MIKE BARNARD RIP

Richard V Lewis, a retired Hampshire cricketer and no mean footballer, knew Mike Barnard and writes that he "travelled with Barney in my early days, a very funny man, who nearly died in a minibus accident when it hit a tree, on a tour with the "Pioneers". It was a tour that Lew nearly went on, so heavens knows what the outcome may have been for him.
Barney was confined to a wheelchair after that accident and Lew hadn't seen the obits, so his death was a shock to him today.

Mike had a successful life before the tragic accident. He was 85 when he died. He had played cricket for Hampshire and was part of the county's Championship win in 1961. A boy at Portsmouth Grammar School, he played his local cricket, made a career with the county and then went into coaching. In 1969 the minibus accident caused him to suffer a broken neck and severe spinal damage. Despite this set back, he rebuilt his career and ran sport at the Merchant Navy School of Navigation, commentated on football and cricket on behalf of Radio Solent and was, in that time, described as "an indelible part of Hampshire cricket history".
His contribution to football started when just before his 18th birthday when he was playing for Gosport Borough. He signed for Portsmouth in 1951, playing at inside-left, he made his debut against Tottenham Hotspurs on december 26th . Pompey had been on a successful streak in the late 1940s, winning the Football League in the previous two seasons, the only club south of the Thames to achieve this. 

In those days it was possible to play the two sports in a "year".
Portsmouth had Barnard in their squad until 1959, when he made 129 apps for the club and scored 27 goals. After Portsmouth he played for Chelmsford City in non-league football.
I watched Pompey play at Fratton Park in the late 1950s and would have seen him play along with Ron Saunders, Jimmy Dickinson and co.