Page 150 - Mind, Body & Spirit Number 104 2020/21

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England v Scotland 19th Feb 1944 Stan Cullis APTC introducing King George VI to Jimmy Hagan, Joe Mercer, Tommy Lawton and Cliff Britton (all APTC)
Stan Cullis transferred into the APTC from the South Staffordshire Regiment and went on to serve as a PT Instructor in Britain and Italy. Cullis failed his original medical as it revealed a slow pulse rate but another Medical Officer who knew he was a professional footballer did not even bother to examine him! Stanley Mathews described him as the best header of the ball in the Football League. Tommy Lawton stated that Cullis was the greatest centre- half he had met adding that he had the resilience of a concrete wall, the speed of a whippet and the footwork of a ballet dancer. He was capped 12 times by England and also played in 20 wartime internationals, 10 of them as team captain, as well as numerous war charity games for Wolves, Aldershot, Fulham and Liverpool. Cullis was once knocked unconscious during a game against Everton and suffered severe concussion that required intensive medical care. His doctors warned him that another serious concussion could kill him. In a later game a tremendous shot hit him full in the face and once again he suffered severe concussion and was on the danger list for five days. He continued to play for Wolves after the war but he was warned by a doctor that because of his previous head injuries, even heading a heavy leather football could prove fatal so, having played 155 games for Wolves, Cullis decided to retire from playing football.
A number of PTI’s were given special assignments during the war. CSMI Don Welsh was assigned to coach the Canadian Army team and later was a fitness instructor on troop transport vessels along with Bert Sproston. Sheffield Wednesdays Frank Westlake was responsible for the fitness training of airborne personnel. SSI Harold Shepherdson trained in anatomy and physiology and worked in military hospitals and remedial centres. After the war he put into practice his health and fitness expertise as trainer with Middlesbrough FC before becoming England’s longest serving
trainer over a remarkable period covering 4 World Cups and 169 international matches.
Direct recruitment of civilian footballers to the Army PT Staff ceased at the end of February 1940 but serving players continued to fill vacancies that subsequently occurred in what had now become the Army Physical Training Corps. During World War Two more than 100 professional footballers served with the APTC. This negligible number of footballers fortunate to become PTI’s was far outweighed by those drafted to other units at the sharp end of the war. Some tensions did exist between ‘long termers’ and these football superstars, particularly amidst accusations that they received preferential treatment by only serving in the UK and continuing to play professional football in the Wartime Leagues. Tommy Lawton recalled the first hostile reaction he received during a war charity football tour in Italy where there were cries of ‘D-Day Dodgers’ and ‘PT Commando’s.’ Lawton acknowledged the sporadic hostility from people who thought it wrong that fit, able-bodied young fellows like himself should be playing football in England while their husbands, sons and sweethearts were away fighting. However, he emphasised that it was the war moguls who ordered him to stay in England, highlighting the fact that he had appeared in hundreds of charity matches for England, the Army, Combined Services and unit teams raising valuable funds for the war effort. Colonel Wand-Tetley, Inspector of Physical Training, put forward a strong argument to the critics that “Instructors are some of the hardest working men in the Army. By their experience gained from top level sport these instructors know the best PT methods to adopt. Irreparable damage can be done to recruits if the training is too severe. In the last war there were many cases of heart trouble caused by instructors who did not know their business.”