Origins :Celebrating 120 years of the Grecians – The St Sidwell’sUnited Story

7. City legend Sid Thomas

 We’ve now reached the point in this series when St Sidwell's United arrive on the scene.  It’s an appropriate time to pause and pay tribute to Sid Thomas. For he, more than anyone, spans the period from the development of the association game in local schools to the organisation of club football and, in time, Exeter City Football Club.

Sid was born in Penzance in 1885. The family’s background was in mining, and his grandfather Henry was killed in the North Levant mining disaster in 1867. Sid’s parents, Charles and Mary, had moved their young family to Exeter by the 1891 census, and Sid attended St Sidwell’s School.

It was here that Sid’s lifelong love of sport, and in particular association football, flowered.  Local newspaper reports record Sid participating in the school sports days and also turning out in the new Exeter Schools’ League.

Reminiscing in the Football Express in 1939, Sid recalled:‘There was a body of youngsters who attended St Sidwell’sSchool who were just football mad, and I am afraid some of us have suffered in after life through the time we spent in the school yard there.’

Sid went on to say: ‘The result of that association of boys together was that after we all left school, somewhere about the year 1900, it was decided to call a meeting of selected youngsters in the city who were known to be good exponents of the game.’

A series of clubs emerged, and football at the time was very fluid. Sid is known to have played for various teams including Exeter Athletic, St Thomas Past, and Exeter Wesleyan United before St Sidwell’s United was established in 1901.

The Football Express in 1906 paid tribute to Sid’s early contribution saying: ‘In years to come …The name of Mr Thomas will always be indisputably linked with the birth and rise of the association game.’

The paper reflected on Sid playing as centre forward in St Sidwell’s first season (1901-02) when aged just 15 – ‘recognised at once, though not a “showy” player, as indefatigable and effective’. The following season he scored a record 41 goals and took on the role as Club Secretary. This no doubt fitted in well with his daytime job as a Solicitor’s Clerk.

Sid oversaw St Sidwell’s name change to Exeter City in 1904 and played and scored in the Grecian’s first-ever game under their new name. He continued playing until 1908, and in that year he was keenly involved in the campaign which led to City turning professional and joining the Southern League.

As well as being secretary for 34 years Sid also held a varietyof positions at the club including Director and Chairman. He even briefly managed the team in 1929. He was still President of the Club when he died in 1972. Sid is buried in Higher Cemetery and was inducted into City’s Hall of Fame in 2017.

More on Sid Thomas can be seen on his A-Z entry on the Grecian Archive:

Sid Thomas 

Sid’s grave is included on the trail around Higher Cemetery:

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