Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: UsualSuspect on July 22, 2010, 11:41:14 AM
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Just read the Murder of Tommy ball which is basically a booklet written by paul lester and covers Tommy's murder and the fact that he was/is the only professional footballer to be murdered.
I must admit I had never heard of him, just wondered if any one else had read this booklet and if anyone knew if his grave was still in a state of dis-repair?
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I must admit, when I saw the topic title I thought it was to do with the crap comedian, before remembering it was TOMMY Cannon and Bobby BALL.
To answer your questions, no to both of them.
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Just read the Murder of Tommy ball which is basically a booklet written by paul lester and covers Tommy's murder and the fact that he was/is the only professional footballer to be murdered.
I must admit I had never heard of him, just wondered if any one else had read this booklet and if anyone knew if his grave was still in a state of dis-repair?
Never heard of him.
Andreas Escobar was murdered!
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There was a big article in the mail about it a few months back. Very sad story. they showed the grave, and its looks in decent nick considering
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Sorry should have said English/british
He was a great prospect and was murdered in Perry Barr in i think 1923. The book covered the fact that whilst Duncan Edwards grave in Dudley is a fitting tribute to him (and rightly so) Tommy's grave (i think from memory in Aston) is overgrown and desecrated
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Greg as this book was written in 1996 do u think it would have been given a new lease of life??
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Greg as this book was written in 1996 do u think it would have been given a new lease of life??
trying to remember. from memory they showed the inscription from the villa players on the grave. could have been cleaned up since i guess
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My grandad used to take me down to see the grave and tell me the story of Tommy Ball.
It always looked in ok state to me.
This was in about 1974, mind.
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didn't we once have a relative of Tommy Ball post a message on here, many many years ago? Unless I dreamt it
Mac'll tell us
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The grave is in St Johns church in Church lane Perry Barr if anyone is interested
Not sure of the state of it as i have not seen it for a good few years
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I think I read about it in the Miscellany, or Villa Who's Who book.
Killed by his neighbour (possibly Landlord?).
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I think I read about it in the Miscellany, or Villa Who's Who book.
Killed by his neighbour (possibly Landlord?).
Ah, now you've said that it rings a bell.
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Chico's right. Tommy Ball's story crops up on the website every couple of years. The last time, or time before prompted a relation of Tommy's to post - they were suprised that we cared about the story.
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I think I read about it in the Miscellany, or Villa Who's Who book.
Killed by his neighbour (possibly Landlord?).
I definitely remember it being in the Miscellany.
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My money is on professor plum. Usually it is mustard but plum has a dark streak
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Thomas Ball lived in Brick Kiln Lane, Perry Barr, with his wife Beatrice. They were on unfriendly terms with their neighbour, George Stagg. It was believed that the main cause of friction was the Ball's pet dog (or chickens), which regularly got into Stagg's garden.
On the night of 12th November 1924, the Balls returned from the Church Tavern to find Stagg waiting for them. An argument broke out and Stagg, a First World War veteran, shot Ball, who died almost immediately. He remains the only British professional footballer to have been murdered.
Stagg was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1945 and died in the mid-sixties.
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He remains the only British professional footballer to have been murdered.
After some of the things professionals have gotten up to since, that remains an astounding fact.
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He remains the only British professional footballer to have been murdered.
After some of the things professionals have gotten up to since, that remains an astounding fact.
Its a good job John Gregory never had that gun to hand.......
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As has been previously mentioned, Stagg shot Tommy Ball in cold blood when he climbed into Stagg's garden to retrieve a chicken. Stagg then proceeded to bury Tommy Ball's corpse there and then to hide the evidence. Police were called when neighbours told of a loud commotion in Brick Kiln Lane. Upon arrival Police found Tommy's wife, obviously distraught, leaning over her fence pleading with Mr Stagg if she could have her ball back.
I'll get my coat.
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Is that chicken story true?
My lot are from Perry Barr and tell a very different tale of why his neighbour shot him. Mind you they've never been ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-)
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Is that chicken story true?
My lot are from Perry Barr and tell a very different tale of why his neighbour shot him. Mind you they've never been ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-)
Either his chickens or his dog had got into Stagg's garden, according to reports from the trial, but you know how folk talk.
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My grandad used to take me down to see the grave and tell me the story of Tommy Ball.
It always looked in ok state to me.
This was in about 1974, mind.
Yeah, I was taken to the grave too. Wasn't there a thread about his grave and the upkeep of it also?
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Thomas Ball lived in Brick Kiln Lane, Perry Barr, with his wife Beatrice. They were on unfriendly terms with their neighbour, George Stagg. It was believed that the main cause of friction was the Ball's pet dog (or chickens), which regularly got into Stagg's garden.
On the night of 12th November 1924, the Balls returned from the Church Tavern to find Stagg waiting for them. An argument broke out and Stagg, a First World War veteran, shot Ball, who died almost immediately. He remains the only British professional footballer to have been murdered.
Stagg was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1945 and died in the mid-sixties.
Full article from Heroes & Villains Issue 6 HERE (http://heroesandvillains.net/index.php?topic=31.0)
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a dog and chickens
Birmingham Mail (England)
May 6, 2010
The star player Villa shot dead by neighbour; FROM THE ARCHIVES;
Features
LENGTH: 815 words
Byline: Mark Cowan
ON THE chilly afternoon of Saturday, November 10, 1923, towering centre-half Tommy Ball gave his usual commanding performance at the heart of the Aston Villa defence.
The side were away at Notts County and their 1-0 victory at the Meadow Lane ground took them to third in the First Division.
Sadly, the diligent player who had turned out 77 times for the club had played his last game.
A day later he would be shot dead by his next-door neighbour and landlord in his own garden.
The tragedy earned the 23-yearold a macabre place in the history books as the only British professional footballer to be murdered. As was the case 90 years ago, Tommy had earned his footballing stripes playing for his school and local colliery team in the amateur league near his County Durham birthplace.
He later turned out for Newcastle United before being bought by Villa during the 1919/20 season.
The pounds 7-a-week player made a number of appearances before taking his place in the heart of Villa's defence during the 1922/23 season, taking to the field 36 times following the sale of centre-half Frank Barson to Manchester United.
The following season he had made 14 appearances and was consideredby many one of the league's best defenders with a promising future.
He had married Beatrice, the daughter of an Aston butcher, a year earlier and the pair rented a humble cottage from George Stagg, theirnext-door neighbour.
Stagg, a tough father-of-four had served with the Army in Sudan and Egypt, and had joined the police force when he returned to Birmingham in 1904.
He re-enlisted in the Army when the First World War broke out in 1914, but was wounded in the calf and declared no longer fit for active duty.
He came back home again and bought Somerville Cottages, on Brick Kiln Lane, eventually renting one of the properties to Tommy and his wife.
It's fair to say that relations between the pair had been strainedfor some time.
The Villa player kept a dog and chickens much to the chagrin of 45-year-old Stagg who repeatedly complained about them straying onto his land.
The following night after the victory over Notts County, Tommy andBeatrice went for a drink at the Church Tavern, a pub near their home.
After their return, Tommy went popped into the garden while his wife prepared some food.
There he was confronted by Stagg, who was carrying a shotgun, and the row over the animals began again.
During the course of the row Tommy was blasted with a singlebarrelled 12-bore Webley and Scott sporting gun.
Beatrice heard a shot and, rushing outside, saw her husband staggering towards her clutching his chest. Within minutes he was dead, having suffered fatal haemorrhaging and shock.
Only two people knew what happened in the following fateful minutes but one of them was now dead and Stagg was claiming the incident had been an accident.
In a statement to the police, he said: "I pushed him back with themuzzle of the gun, but he caught hold of the gun and tried to wrenchit off me.
"I wrenched the gun away from him. I slipped back and the gun wentoff - a sudden jerk and off it went. I immediately went out and did all I could for him. I helped him on the sofa, and immediately went for a doctor and informed the first police officer I met."
The player's funeral was understood to have been a grand affair with Tommy's shocked teammates carrying his coffin to the funeral service at St Johns's Church in Perry Barr.
A jury took just one hour and 40 minutes to convict Stagg of murder following a trial at Stafford in February 1924.
He was sentenced to death and refused leave to appeal a month after his trial.
Controversially, he escaped the hangman's noose when his death sentence was reprieved thanks to a controversial Home Office decision during the first Labour Government.
But the reprieves proved unpopular with the public and plans to abolish the death penalty were later put on hold.
Six killers convicted of murder after the Stagg case all went to the gallows.
Instead of death, Stagg was sentenced to life imprisonment. Three years later he was declared insane and sent to Broadmoor.
He died in a Birmingham mental hospital in 1966, at the age of 87.
Sadly Villa fans never got to see Tommy Ball fulfil his footballing promise and its remains open for debate about what the team could have achieved had he not been killed.
The only sign of the tragic Tommy Ball is now his ornate gravestone at St John's the Baptist Church, in Church Road, Perry Barr, the significance of which may not be realised to many visitors to the cemetery.
The simple inscription on the headstone reads: "To T E Ball A token of esteem from his fellow players of Aston Villa FC."