Just When You Thought You Knew Everything About Everton's Greatest Player...

[Bohemian Toffee]

Lots more to add on this.

First, the tragic story of James Lynch, the Everton fan who died when he fell from a hoarding on Goodison Road during the game against Liverpool on September 24th 1898 (just as Dixie's Uncle Ralph was being filmed playing for West Brom at Ewood Park).

I've been looking into Lynch's case and one thing I wondered was where exactly that hoarding might have been.

There are clues in old photos.

This is the old Goodison Road Stand, and St Luke's Church before it was rebuilt (probably taken in 1896 or 97):

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By the time of James Lynch's accident, that stand had been swept away, replaced by the 'palatial' new structure that opened in September 1897. But at that time, the hoarding you can see in front of the church may well have still been in place, as work on rebuilding St Luke's would not begin for another year.

Zooming in below we can see people perched on top of the hoarding. Was that where Lynch fell from?

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The other possibility is that the hoarding was refigured when the new Goodison Road stand opened. This is from the early years of the new century, with the new stand and the new St Luke's. Notice the different hoarding.

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There's also the possibility that the hoarding was at the other end of the Goodison Road stand, though I have no photographs of that part of the ground from the relevant time. Judging from this map, if there had been a hoarding I'm not sure how good a view of the pitch it would have offered:


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Looking back over 100 years it makes tragic incidents like this one seem all the more poignant. Reports of James Lynch's death at the time say he was 32, but don't say whether he had any children. Who knows how many potential Evertonians he may have fathered had he lived, and in turn, to how many of the following generation those children would have passed on the passion to.

It simply makes me think 'there but for the grace of God go I'.

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That exchange between coroner and Molyneux is incredible reading, certain the club does everything to stop excitable fans from getting into dangerous places. Perhaps spikes?
Nah, they bring sacks.
Oh, fair enough, nevermind you seem to have thought of everything.

Fascinating reading though, thank you @kushiro

 

[kushiro]

Perhaps spikes?
Nah, they bring sacks.

Yeah, that bit stood out for me too. It reminds me of the stories of the famous promotion game at Oldham in May 1954, with thousands locked out. Tar and barbed wire had been put on top of the Boundary Park perimeter walls to stop people climbing over, but according to reports, 'fans used the Liverpool Echo to cover the obstacles':

 

[kushiro]

An update on the tragic story of James Lynch, who fell to his death from the hoarding on Goodison Road after he climbed up for a free view (see page 2 of the thread). Recall that secretary Dick Molyneux appeared at the coroner's inquest, saying they'd tried taking measures to stop people climbing up - such as putting barbed wire along the top - but fans just put sacks over the wire and sat on them.

Well here's a photo that shows that further measures were taken - from about 1910. You can see the huge spikes that have been installed. No-one was going to put a sack on one of those:

I doubt it stopped people climbing up on to the roof of the church though.

 

[Alanbileysfeathercut]

An update on the tragic story of James Lynch, who fell to his death from the hoarding on Goodison Road after he climbed up for a free view (see page 2 of the thread). Recall that secretary Dick Molyneux appeared at the coroner's inquest, saying they'd tried taking measures to stop people climbing up - such as putting barbed wire along the top - but fans just put sacks over the wire and sat on them.

Well here's a photo that shows that further measures were taken - from about 1910. You can see the huge spikes that have been installed. No-one was going to put a sack on one of those:

View attachment 288715

I doubt it stopped people climbing up on to the roof of the church though.

We never see pics of the original ParkEnd .
Not the one before the cantilever the one prior.
Cos that map looks like a covered terrace of sorts.

 

[Joey66]

We never see pics of the original ParkEnd .
Not the one before the cantilever the one prior.
Cos that map looks like a covered terrace of sorts.

Found half a view of it in the 1960s -
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