1937 George Francis Moutrey Hardwick, born in Saltburn, made his Football League debut playing for Middlesbrough against Bolton at the old Ayresome Park in the old First Division. He scored an own goal with his first touch. But in the end he was a hero playing over 330 times for the Borough (143/5goals) and Oldham Athletic (190/14).
He appeared 13 times for England between 1946-8 and eventually managed Oldham, the Netherlands, PSV Eindhoven, Sunderland and Gateshead.
In 1954, Chelsea played Leicester City at Stamford Bridge. Jack Froggatt and Stan Milburn, with the visitors, kicked the ball at the same time into their own goal, contributing to a 1-3 defeat by the home team; the first ever shared own goal in top grade football.
In 1956, on this day, the first ever Ballon d'Or was awarded to Stanley Matthews, as he became European Footballer of the Year. Alfredo di Stefano came 2nd (a hero centre-forward with Real Madrid) and team colleague, Frenchman, Raymond Kopa was put in 3rd place. The instigator of this award, Gabriel Hanot, presented the trophy to the English right winger. Ferenc Puskas was 4th and Lev Yashin 5th. Do you know who these people are?
Billy Wright came 9th in the voting and Duncan Edwards came 11th.
Duncan in Dudley, his home town. He died, aged 21, as a results of injuries from the Munich air crash. Stanley Matthews described him as "a rock in a raging sea".
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