For any footballer, representing your country is a huge honour. But from a club’s perspective, they are wary of their players’ selections, nowadays because of injuries. But in the past, internationals often coincided with club games.

In 1940, Joe Mercer was called up to the England squad for a match against Wales on April 13th. His Welsh teammate TG Jones was also called up for the game. However, Everton controversially refused to allow them to play for their respective nations because there was a Lancashire Senior Cup semi-final match against Liverpool on the same day. They wanted Mercer and Jones to play in the Lancashire Senior Cup meeting so that the team doesn’t become weakened and the Merseyside Derby wouldn’t lose its appeal. By refusing Mercer and Jones to play for their countries, they became the first team to refuse to allow players to play for their nations during the wartime period.

Everton denying TG Jones to play for Wales wasn’t much of an issue; it was denying Joe Mercer to play for England. At the time, it was mandatory for Football League teams to allow footballers to play for England, whereas if players were called up to play for Wales, Ireland or Scotland, they were free to refuse. Everton objected that ruling by saying that the FA lost its right to claim players after the ruling was said to have been suspended the previous September.

The Welsh FA granted TG Jones’ unavailability, but the English FA refused to back down. It was considered defiance towards the FA, however the Everton chairman Ernest Green didn’t see it like that.

It is not the question of defying the FA in the slightest degree. The authorities asked us a simple question: whether Mercer was available for this match. Our answer was that he was not available.

(Liverpool Daily Post)

It would appear that the ball was in Everton’s court because they reportedly allowed more players to play for their country than any other team in England. So they were happy to allow their own players to play internationally – it was just unfortunate that this certain England game clashed with a crucial Everton game.

The official rule (known as Rule 41) was:

Any player selected to attend any international, or other match arranged by this association and (without good and sufficient cause) refusing to comply with the arrangements of the Council for playing the match, or failing to attend such match, may be adjudged by the Council to have been guilty of misconduct, and any club or official who may be deemed to have encouraged or instigated such player to commit a breach of instruction or rule shall be deemed guilty of a similar offence.

The FA has been very strict with this rule, so for Everton to rebel against it was a huge risk. There was even more risk involved as Everton technically have very little say on when and which team Joe Mercer should play for because Joe Mercer joined the Army. As the result of Mercer joining the Army, he was only allowed to play for Everton if the Army allowed him to.

Theo Kelly reiterated Ernest Green’s statement by saying that the decision was not defiant towards the FA.

Everton received a letter from the FA asking if Mercer is available, and I have sent a letter stating we regret Mercer is not available in view of the importance of our Lancashire Senior Cup semi-final with Liverpool on the same day.

The question of defiance or a ban does not enter into the situation. All Everton have done is to answer a direct question of the FA.

(Daily Record)

This was believed to be the first known case of a Football League club contesting an FA rule. Back then, rebelliousness from football clubs was seldom seen.

A week before the matches, Everton maintained their stance in refusing to allow Joe Mercer to play for England, with Theo Kelly stating:

Mercer is included in our team against Liverpool in the Lancashire Cup semi-final on Saturday.

(Lancashire Evening Post)

However, the FA also maintained their stance in demanding Joe Mercer to play for England.

On April 10th, Everton’s squad for their match against Liverpool was revealed and Joe Mercer was in the team. They were evidently adamant that Mercer will play for them and refused to be pushed around by the FA.

Amidst all this, there was pity towards Joe Mercer.

Our sympathy goes to Joe Mercer. A pity that, through no fault of his, such a likeable and unassuming fellow should be the central figure in a controversy of this sort.

(Daily Mirror)

The FA wasn’t giving up without a fight. A day after Everton’s squad list was released for their game against Liverpool, programmes for England’s game against Wales were being printed and Joe Mercer is among the names in it.

The day before Everton were set to play against Liverpool and England were set to play against Wales, the squads have been announced for the England-Wales game, and Joe Mercer was named in the England squad.

A dilemma for Joe Mercer as he has been selected to play for both teams for games on the same day. However, the FA’s belief in Mercer playing for England was reported to be dwindling as the Yorkshire Evening Post said Huddersfield’s Ken Willingham was travelling to London to be England’s back-up in case Mercer didn’t play. Welsh newspaper Western Mail, however, confidently said:

So Mercer will play for England after all. The test case brought about through Everton’s attempted refusal to allow Mercer to play for his country was settled last night when the Football Association told Everton that Mercer must play for England.

On the actual day of those games, the Liverpool Daily Post removed Joe Mercer’s name from Everton’s squad list and included his name in England’s squad list, causing readers to believe that Mercer chose to play for England.

But, in the end, Joe Mercer didn’t play for England; he played for Everton instead.

Joe Mercer, the subject of all the controversy during the past fortnight over the Wembley International, turned out for Everton against Liverpool in the Lancashire Cup semi-final, at Goodison Park today.

Mercer had been ordered by the FA to play for England against Wales despite Everton’s notification that the player was not available.

Mercer received normal Army leave, travelled from his camp today.

Everton Brilliant Against Liverpool – Liverpool Evening Express, 13th April 1940

The decision paid dividends for Everton as they beat Liverpool 3-0 and progressed to the Lancashire Senior Cup final.

Before the game, the FA told Everton that Joe Mercer must play for England. Everton evidently ignored the FA’s demand. In the England-Wales match, Mercer was replaced by the aforementioned Ken Willingham. England subsequently lost to Wales 1-0.

Joe Mercer choosing club over country caused a lot of controversy. The FA secretary Stanley Rous said:

The matter will be dealt with by the committee as soon as we have all the facts.

(Lancashire Evening Post)

Ernest Green denied any wrongdoing:

The original letter asked us that Mercer play at Wembley against Wales “if available” and “if the player is willing”. That letter proves that Rule 41, which, in peace-time, gave the FA power to order players to appear in an international match is not in operation. Were it in operation, the FA could have ordered Mercer’s appearance in the first place instead of asking us if he were available.

Everton heard nothing whatever from the FA for ten days, and then came a telegram stating: ‘Mercer must play at Wembley and not at Goodison Park.’ Mercer received a telegram stating: ‘You must play at Wembley to-morrow.’ He got into touch with me and, on my instructions, asked his commanding officer whether he had been given leave to play at Wembley.

The commanding officer had heard nothing from the FA, and his leave to Mercer was to play at Goodison Park. Mercer did not finish his duties until noon on Saturday, and so came to play at Goodison Park.

(Lancashire Evening Post)

Ernest Green went into further detail for the Liverpool Evening Express:

Mercer was given leave to play for us against Liverpool a week ago, and when he received his telegram on Friday, he rang me up from his camp. I asked him if his Commanding Officer had received any communication from the FA. Mercer said he would find out. Then he rang again to say his Commanding Officer had received no word from the FA and that the only leave he had was to play at Goodison Park and not for England at Wembley.

We have never defied anyone in this matter. Why, at Easter the FA wrote asking if Mercer, Jones and [Ted] Sagar were available for a match at Sheffield. We replied that they were not available as we had an engagement at Wolverhampton. The FA then wrote asking us if we could see our way clear to release Mercer. They wrote to Jones and Sagar saying that their names had been omitted from the Sheffield team “at the request of your club.”

That also proves that Rule 41 cannot be in operation, and so we said Mercer was not available for the Wembley game. We felt Mercer was a star attraction for our match, and everyone knows that Everton have given full support to the Red Cross games this season. We have supplied more players than any other club.

The Everton club has not, at any time, opposed the authority of the FA or adopted a defiant attitude.

Despite what Green said, it didn’t look like Everton will be let off, according a “leading football official”:

Everton are for the high jump. The rules of the Football Association must not be violated in this fashion, even though we are in the emergency of war.

(Daily Record)

Everton were so determined to prove that they didn’t do anything wrong that they sent out of copies of a statement to every Football League Club and ruling bodies.

On April 22nd, an inquiry took place in Crewe to settle this once and for all. Everton were given the chance to try their best to prove and insist that they didn’t do anything wrong in front of Stanley Rous amongst others. Unfortunately, their best wasn’t good enough.

Following the inquiry, the FA threw the book at Everton: Ernest Green was banned from all football activity for a year, another director Bill Gibbins was banned from all football activity for six weeks, Everton were forced to pay the cost of the inquiry, and Theo Kelly was reprimanded for failing to inform Green and Gibbins amongst others of any decision the FA made. Joe Mercer, however, escaped punishment.

The Commission’s report was as followed:

The evidence adduced satisfied the Commission that a breach of Rule 41 had been committed by Mr. Green and Mr. Gibbins and in disciplinary action to be taken deprecated the unsporting spirit shown by certain of the Everton FC directors in instructing Mercer to play for his club rather than his country.

The Commission decided that the Everton club be severely censured for bring the game into disrepute and for lack of courtesy in circulating to members of the Council of the FA, members of the Football League Managers’ Committee, Football League clubs, the Army FA and the Press, copies of letters referring to different aspects of the case before any official action had been taken.

(Liverpool Evening Express)

The Liverpool Evening Express published the facts that emerged during the inquiry:

(a) That in receiving the letter from the FA stating that Mercer had been selected to play in the representative match, the Everton FC held an informal board meeting—Messrs. E. Green, C. S. Baxter, W. C. Gibbins, W. R. Williams, T. Percy and the secretary attended—at which it was decided to inform the FA that Mercer was not available as Everton required his services.

(b) That the members of the Everton FC board, not present at the said informal meetings, had been consulted by telephone and had, with the exception of Mr. W. C. Cuff, agreed to the course of action stated above. Mr. Cuff had pointed out that the action was contrary to Rule 41, but this was not communicated to the other directors.

(c) That the decision made by the Everton directors in response to the FA’s communication noted in (a) was communicated by an Everton official to the Press before the FA could have the answer. The first announcement appeared in a Liverpool paper on Monday morning, April 1.

(d) That the Everton board had chosen to assume that because the FA had released Everton players for certain matches on behalf of war charities at Easter, Rule 41 had been suspended. This assumption was made in spite of the fact that no official notification had been received to that effect. The attitude was persisted in after April 6, when the Army authorities informed Mr. Green that the Football Association had notified that Rule 41 had not been suspended.

(e) That the Everton board considered their refusal to comply with the FA’s orders concerning Mercer to be justified, as in their view the players from the Everton club had been selected to play for the FA on an unreasonable number of occasions—the actual record of attendances of Everton players in FA charity matches is: (1) England XI v Welsh XI at Wrexham, November 18, 1939—Mercer and [Tommy] Lawton; (2) England XI v Scotland XI at Newcastle, December, 1939—[Norman] Greenhalgh, Mercer and Lawton; (3) FA XI v Yorkshire XI at Sheffield, March 25, 1940—[Billy] Cook. No Everton players played for the FA for 12 other representative matches.

(f) That although the Everton directors denied that pressure had been brought to bear on Mercer to play for Everton, the following extract from a letter written by Mercer to the FA appeared to suggest to the contrary: “I assure you that it would be a great pleasure for me to take part in the game, only the attitude which my club have adopted makes it very awkward for me to decide.” Also the following extract from a letter from the Officer Commanding Mercer’s unit: “The matter is, therefore, left between Everton and yourselves, and since Mercer probably feels in honour bound to Everton by long service, he would act under instructions of Everton.”

The Liverpool Evening Express also published telegrams sent by the FA War Emergency Committee to Everton:

Everton FC—Decided Mercer must play for England [at] Wembley tomorrow, not for your club. Player order to report [to] London in accordance with instructions alread sent [to] him.

Mercer—Decided you must play for England tomorrow. Please report [to] London in accordance with instructions already sent [to] you. Everton club has been informed.

Here is the full report (via Everton Collection):

Ernest Green spoke to the Liverpool Evening Express regarding the inquiry, but only to say that Everton had no comment on the matter.

A bitter defeat for Everton. However, the club was defended by Liverpool Daily Post journalist “Pilot”, who was surprised that Everton were severely punished:

The surprise was in the severity of the “sentences.” Without going into the rights and wrongs of the actual case, I do think that the decision is out of proportion to any alleged offence.

I have made inquiries in many quarters seeking opinions on a ruling which places Everton’s chairman, Mr. Ernest Green, out of the game until May, 1941, and another director, Mr. Will Gibbins, out of the games until June 8 this year, and not a single expression have I heard in favour of the decisions.

Players who have been ordered from the field for foul tactics have been fined, say, £10 and suspended for a week. Everton and its officials, on that reckoning, have to suffer what, in my opinion, can only be described as an unnecessarily severe verdict.

My own opinion is that, but for unfortunate misunderstandings at the outset, there would have been no such thing as “the Mercer case.”

Despite the fact Everton were hard done by, the club was smiling in the end. A strong performance from Joe Mercer helped Everton to progress to the Lancashire Senior Cup final, where they faced Bury. The club made the most of the occasion by beating Bury 4-2 to win the Lancashire Senior Cup, after having won the Liverpool Senior Cup the previous month.

So in spite of all the controversy surrounding the Mercer case, at least Everton had two trophies in their cabinet.