Chapter 5.4: 1954-1961
Blackpool Football
At one point, playing with 6 future League, International or England players, there was a decision to be made. A career in Accountancy or Football?
Arnold had been very much a Rugby School and, if selected, you were almost forced to play. I enjoyed it, but not so much as I enjoyed football.
This naturally led to conflict when I wished to play football, as football was frowned upon. However, in 1954 I started to play for St Marys Youth Club Football Team.
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On September 18, 1954 at the start of a 1954/5 Football Season, aged 15, I played my first proper football match, for St Marys Youth Club.
The team were in the B.A.B.C - Blackpool Association of Boys Clubs- Under 17
For the first six games I played Goalkeeper, conceding 51 goals, including one game which we lost 14-0!
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After this, I played at Right Back, a position I was to keep for most of my playing career, although I did have spells in Goal and at Centre Half.
We ended the season with 11 points from 18 games. All the players were, of course, local boys. They included Bill Crompton (parents owned the Chippie), Jimmy Lowe (parents owned an Off Licence), Stewart Ainsworth (parents owned a Sweet Shop).
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I'm pictured on the back row, fourth from left.
Fielding My Own Team
For the season commencing Sept 1955 St Marys had decided not to field a team, so I decided to form my own team. I called it South Shore Rangers, and busied myself with getting boys from St Marys and Arnold to make up the numbers.
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Pictured: Nev 3rd from left, back row. Les Kelso extreme right.
​​We approached a local club “Wren Rovers” for any old shirts and were rewarded with a set of red and white stripped worn and torn shirts. How proud we were.
Our meeting place was the garage at 57 St Lukes which was empty apart from a full size snooker table which left little room for anything else.
Les Kelso had followed football from his bed, and fancied being a football manager. I found myself elected Captain, and appointed my father as Treasurer.
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Half way through the season Marton Youth Club headed the table with 15 wins from 15 games and a goal difference of 122 against 11. Pretty convincing!!
Poor old Sea Cadets were bottom with zero points, and a goal difference of 15 against 131. South Shore Rangers ended up mid table, and enjoyed a 16-2 win against St Annes. I played centre half.
Pitch Imperfect
Pitch conditions were sometimes atrocious, especially at Layton Flashings and Stanley Park.
The ball became so heavy that the goalkeeper often struggled to physically take a goal kick whereby the ball left the penalty area. Often another player would take it for him.
It often resulted in both teams lining up on the edge of the penalty box awaiting the kick, knowing it would not travel much further. A farce at times.
It is often overlooked that in these times the football was made of leather, contained a bladder, and had stitching along one side. When it got wet it doubled in weight, becoming difficult to kick long distances and like a brick to head.
This is possibly why so many players of this era suffered from Dementia in later life.
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As if a heavy ball were not enough, after heavy rain you would sometimes wade ankle deep into a lake of water as the ball drifted along, pushed by the force of a gale.
You couldn't physically kick it, but had to push it along with your shins, searching for a playable surface.
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Moving On Up
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In late 1956 St Marys decided to start up a team again, so we shelved South Shore Rangers and rejoined St Marys.
Les Kelso remained manager and I remained as captain, playing variously at Goalie, Right Back,Left Back, Centre Half, and Right Half.
In February 1957 the BABC held trials and I was selected for the team to represent Blackpool in the forthcoming Under 18 County Inter-League Trophy Competition.
In the first round we beat Preston 4-0 and in the second round beat Accrington 2-1. The next round saw us beating the holders North West Lancashire 2-0 under floodlights at Preston's Deepdale ground, to take us into the final.
However, in the final, held at Wigan's ground, on May 1957, we lost to Wigan 2-1 after conceding a last minute penalty. Despite losing in the final we were given a Civic Reception at Blackpool Town Hall where we were presented with a plaque and badge.
Apart from playing in the Lancashire County Competition, Blackpool U18 also played a friendly against Leeds Under 18 in April 1957.
The match was a morning game following which Teams were given lunch at Collinson's Cafe up town, then tickets for Blackpool v Chelsea, a Division 1 match (Premier League now).
The day finished with another Civic Reception by Mayor Bert Henson, with Tea at the Baronial Hall, Winter Gardens.
Early Mayoral Connections
Bert Henson later became a client of mine, being a part owner of Cameron Confectionery Company who made pear drops, acid drops and other favourites.
They also rolled rock, not just for Blackpool but for just about every country in the world.
So, if you went to Hong Kong and purchased a stick of rock with “Hong Kong” all the way through the middle, it was almost certainly made in Blackpool.
When I joined freemasonry around 1961, Bert was a Senior Member of my Lodge, and I used to be enthralled by his monologues, including, of course, “Our Albert”..
Getting the B in Blackpool
I also started playing mid week games for a Blackpool Trialist Team. Every week players came from round the country including Wales and Scotland, by invitation from Blackpool FC.
Regular Ground Staff Players and players like myself were called upon to make up the team. We played teams like Lancashire Constabulary, RAF Weeton etc..
1957/8 saw another season with St Marys, but in October 1957 I was requested to play for Blackpool “B” Team against Preston B at Blackpool's Squires Gate Training Ground.
It was a draw, and saw Blackpool B enjoying a good run over the next few weeks with a 3-3 draw with Man Utd B, a 4-2 win against Burnley B, followed by wins over Accrington B, Man City B, Blackburn B, and then another 3-3 result against Man Utd B.
In the December 1957 we beat Bury B at Gigg Lane and around now I signed Amateur Forms for Blackpool.​​
Bringing My 'A Game'
It was with this team that I first played, weekly, with Glyn James, Mandy Hill and Gordon West.
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Glyn started his career as a trainee in Blackpool in 1957 and went on to have 399 appearances for Blackpool and 9 for Wales.
Mandy Hill went on to be Stanley Mathews understudy, later replacing him in Blackpool First Team. Gordon “Westie” made Blackpool first team in 1960 at the age of 17.
He went on to have 400 appearances for Everton and 3 for England.
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Another advantage of weekday afternoon football was that my dad never docked my 25p wage, and if we played away from home all players received 25p tea money as their landladies would not provide a late tea.
I was also asked how much wage I had lost for my time off work to play. I replied “ just give me what you think”. Another 25p was forthcoming!!
At the end of the season I played a few more games for St Marys One of them was in the Hogan Cup Final played at Bloomfield Rd when we lost 5-1 to Tyldesley.
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I also played, May 1958, for Blackpool B in the Lancashire League Division 2 Cup Final.
It was a two legged affair against Manchester City B. A 1-1 draw at Manchester was followed by a 4-1 win for Blackpool at Bloomfield Rd.
1958/9. St Marys started the season early so I played for them in the September/October.
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Opposition this year included Coop Employees, Wrea Green, English Electric, Wren Rovers etc. In the 8 games to the end of October we won 7 and drew 1.
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In the November I was back with Blackpool B against Everton, Preston, Oldham, Man Utd etc and also playing mid week again.
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In March 1959 I played for Blackpool A against Liverpool A in a 1-1 draw.
At the end of the season, in April 1959 I played for a Blackpool FC team in the North West Regional Cup Final at Bloomfield Rd.
We beat Wharton 8-0. Our team included Gordon West, Jack Fillingham, Mandy Hill, Glynn James, Alan Burrows and Frank McGuigan all of whom went on to play for League Clubs.
Career Decision Time
That same month, Blackpool management gave me the option to either attend regular training, or to seek another club.
At this time I was studying intensely on four evenings a week, and running a cub pack/scout group once a week.
So, by the time I had played football on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, ran cub meetings and probably spent the Sunday walking in the Lakes, I had little spare time, so I opted not to attend training and to leave the Bloomfield Rd set up.
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I was pointed in the direction of Blackpool Metal Mechanics, at that time the top Amateur Club in the area.
Mechanics were on the verge of a Football Tour to Holland and I accepted the invitation of their manager, Walter Jepson, to accompany them.
On May 14th 1959 we set off from Blackpool for Rotterdam, via London, Harwich and Hook of Holland. We were headed for a Sports Festival in Rotterdam against teams from Germany, France and Holland.
We enjoyed home hospitality at several towns in Holland, came runners up in the Amateur International Trophy, and ended up being invited to play a friendly against Rotterdam AFC.
With a trip to Madurodam Model Village, Canal Trips and visits to Utrecht, Zwolle and Emmelourd etc., it was a great tour.​
​No further encouragement was required to persuade me to decide that Mechanics was to be my future in Soccer. Metal Mechanics, soon to become Blackpool Mechanics, (originally Dental Mechanics), played at Common Edge Rd, having their own ground and clubhouse, complete with large baths, showers, bar etc.
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They were later to again change their name, this time to AFC Blackpool, still going in 2020.
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1959/60. The season started with a Hotch Potch of appearances.
Despite Blackpool's decision I again started the Season for Blackpool A and B teams, and played three Trialist matches at Bloomfield Rd called Whites versus Tangerines.
I also played for Blackpool Mid Week team and good old St Marys. This continued throughout the Season with my only Mechanics games being for their 2nd and 3rd teams.
1960/61. I did not play for anyone at the start of the season as I was going flat out studying for my Accountancy Finals.
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At this time, Mechanics had three teams and, at the end of my exams, I commenced playing for Mechanics 2nd team, in Fylde District League. (Wesham, ICI, Thornton, Cleveleys etc).
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January 14th was a memorable day. With Mechanics winning 4-1 against Wesham, I scored possibly my first and last ever goal. The match, played at Stanley Park Airport was abandoned due to thick fog.
So thick that I lost my way trying to find my way back to the dressing room, a tin shelter.
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The season ended with us winning The Coop Medals Final against arch rivals Squires Gate. From now on I became a fixture in Mechanics first team.​
​In those days the Blackpool Gazette printed a Saturday Night Special Newspaper, called “The Green,” due to its colour. Its main report was on that days Blackpool F.C. Fixture, and it became available from about 6pm.
Many other match reports were included including results from local leagues, reports on Fylde Rugby etc.
​Blackpool Mechanics warranted their own reporter who not only covered home games, but who travelled all over Lancashire for away games to such places as Vickers Sports at Barrow, Vulcan Foundry near Wigan, Guinness Exports at Liverpool, and Town Teams at Kendal, Lancaster, East Lancs etc.
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At all these venues full changing facilities were provided, and usually sandwiches, or even a meal. Most civilised.
A long way from the days of playing on flooded pitches at Layton Flashings, Stanley Park etc when, covered in mud, there was no changing facility and certainly no washing facility.
As I maintained a record of every game that I played I can give a resume of who I played for from the start of the 1954 season to the end of the 1961 season.
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St Marys 52. Blackpool FC 61. Mechanics FC 24. Blackpool Association of Boys Clubs Under 18 = 8. South Shore Rangers 25. Other games/Tour games 9. Total 179. (Averaging 25 a season).
From now until 1965 all games were to be for Mechanics First Team.