The crowd was overwhelmingly male and hats were all the fashion as these wonderful vintage photos of Watford in action on their travels almost 100 years ago show.
These pictures come from the archive of the Watford Observer’s sister paper the Southend Echo and show Harry Kent’s side in Division Three (South) action at the Essex club in March 1924.
Scroll down this page to see a selection of them.
It was not a good day for the visitors as they were beaten 3-0 in front of a crowd of 7,114 at the Kursaal, continuing a disappointing season.
Kent’s team finished third from bottom in 1923/24 and tasted victory just once on their travels, that coming in their penultimate away game of the season when they beat won 2-1 at Northampton Town.
Colleagues were unable to find a match report from the game but they did discover a preview when the Echo was confident about their team’s prospects in the rearranged fixture.
It reads: “On Wednesday next, Southend play their postponed League fixture with Watford. The teams should have met at the Kursaal, on February 23rd, but on that day the Hertfordshire men were engaged in a plucky, but unsuccessful, fight against Newcastle United in the English Cup.
The match preview from the Echo
“Last season Southend won at home against Watford 2—1 and drew away, but at the Vicarage ground on February 16th last, the United cracked up in the second moiety and lost 4—1. They should now avenge that defeat.”
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