My birthday and there is only one event to record for this date and it happens to be for the very day that I was born.
Spurs returned from their longest ever tour. They set off on 12th May to North America and played ten games in Canada and the United States. They were undefeated throughout the tour and scored 85 goals while conceding only six. The club made a huge impression in North America during the tour, overshadowing Manchester United who had gone there as Champions.
Spurs 8 Quebec F.A. 0 (Friendly in Montreal)
Spurs long close season tour to North America finally came to an end with this victory.
They remained undefeated throughout the tour, winning all ten matches played, eight against local opposition and two exhibition games against Manchester United.
The goals were scored by Sid McClellan (3) who had replaced Len Duquemin who had been injured in an early tackle, Les Bennett (3), Ralph Wetton and Les Medley. Two days later, the party set off on the seven day return voyage on the ‘Empress of Canada.’
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Manchester United 1 Spurs 7 (Friendly in New York)
Nearing the end of their North American tour Spurs played United twice in twenty four hours. The previous day, in Toronto, Spurs had won 5-0 and as League Champions United were looking for revenge in this game.
They took an early lead but Spurs equalised within a minute through Les Bennett and scored another three in the next eighteen minutes for a 4-1 lead at half-time. A further three goals in ten minutes midway through the second half made Spurs very comfortable winners.
The goals were scored by Len Duquemin (4), Les Bennett (2) and Sid McClellan.
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Spurs 3 Glasgow Celtic 1 (Friendly in Vancouver)
The nine match tour of North America included four games against Celtic and Spurs had been successful in the first two matches.
Throughout the games Bobby Smith had proved a great problem to the Celtic defence, scoring five times in the first two games. This match was no different as Smith scored his second hat-trick against the Scottish team.
A crowd of 24,198 watched the game, which was the second highest attendance in Canada for a football match. The largest attendance had been during the 1952 tour when Spurs played Manchester United.
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Saskatchewan F.A. 1 Spurs 18 (eighteen!) (Friendly)
The second game of the North American tour threw up this record score. Conflicting details of the scorers and half-time score exist but Spurs official handbook for 1952-53 states that as Spurs were 14-0 ahead at half-time, the teams exchanged goalkeepers and Ted Ditchburn’s display ensured that Spurs only scored four in the second half.
In other records, Sid McClellan is credited with scoring nine goals, Les Bennett (3), Len Duquemin (2), Dennis Uphill (2) and Chris Adams (2), although these don’t match the statistics and account given in the Handbook.
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