DOUG INSOLE

Doug Insole has died aged 91. Born in Middlesex, his family moved to Chingford and his boyhood was spent at school in Walthamstow when he played cricket for London and Essex schoolboys. After a spell in the army he went to St Catharines College, Cambridge where he won his Blue for cricket in 1946 and also played for Essex County. He captained the Light Blues in his final year.

It is as a footballer that he interests me so I want you to sit up and read. With an older brother who was excellent at football, captaining London Boys, and cricket, Doug would have learned a lot from him. As a teenager Doug played for Walthamstowe Avenue and enjoyed three years playing football for the university, captaining the Light Blues in 1948 and he was chosen as a reserve for an England Amateur trial. That year he was a founder member of the amazing Pegasus side, a team made up from Oxbridge footballers and Doug became their first captain. The club played friendlies but did enter the FA Amateur Cup, winning it in 1951 and 1953, though not with Insole! The club eventually was disbanded in 1963 as more formal amateur sides captured the better players coming out of the universities. Insole also turned out for Southend United and in 1956 playing for the Corinthian Casuals, in the FA Amateur Cup Final, he assisted a goal scored from his corner kick, against Bishop Auckland, very much the team of the era. The match ended in a draw and the Bishops won the replay.

I met Doug Insole at alumni events at St Catharines, and remember playing cricket against him in the early 1970s when he turned back the years playing against the College cricket XI. He was a vice-president of the MCC and president of Essex CCC, and was awarded the MBE in 1979.