Police constable Willie Slade was stationed at Plaistow in London. He pulled for the station’s tug-of-war team in 1906, and in that team were several colleagues who went on to represent the bronze medal-winning Metropolitan Police K Division at the 1908 Olympics. The previous year, Slade was in the Eastern District team that beat the City of London first team in the final of the annual police sports at Crystal Palace. Slade retired from the police force in 1922 when he was still a constable in K Division.