cup run. His first goal in the final is considered by some to be the fastest ever goal in FA Cup final history.

At his peak he was the fastest winger in England and possessed total ball control. He was a player with such ability that he was able to take his club and country to the pinnacle of football during an era where his slender frame did not suit the rough treatment that was often meted out to him. With Fred Spiksley on the field no match was ever lost. Even with two broken ribs, he had the pluck and tenacity to remain on the field and score the winning goal in an epic FA Cup tie at Olive Grove, the ground where he made his name; 'the Olive Grove Flyer'. He scored over 300 career goals and won every major honour in the game, and holds the record for the highest goals-to-game ratio of any winger in the history of English football. His fame extended around the World as he became the first professional footballer to coach across three continents. In Europe he managed the Swedish national team and guided 1FC Nuremberg to the German Championship in 1927.

Football presented Fred Spiksley, a small lad from the backstreets of Lincolnshire, with a lifetime of adventure. He would be chased along the touchline by the future Queen of England, share the stage with Charlie Chaplin and in 1914 escape from a German prison. An addicted gambler and self confessed womaniser, Fred Spiksley's character meant that he was not always the hero off the pitch that he was on it. Flying Over An Olive Grove brings Fred Spiksley's remarkable but long forgotten story to a new audience and contains a superb collection of images, including the earliest known photograph of an international goal being scored.

378 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Kalwinder Dhindsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most enjoyable read. I'm a Derby County supporter myself and only came across the name of Fred Spiksley when the author of this book contacted me on Twitter realising that I was a big fan of one of Fred's contemporaries; Steve Bloomer.

Having read about Fred's life and all that he achieved in the early days of the game of football in England. I would put Spiksley in the same category as Bloomer for greatness. Fred was no doubt one of the earliest pioneers of the game and continued to be so long after he hung up his boots competitively. Not only was he a great club footballer but also a great international footballer for England during the formative years of association football.

It's a great shame that players like Fred are sometimes forgotten in time because they have cast their magic on the playing fields so long in the distant past. 120 years ago Fred would have been on the tips of the tongue of many a football fan in the British Isles.

Thanks to this book his legend and legacy have pushed him back into the public conscience. Not only Fred, but many of his great contemporaries too. And in the Victorian and Edwardian times there were many of them.

In my opinion Fred was one of the best. Up there with Steve Bloomer ;)