@aernethril wrote:
Just to bring some education to the boards 😉
During the 1920s school boy football was extremely important for everyday life. Sport in school was seen as a character building activity and would help young boys prepare to serve for the British Empire. In the East End crowds in their thousands would turn out to watch local boys play football. One of the most successful schools in the West Ham area was Park School and their head master was a very keen football follower. Furthermore, Mr Cornelius Beal also had great talent in music and rhymes, and wrote special words to the most fashionable song of the time ‘Bubbles’. Whenever a young boy was performing well, the crowd would sing his name in a parody of the ‘Bubbles’ tune.
In the Park School team was a fair-haired young football player named Billy ‘Bubbles’ Murray. He was nicknamed bubbles because his hair resembled to the boy in the famous bubbles painting. The artwork was painted by Sir John Millais in 1829 illustrates a young boy watching a soap bubble. This painting was very popular in Britain because it was used to advertise Pears Soap. Whenever ‘Bubbles’ Murray represented West Ham boys at Upton Park, the crowd were heard singing ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’. Although ‘Bubbles’ Murray did not play for the first team, the famous song still lingered in the minds of the Upton Park faithful. The crowd started to sing the song every time West Ham played, making them one of the first crowds in English football to sing on the terraces.
