Fred Keenor

Fred Keenor was born in Cardiff, Wales, as one of eleven children. He was raised in the family home, a terraced house in Theodora Street in Roath, a suburb in Cardiff, by his father Robert Keenor and his mother Mary. His father worked as a stonemason in the city, working long hours in order to be able to afford the employment of Elizabeth Maler, a live-in nanny, to help his wife care for their children. Although they were not regarded as being in poverty, the family lived in cramped conditions, Keenor sharing a bedroom with three of his brothers in a house which did not have an inside toilet.

As a child, Keenor had a keen interest in football, using tennis balls or rags tied together to form a ball, due to the expensive nature of footballs at the time, to play the game in his local streets. He attended Stacey Road primary school in Adamsdown and captained the school's football team for several years and he was later selected to represent the city of Cardiff's schoolboy team. One of his former teachers at the school, Walter Riden, would later go on to join the board at Cardiff City while Keenor was a player.

Cardiff City

Having represented Wales at schoolboy level, Keenor was invited to attend a trial at Cardiff City by his former school teacher Riden, who had spotted Keenor playing local amateur football for Cardiff based side Roath Wednesday. Keenor later stated that he "did not think twice about it" and impressed enough during a trial match to be offered an amateur contract with the club at the age of 17. The Cardiff City amateur side competed in the Western Football League at the time and Keenor appeared several times in the division. A defeat to Camerton during a Western League fixture would leave a lasting effect on Keenor after an over-confident Cardiff side suffered an upset, losing 3–1 in a match they were widely expected to win. Keenor often spoke of using the defeat as motivation in later stages of his career, remarking "In subsequent seasons I always thought of that game when we were supposed to be on a "good thing". It has a moral which I pass on to every young footballer".

His whole-hearted performances for the amateur side persuaded the club to offer Keenor his first professional contract, with a wage of 10 shillings a week. Despite this, he continued to work locally as a labourer, giving him two streams of income which he described as making him "feel like a millionaire". The Cardiff squad was undergoing a significant overhaul under the management team of secretary-manager Fred Stewart and trainer George Latham but the pair were impressed by Keenor's performances and handed him first-team opportunities at the end of the 1912–13 season, featuring in two friendly matches, a 9–0 victory over Bridgend YMCA, during which he scored, and a 1–1 draw with Mid Rhondda. However, the presence of Billy Hardy, Patrick Cassidy and Kidder Harvey, who became known as the "holy three" by fans, meant Keenor was forced to wait until 6 December 1913 to make his competitive debut for the Bluebirds, playing in a 1–1 draw with Exeter City in the Southern Football League. He made just two further appearances for the side during the remainder of the 1913–14 season, featuring in a 2–1 victory over Plymouth Argyle and a 0–0 draw with Millwall.

1914–15

The following season, Keenor became significantly more involved in the first team at Ninian Park, missing the opening game of the season, a defeat to Watford, before playing in five consecutive matches due to an injury to Patrick Cassidy. Following Cassidy's return he dropped out of the side, not appearing for the first team from October 1914 until a match on 2 January 1915, which led to Keenor featuring in 15 of the Bluebirds next 18 matches.

During this period, Cardiff City had come under pressure from local newspapers, most notably the Western Mail, for the perceived lack of contribution from the club in supporting the war effort. The Western Mail printed numerous scathing comments focused on association football clubs and even refused to report on Cardiff's matches for a period of time, the club later retaliated by accusing the paper of chasing "cheap popularity". Keenor, himself a patriot, was torn between the two, having finally established himself in the first team after three years at the Ninian Park but eventually enlisted in February 1915, along with teammate Jack Stephenson, trainer George Latham, who had previous military experience having served in the Second Boer War, and two of the clubs directors.

Keenor joined the 17th Middlesex Battalion, which became known as the Football Battalion due to the large number of footballers that made up the core of the unit, led by Frank Buckley. Stationed in London with the regiment, Keenor would travel by train every weekend to the site of each Cardiff fixture in order to keep playing for the team and would be listed in the matchday programme as "Private Keenor" for the remainder of the season as Cardiff finished third in the First Division of the Southern Football League. He made 21 appearances in the league during the season, scoring two goals. With the war escalating, the Football Association officially suspended all of its competitions at the end of the 1914–15 season.

Keenor while a guest at Brentford in 1919.

With the war quickly escalating, Keenor and his battalion were moved to the country residence of the regiment's founder, William Joynson-Hicks, 1st Viscount Brentford, near Dorking, where they began basic training. Keenor was a notoriously poor shot with a rifle, even being described by the regimental sergeant major as "the worst shot he had ever seen". During their posting, the battalion organised a fixture against Cardiff City on 2 October 1915 with Keenor originally due to play for the army side against his club, only for Cardiff manager Fred Stewart to request that he play for his club side. The match ended in a 1–0 victory for the battalion.

Just one month after the match, on 16 November, Keenor and his battalion began the journey to France to join the front lines, billeting in the village of Les Ciseaux for one month before moving to the city of Béthune. The majority of his posting during their first months in France involved training and guard duty but, on 9 December 1915, the battalion was moved to Annequin which was just miles from the frontline. They were soon moved into the main trenches, which were knee deep in mud and infested with rats, and were stationed on duty until 22 December when they were relieved, resting in the nearby village of Beuvry. Cardiff City organised regular collections during their wartime fixtures during this period in order to send parcels to Keenor and Jack Stephenson containing letters from fans and home comforts. The Middlesex Battalion, made up of professional footballers, also claimed the Divisional Football Cup with relative ease, defeating a team from the 34th Brigade 11–0 in the final on 11 April 1916, each player receiving a winners' medal made of bronze.

However, the war soon turned sour for the battalion as they began suffering casualties from the fighting, including Frank Buckley who suffered severe shrapnel injuries. Having returned to the front, the regiment was involved in the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in history, in particularly the Battle of Delville Wood. Keenor later described the scene during what he called a "hellish battle", stating:

During the battle, Keenor was badly wounded when a piece of artillery shrapnel struck his left leg above the knee on 28 July, leaving him unable to walk. An unknown soldier saw Keenor attempting to crawl away from the incoming fire and managed to assist him back to the nearby medical facilities where doctors were able to tend to his injury. The wound was so severe that army doctors debated the idea of amputating the leg but decided against the idea. He was removed from the Western Front, being transported to an army hospital in Dublin where he spent six months undergoing rehabilitation on his injured leg. Following his return to service, Keenor was stationed in Chatham, Kent as a fitness instructor for the 5th Reserve Brigade. He was later promoted to the rank of sergeant and was awarded the Victory Medal, the 1914–15 Star and the British War Medal for his service during the war. Between 1915 and 1919, Keenor appeared as a guest for Brentford in the London Combination.

Cardiff City's 1920 Welsh Cup winning side, Keenor is sat in the front row (right)

After returning to Wales, Keenor took work as a milkman and in a local gas works to support his family. When the Football Association resumed fixtures in 1919 following the end of hostilities, Keenor rejoined Cardiff City, despite being told by army doctors that his shrapnel wound would mean he would never play football again. He resumed playing league football in the Southern Football League for the club, playing his first competitive match in August 1919. Having mostly been a reserve player prior to the outbreak of the war, Keenor returned to Cardiff as an experienced member of the squad having played for both his battalion and Brentford during wartime and he featured in two of the club's three pre-season fixtures. Fred Stewart, who had resumed his role of secretary-manager following the war, was given a selection issue by the form of Keenor and the presence of his regular first choice Patrick Cassidy, only for Cassidy himself to push for Keenor to be given the chance to play due to his "youth and promise". Following this, he featured regularly for the first team and helped the side to victory in the 1920 Welsh Cup, defeating Wrexham 2–1 in the final, and a 4th-placed finish in their final season in the Southern League, being admitted into the Football League Second Division in 1920.

Having established himself in the first team by the time they entered the Football League, Cardiff allowed two of the "holy three", Cassidy and Harvey, to leave the club and Keenor featured for the side in their first ever Football League fixture, scoring in a 5–2 victory over Stockport County. Cardiff finished second to Birmingham City, missing out on first place due to goal average after finishing level on points, winning promotion to the top tier of English football in their first year and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to fellow Second Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a replay with Keenor scoring his side's only goal in a 2–1 defeat. Keenor later revealed that he had been approached by an unknown person prior to the game who attempted to offer him a bribe to throw the match but had flatly refused to even consider the idea.

After a difficult start to life in the First Division, Cardiff secured their first victory in the top division by beating Middlesbrough 3–1. Keenor had been switched to centre-half for the match, a move Fred Stewart had resisted for some time due to his concern of Kennor's lack of height, away from his usual position at right-half and his performance impressed so much that he would go on to play the position for the remainder of his career. The 1921–22 season was also Keenor's tenth year at Ninian Park and he was subsequently awarded a testimonial match against Bristol City. In the following five years, Cardiff became an established side in the First Division, missing out on the league title in the 1923–24 season to Huddersfield Town on goal average after drawing the final game of the season when a win would have guaranteed them the championship.

Soon after, in May 1924, the club embarked on its first ever European tour, beginning with an ill-tempered match against Czechoslovakian side Sparta Prague. The match was an intensely physical encounter with Cardiff accusing their opposition of dirty tactics. As the teams left the pitch at the end of the first-half, a furious Keenor, upset at the nature of some tackles he had received, yelled at the Prague players "If I get anymore kicks on the shin I shall be chopping someone off at the knee". In the second-half, Cardiff players found themselves being physically assaulted by members of the crowd, who aimed kicks and punches at the players, when they approached the sidelines to take throw-ins and corner-kicks, going on to lose the match 3–2. They later played matches against First Vienna in Austria and Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV in Germany. The following season, the side reached the final of the 1924–25 FA Cup where they suffered a 1–0 defeat to Sheffield United, who claimed their fifth FA Cup win, following a goal from Fred Tunstall. After the Final, Keenor stated: "Just because we lost in our very first Cup Final, I don't think there is any cause to get down in the mouth. I can say here and now that one day soon our followers can be sure that Cardiff City will bring that cup to Wales."

1926–27

At the start of the 1926–27 season, the departure of club captain Jimmy Blair saw Keenor appointed the new captain of the Bluebirds and he led the team to a second FA Cup final in 1927. However Keenor came close to never playing in the match as, having been struggling to hold down a first team place due to injury, he handed in a transfer request in January 1927 but a proposed move to Severnside rivals Bristol Rovers later collapsed. Instead, he returned to the starting eleven that beat Arsenal 1–0 with a goal from Hughie Ferguson, being praised for his leadership of the team's defence during the match and earning plaudits from opposing captain Charlie Buchan. By winning the trophy, Cardiff had become the first team outside England to win the FA Cup and Keenor, as captain, was handed the trophy by King George V.

Keenor and the rest of the team traveled to the Palace Hotel in Bloomsbury following the match, which hosted a celebratory dinner for the players and their wives. The following day, they returned to Cardiff for a heroes welcome, with around 150,000 people lining the streets of Cardiff to see the team return. After a parade through the streets of the city, they were taken to City Hall where they were presented to the crowd by the Lord Mayor. Keenor was overawed by the adulation of the crowd, stating: "The cup was worth winning if only to get a reception like this". He himself was at the centre of the attention as the captain, with one newspaper publishing a caricature the following day, describing him as "the most important man in Wales" with the image depicting Keenor knocking former Prime Minister David Lloyd George off a pedestal. Keenor also captained the side to victory in the Welsh Cup, defeating Rhyl 2–0 in the final, and their 2–1 victory over amateur side Corinthians in the 1927 FA Charity Shield at the start of the following season.

Later years

However, the club entered a period of decline soon after and, just two years after their cup triumph, were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1928–29 season, despite conceding the least number of goals in the division. An ageing Keenor became a target of frustrated fans as Cardiff entered a period of financial difficulty that saw the majority of the teams star names sold in a bid to raise funds and the team struggled in the Second Division. Prior to the 1930–31 season, Keenor, still on the wages he had been given when the club was in the First Division, was given a pay cut by the club of a quarter during the season and a half during the off season. The cut was offered by club director Walter Bartley Wilson, who had told Keenor that "I'm sorry but I'm going to surprise you" prior to telling him of the cut which was instigated to leave Keenor with no choice but to leave the club, however he replied to Wilson "Bart, I'm going to surprise you too. I'm going to take it". Despite this, he was eventually dropped from the team as they struggled for form and the club signed Jack Galbraith as a replacement. They eventually finished the season in 22nd position and were relegated to the Third Division South. Keenor played his final match for the club on 6 April 1931 against Tottenham Hotspur, along with the club's all-time record goalscorer Len Davies, before being released at the end of the season, ending a 19-year spell with the side.

Following his release, Keenor considered retiring from the game but eventually signed for Third Division North side Crewe Alexandra. Despite being 37 years old, Keenor played a pivotal part in the club's sixth-placed finish during the 1931–32 season, the joint highest finish that the club had ever achieved in the Football League and only the second time that they had finished in the top ten in the previous nine seasons. However, despite a strong season, he was disappointed that the club was unable to achieve promotion as he described the squad as having the "nucleus of a very good side" as they recorded several strong results, including defeating eventual Division Three North champions Lincoln City 8–0. Crewe later lost the return fixture against Lincoln 5–0, conceding all five goals during an hour long spell when Keenor had left the pitch after being knocked unconscious earlier in the match when attempting to block a shot. Although his advancing years had lessened his abilities, Keenor became a huge draw for Crewe and, if Keenor was unable to play due to injury, the club would withhold the information prior to the match in fear of affecting attendance figures. He spent three years at Gresty Road, winning one final cap for Wales. At the age of 41, Keenor left the professional game, moving into non-League football, first with Oswestry Town and then Tunbridge Wells Rangers in player-manager roles, eventually retiring from the game in February 1937.

Keenor was selected to represent the Welsh schoolboy side in 1907 and appeared in the first ever meeting between the English and Welsh schoolboy sides, playing in the match as an outside-right. Keenor was handed his debut for the senior team on 15 March 1920 when he was named in the Wales squad in their 2–1 victory over England in the 1919–20 British Home Championship, following the withdrawal of Billy Jennings through injury. On 16 February 1924, Keenor was handed the Wales captaincy for the first time in his career for a match against Scotland, who were captained by his Cardiff teammate Jimmy Blair.

Keenor's senior international career coincided with a spectacular period of success for the Welsh national football team and he attained a total of 32 caps. They won the British Home Championship in 1920, 1924 and 1928, overcoming an increasing reluctance on the part of English clubs to release players for games that they saw as being of no importance. In a match against Scotland in 1929, With Wales unable to call up a replacement, Keenor had to play with strapping to protect an injured neck and was advised by a doctor to avoid heading the ball during the game. Despite stating that he was "in agony throughout", Keenor played the full 90 minutes of a 4–2 defeat.

Keenor and the Unknowns

Possibly the most famous of all his international caps came in a match in Glasgow against Scotland in October 1930, in which a depleted Welsh side, unable to call up many of their star players as Football League clubs refused to release them for international duty, became known as 'Keenor and the 10 unknowns'. Ted Robbin's side, playing on a Saturday when the English leagues had a full programme, had no choice but to play 10 players from either the lower divisions, Welsh League sides or from the non-leagues. The Welsh featured just seven players from Football League sides, with only Keenor and Cardiff teammates Len Evans and Walter Robbins playing in the top two divisions, 3 players from Welsh league sides Cardiff Corinthians, Llanelli and Colwyn Bay and one player from non-league side Oswestry Town. The side featured nine debutants in the line-up, Keenor and Cardiff teammate Len Evans being the only two with previous experience at international level. Wales had previously been forced into a similar situation eight months earlier, in February 1930, when Keenor had played in a severely weakened side that had lost 7–0 to Ireland, Joe Bambrick scoring six times in the game, describing the match as the worst game he had ever played.

Prior to the match, Keenor himself had asked manager Ted Robbins if he could have the players to himself for four hours prior to the game, taking the team to relax and discuss tactics for the match. In his pre-match, team talk Keenor exhorted to his teammates "There's eleven of them and eleven of us, and there's only one ball, and it's ours." Despite their inexperience, the Welsh side held Scotland to a 1–1 draw having taken the lead after six minutes through a Tommy Bamford goal. The display led for the Welsh public to call for the same side to remain for the following match against England, however there was no repeat of the result, the Welsh side losing 4–0 at the Racecourse Ground. He won his final cap for Wales on 26 October 1932 in a 5–2 victory over Scotland.

International goals

Results list Wales' goal tally first.

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1.	5 March 1923	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	England	2–2	1923 British Home Championship
2.	28 February 1925	Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales	England	1–2	1925 British Home Championship

Keenor's abilities were described as scant. A 'terrible' shot and unable to reliably run with the ball, his strength lay in his commitment to the cause and in his uncompromising tackling. Fred Stewart, who coached Keenor for over 15 years at Cardiff City stated "I honestly do not believe the word "beaten" is in his vocabulary." Former team mate, Ernie Curtis said of him: "He was one of the hardest tacklers in the game, some said he was dirty but he was just hard. Nobody took liberties with old Fred ... [He] could run all night, he couldn't run with the ball mind you, but he could run all day." Charlie Buchan, captain of the opposing Arsenal side in the 1927 FA Cup final, described Keenor as having "a store of energy (that) seemed inexhaustible in defending his goal". His hard tackling style made him a target for opposition fans, even being assaulted after a match for Crewe Alexandra during the later years of his career after a physical performance against an opposition side angered some of their fans.

Keenor was also renowned for his fitness levels, despite being a heavy drinker and smoker. During training sessions at the club, he would often ignore the ball control drills that were being used by other players and complete laps of the training pitch in heavy army boots. He was also famed for his leadership qualities and was renowned at Cardiff City for being a vocal player on the pitch well before his appointment as captain in the mid-1920s, often barracking considerably more experienced players.

After returning from his war service, Keenor met Muriel Griffiths, a church organist from Swansea who had worked in a munitions factory during the First World War. They were married soon after they met, on 11 November 1919, and they had their first child, Frederick, in May 1920. The couple would go on to have seven children together, their final child Graham being born in 1931. He settled his family in Whitchurch, Cardiff, in a house that he himself had designed and helped build, and became a keen gardener, growing his own vegetables in the garden.

A diabetic, Keenor suffered from disabilities stemming from a hard-living lifestyle that may have been a consequence of his tough upbringing. Following his retirement from football, he found it difficult to find work due to his ill-health and it became increasingly hard to earn money. Supporters of his former club Cardiff City held a collection during one league match to raise money for Keenor and his family and the Football Association of Wales also organised a fund for him as well as donating him some money. After a long spell in hospital for treatment of his diabetes, Keenor moved his family to Lamberhurst where he and his wife ran a corner shop and also raised chickens to be sold at Christmas time. He later volunteered for the Territorial Army, serving as a sapper in the Royal Engineers, but was discharged in June 1939 due to continuing problems with his diabetes treatment, just months before the start of the Second World War. Two of his sons, Frederick and Alfred were both killed in action during the conflict. Keenor and his wife later visited the village of Fruges in northern France where Alfred's plane had been shot down.

The statue of Keenor holding the FA Cup outside the Cardiff City Stadium

He returned to Cardiff with his wife in 1958, working as a store man in the building department of Cardiff Corporation. His wife of nearly 50 years, Muriel died in 1967 after a gas leak outside their home went undetected and filled the house with poisonous gas, leaving Keenor hospitalised after being discovered by a neighbour. Keenor died in a residential nursing home on 19 October 1972 and his ashes were buried in Thornhill crematorium in Cardiff. His son Graham, who had joined Cardiff City as a youth player but never appeared for the first-team, served as club secretary between 1959, following the resignation of Trevor Morris, and 1972, resigning from the post just days after his fathers death.

On 15 November 2007 a petition to the Cardiff Civic Authorities was begun to bestow a fitting tribute upon both Keenor himself, and the 1927 FA Cup squad he so heroically captained. On 4 December 2009, the approaching road to Cardiff City Stadium was named Ffordd Fred Keenor (Fred Keenor Road).

In 2010, a fundraising campaign was started by the Cardiff City Supporters' Trust to raise funds for a statue of Keenor to be placed outside the clubs' stadium. The statue cost £85,000, which was raised through public donations and donations from the Welsh government and Football Association of Wales. The statue was designed by artist Roger Andrews, who had previously designed a statue of Tasker Watkins that was erected outside the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. On 10 November 2012, the statue of Keenor holding the FA Cup was revealed outside gate 3 of the Cardiff City Stadium.

As a player

Cardiff City

• FA Cup Winner: 1

1927

• FA Charity Shield Winner: 1

1927

• Welsh Cup Winner: 4

1923, 1927, 1928, 1930

• Division One Runner-up: 1

1924

• Division Two Runner-up: 1

1921

• FA Cup Finalist: 1

1925

• Welsh Cup Finalist: 1

1929

Brentford

• London Combination Winner: 1

1918–19

Wales

• British Home Championship Winner: 1919–20, 1923–24, 1927–28