DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
RateTheRef
HTML https://ratetheref.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: I Spy Old Refs!
*****************************************************
#Post#: 52754--------------------------------------------------
Robert Hugh "Bob" Kyle (1870-1941)
DIR By: John Treleven
Date: September 14, 2022, 9:29 am
---------------------------------------------------------
In pre WWI days the linesmen for Inter-League games were usually
committee men from the respective F.A.'s
My records for the period are far from complete but Bob Kyle
(below) has been found for one of them
11th November 1899
Football League v Irish League at Burnden Park, Bolton
3-1, att 5,372
James McPherson (Glasgow), Charles E. Sutcliffe (Burnley),
Robert H. "Bob" Kyle (Belfast)
Beyond the Last Man
14th September 2022
By Cian Manning
BELFAST’S BOB KYLE – THE MAKEM MARVEL
Belfast’s Robert Hugh Kyle was born on the 16th December 1870 in
the Ardoyne area of the city to mother Isabella and labourer
father James. Robert grew up and married Catherine with the
newly-wed couple living on Springfield Road in the Falls Ward
area, as recorded in the 1901 census. Both were members of the
Presbyterian Church and Bob was recorded as an agent to the
Conservative Association. It’s interesting to note that Kyle was
born in what is now the predominantly Catholic Ardoyne area and
moved to Springfield, adjacent to the Falls Road in West Belfast
with parts of the largely Catholic and Irish republican street
acting as an interface area with Ulster loyalists. It’s an
example of one of the many Irish socio-political intricacies
that for a time were not nearly as significant as they came to
be as the 20th century developed.
In his early footballing years Kyle was a representative for the
Eldon club in the Irish Football Alliance, and later became
secretary of the Distillery Football Club in the Irish League. A
capable goalkeeper for Eldon he might have been, but where he
really excelled was as an administrator and legislator which saw
him referee games in both senior and junior competitions. It is
noted by the Northern Whig newspaper that Kyle also played as
goalkeeper and even as a centre-back for the Grosvenor Park
based west Belfast team. Upon the resignation of Samuel Munro at
Distillery, Kyle succeeded him as secretary and was seen as an
important figure in what was a successful era for one of the
Irish League founding member clubs. His trophy haul counted
three league titles, two Irish Cups, three County Antrim
Shields, a City Cup and one Belfast Charity Cup.
He would cross the Irish Sea in 1905 to join Sunderland in a
similar capacity. Of his transition from the Irish League to the
English First Division, Argus in the Sunderland Echo and
Shipping Gazette noted that when Bob Kyle joined Sunderland as
club secretary in 1905: “no man in football had a sounder
knowledge of players and the game” than the former Eldon goalie
who when “he came to the conclusion that a player was the man to
fill the bill, he never left the doorstep until he had booked
him or definitely refused his transfer.” It was such
characteristics and relentless work ethic that would see Kyle
succeed hallowed figures such as Tom Watson (three championship
wins with Sunderland) and Alex Mackie, who won the title with
the club in 1901-02.
When Alex Mackie resigned from managing the team affairs of
Sunderland, Kyle applied for the position and was strongly
supported by the well known solicitor and amateur international
full-back W.K. Gibson. He had turned out for Sunderland when
they were short of players and was a very popular figure at the
Wearside club. It was a tumultuous time for the Makems as they
sold Alf Common to Middlesbrough for a then world record fee of
£1,000 and a scandal hit the club around the suspension of
manager Mackie and some club directors over benefit money paid
to Scottish international full-back Andrew McCombie.
Upon being appointed to the role, it was claimed that Kyle had
the record of being the only Irishman to become secretary of an
English First Division team. After taking on the dual role of
secretary and manager, Kyle returned to Grosvenor Park in
Belfast when the Roker Park club played Distillery in an
exhibition match notable for the playing debut of the future
great Charlie Buchan. One of many astute signings Kyle made for
Sunderland, the centre-forward would go on to represent his
country and score 209 league goals for Sunderland to become the
club’s all-time record league goal-scorer. Buchan was later
transferred to Arsenal for a substantial fee.
Other notable additions to the club over the years of Kyle’s
tenure included Frank Cuggy, Jack Mordue, L. R. Roose and
Charlie Thomson. The Evening Telegraph commented on the early
impact made by the Irishman: “Mr Kyle had the qualifications
needed, and in a short while the club was sailing in calmer
waters.” Kyle set himself the task of continuing to introduce
new blood into the players’ ranks and duly assembled a team
strong enough for the 1912-13 season to achieve the greatest
success Sunderland has ever attained in one campaign: winning
the Division One title and reaching the FA Cup Final.
Central to this success was, of course, Buchan along with the
famous Welsh goalkeeper Dick Roose. One of the most memorable
anecdotes concerning Roose came from when the player was asked
by the Football League to submit a copy of his expenses claimed
from Sunderland, with the first item recorded: ‘Using the toilet
(twice), 2d.’
Keeping a tight rein on the club’s purse strings, having a keen
eye for a player and coming so very close to leading Sunderland
to the league and cup double in 1913 would not even represent
Kyle’s main legacy to the club. More importantly, he played a
pivotal role in the revival of the Roker Park club after the
First World War. The club stopped playing in 1915 as players
from their league winning squad joined the war effort, with no
fewer than nineteen of them fighting or serving during
hostilities, with three in Buchan, Hobson and Young gaining the
Military Medal for their endeavours.
It was hard to understand how such figures could return to a
normal life as a professional footballer, or how Kyle could
start from scratch with a club that had won five titles prior to
the conflict in Europe. Reviving the fortunes of a sleeping
giant is one thing, but rebuilding brick-by-brick is harder
still. After he had successfully restored the squad to a high
competitive level, Kyle underwent surgery in the autumn of 1922
for what was described as an ‘internal problem’ but recovered
well from the procedure. Though he continued to manage the club
for another few seasons, it appeared that Kyle, who had once
been at the cutting edge in player recruitment, was starting to
appear old fashioned in his outlook as soccer continued to
develop apace. For example he was one of a number of prominent
officials against the proposal of players wearing shirt numbers,
a view at odds with the general public who were in favour of a
numbering scheme being adopted.
After nearly 23 years of managing Sunderland, Kyle was presented
with a cheque for £1,000 by the club’s directors for his
services to the club. Such was his reputation, Ireland’s
Saturday Night concluded that Kyle was considered “one of the
most capable secretaries in football.” Aside from that
championship success in 1913, Kyle led the Makems to one League
runners-up spot, five third-place finishes and two fifth places;
a remarkably consistent record which the club has certainly
never come close to matching since. Kyle’s resignation in March
1928 brought his long association to an end and caused quite the
sensation in footballing circles. The Telegraph deemed Kyle as:
“an official who was generally regarded as highly capable, and
who has undoubtedly rendered excellent service to the club.”
We know that in 1929 Robert H. Kyle applied unsuccessfully for
the manager’s position at Tottenham Hotspur. In his later years,
Kyle was in and out of the Royal Infirmary in Sunderland and
died on Monday 17th February 1941, just a couple of months past
his 70th birthday. His funeral took place at the North Bridge
Street Presbyterian Church and his remains were taken to
Newcastle for cremation. Much has changed since Bob Kyle
completed his near quarter-century spell in charge of Sunderland
in the English top flight. Distillery now play in Lisburn rather
than Belfast, Roker Park was consigned to history when it was
demolished in 1998 and Sunderland are no longer the giants they
were in pre-war days as they yo-yo erratically back and forth
between the lower divisions. Bob Kyle remains to this day the
only Irishman to lead an English club to a national championship
and his record as the Wearside club’s longest serving and most
successful manager looks certain to never be surpassed.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1