ALL ROUNDERS

When Bristol Rovers played Matt Busby's Manchester United in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup 4-0, one of the scorers was Barrie Meyer. Nearly 36,000 filled Eastville, the Rovers beat the eventual League Champions in the 1955/6 season.
United did not lose many cup ties and this was their only cup tie of the season. United experienced a similar "minimum" in 1958/9 but not since. Mind you they play a lot of cup ties these days....I am assuming the above fact means FA Cup ties?

To get back to Barrie Meyer, he was also a First Class cricketer and he played for Gloucestershire , later to become a Test Match umpire and he holds the accolade of being the only FA Cup goal scorer and Test Umpire.

Chris Balderstone played for Huddersfield 131 games (signed by Bill Shankly in 1958), Carlisle 376 games, Doncaster and Queen of the South (because they used to play friendlies against "nearby" Carlisle) and non-league Enderby Town.  The Enderby club was founded in 1900, changing its name to Leicester United in 1983 and joined the Southern League at the club's "peak". The club was dissolved in 1996 following financial issues.


On 15th September 1975 Balderstone turned out for his club Leicestershire against Derbyshire in a county match and was on 51 n.o. at the close of play. He jumped into a car, drove to Belle Vue and played for home club Doncaster Rovers against Brentford in a 4th Division 1-1 draw. The next morning Chris continued his innings to 116, took 3-28 to help his county towards their first County Championship.

There are many other sportsmen who have done the "double", Ian Botham, Gary Lineker, Andy Goram, C.B.Fry and if you browse this link you will enjoy facts about a few more all rounders.
http://www.footballsite.co.uk/Statistics/Articles/DidYouKnow22.htm

CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE IN THE VASE

My old chum Lew was travelling from the far South-west yesterday to follow the Lillywhites, AFC St Austell who play in the  South-west Peninsular League Premier. Founded in 1890 the Cornish club met Chertsey Town from the Combined Counties League who are based Surrey, in the FA Vase on Saturday.

Lew might have been torn between meeting up with me at the Old Suttonians FC ground in Cheam, where the Old Carthusians were playing in a "Non-League" Old Boys Cup semi-final.
Small fry they may be, but the two teams served up a dish of committed football, good and honest, with barely an issue for the good old ref to deal with (no obvious linesmen present!). The OCs were stronger in the end and won 4-0. So they have a Final to look forward to-quite early in the year for Finals to be decided.

In the mean time Barnet have beaten Sheffield United in the FA Cup, Fulham have lost to Oldham 1-2 and there were a few upsets yesterday too. It's great isn't it. The FA Vase offers just as many fascinating ties.

St Austell play at Poltair Park and were members of the South-west League in 1951. They eventually were elected into the South-west Peninsular Division One west (Level 10-11) in 1951, promoted to the Premier in 2009 and were champions in 2015. So quite a rise in success, including a visit to the semi-final of the Vase where they lost to the very impressive Glossop North End 1-2.

This season to reach the 4th Round Proper of the Vase (16 ties) they have beaten:
First Qualifying Rd Ilfracombe Town 3-1  (my parents honeymooned here) 218 ties played in this round.
In the Second Qual-Wells City away 2-3; 187 ties in this round.
In the First Rd Proper they beat Plymouth Parkway from the Toolstation Western League Premier 6-1 (up a tier from St Austell) 105 ties
In the 2nd Rd Proper Cheddar 2-1 away 64 ties
In the 3rd proper Cadbury Heath 8-4 away 32 ties

Yesterday they were knocked out by Chertsey Town from the Combined Counties League 5-0.
Is this result a reflection on the regional "sorting out" and the comparison between the South-west and South-east regions of football?

Chertsey Town FC were founded in 1890 and play on land donated to them by Sir Edward Stern, for the use of the premier club in the parish! oh and some cricket.
They have played en route to St Austell:
1st Q v Woodley United 4-2 £550
2nd Q v Tadley Calleva 1-0 £725
1st Proper v Flackwell Heath 6-1 £825
2nd Proper v Horndean 2-0 £900
3rd Proper v Redbridge won 5-0 £1125
4th Proper v St Austell 5-0 £1875 and the losers pick up £625

Note both clubs founded in 1890

(AFC) SUNDERLAND 'TIL I DIE

If you want to watch a couple of excellent football docu-series then have a look at these two:

Most recently is "Sunderland 'til I die", a film released last month. It was made by Fulwell73 a company run by Sunderland fans. It is not the foul mouthed rant as in the 1996-7 film about Peter Reid's season with Sunderland called Premier Passions.

Here is a link:
https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80207046

This well received film is a "fly on the wall" and maybe not quite so unobtrusive as that, docu-series about the 2017-18 Football League  Championship season, during which Chairman Eric Short allowed complete access to the club, warts and all. The idea was to attract potential investors to the club.
Manager Chris Coleman inherited the filming schedule which had been put in place under previous Chairman, American,  Ellis Short and manager, Simon Grayson's watch. Coleman described the "constant filming" as "unnatural". The filming began in the summer of 2017 when promotion was on the cards! By the end of the season it was relegation to League One that came to haunt the Black Cats.

The finale is the take over of the club after relegation by Stewart Donald.
The dismal performance of AFC Sunderland as the season rolled on was  "triumphant TV" and "at times, it was more gory than a Game of Thrones"!
The Premier of the first episode of the film took place at the Sunderland Empire Theatre on December 5th 2018.

Whatever you think about football as a game to play and Sunderland as a place to live in, the film will reveal how important football is to the good folk of Wearside.
Is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/dec/12/sunderland-til-i-die-showcasing-everything-right-wrong-in-english-football-documentary-netflix
Acclaimed also, but there is some negative criticism due to the Citizens' constant steamrolling success in their Premier league winning season, is
"All or Nothing-Manchester City". Here is a link for that too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3CbR_o31sY

BRISTOLS

The FA Cup coming up this weekend; Third Round Proper, the great moment when minnows take on the big fish and the winners will move on to even more rewards in the 4th Round.
The 4th Round cup tie eagerly awaited by these scaffold climbers above was held on January 1957 before Health and Safety had been invented. The crowd was at the Den, Millwall, in a cup tie against Newcastle won by the Londoners 2-1. Over 46,000 crammed into the stadium, most safely. They then lost to Birmingham City at home 1-4.
In the same round Aston Villa beat Bristol City and then went on to win the Final v Manchester United at Wembley on May 4th1957.
The ground was first used in 1910 when the Lions were in the Southern League. The first use of floodlights at the Den was a friendly match against Manchester United on October 5th 1953.
The last match played at the Den was on May 8th 1993 against Bristol Rovers.
AND so now for the subtle link to Bristol, where below is an aerial view of the Bristol City football ground, Ashton Gate, next to the home of Del Boy from "Only Fools and Horses" used from 1988.
Known as Nelson Mandela House, the building for most of the series wasn't actually in the heart of Sowff Londin, innit, but much of the filming was carried out at Whitemead House, Duckmoor Road, Bristol. Imagine the local Bristolians watching the many episodes, picking out their homes!
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1106601
(the original location for Mandela Towers was Harlech Tower in Ealing between 1981-5, certainly not Peckham. It was torn down in 2011)


and why not see what The Sun has to say about the commercial venture that is continuing in the "flat" even though Del Boy's business ground to a halt in 2003 after 7 series with over 60 episodes and 16 Christmas Specials.
The Christmas Special 1996 was followed by 24 million viewers.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/734769/18-a-night-to-stay-in-dels-flat-cushty/

BILL SLATER RIP

I met Bill Slater at the English Schools FA Festival, held annually at Easter, when county school sides were finishing their seasons and preparing for the next one. Bill was the guest of honour, an academic, amateur and top footballer, a true gent.

He will be remembered as the last great amateur of football, an influential man who was educated at Carnegie College, Leeds and became a lecturer in Physical Education at Birmingham University.
It was with Wolves that he made his mark and in retirement he was deputy director at the new Crystal Palace Sports' Centre and Director of Phys Ed at Liverpool Uni and Birmingham Uni.
For his service to education he was awarded the OBE in 1982 and the CBE in 1998.
One of his four daughters, Barbara, became the BBC's first female Director of Sport in 2009. She had earlier been coached gymnastics by her dad and she competed in the 1976 Olympics and he was elected President of the British Gymnastics Association.

Bill played mainly as a half back/inside forward playing over 300 games for Wolves. This was during their very successful 1950s golden age, one that I became aware of, as I toddled into double figures. I became aware of the Wolves first playing in the European Cup competition, the first floodlit games, winning the Football League three times and especially in 1960, the FA Cup, one of the first finals I saw on television.
In one European Cup tie he was refused permission by his employers, Birmingham University, to play away in the return leg at Schalke; Wolves lost 1-2 having drawn 2-2 at home.

The Wolves missed a remarkable Double in 1959-60, when Burnley pipped them to the First Division title by one point;
Burnley earned 55 points and scored 85 against 61.
Wolves 54 points; 106-67 goals.

Bill played for England 20 times for the amateur side and 12 times for the full side, including 4 games in the 1958 Swedish World Cup famous for Pele and the Brazilians. The emergence of Duncan Edwards at Manchester United initially curtailed Bill's international career, but after the Munich Air crash, Slater was recalled and in the summer of 1958, he marked Didi out of the World Cup, during a group match which held the Brazilians, the eventual winners, to a 0-0 draw.

Slater made his debut for Blackpool as a amateur, in September 1949 and later scored a goal against Stoke City in 11 seconds from the kick off, a club record for 50 years. He did National Service in Germany and returned to play in the 1951 Cup Final, losing to Newcastle 0-2. This was the last time an amateur played in an English FA Cup Final, playing along side Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortenson. He was told that he had to return to "college" that night, after the final!

Slater moved to London in 1951 and turned out for Brentford, playing alongside Jimmy Hill and Ron Greenwood; an educated half back line! Bill then moved to the Midlands to work at Birmingham University and joined the Wolves, under Stan Cullis, part time, earing £14 per week. By then he had won 20 amateur caps and had played in the Helsinki Olympics.

Slater is third from left as you look at it, sitting next to Billy Wright. (1958 WCup squad)
He joined Wolves as they began to dominate English football, winning the First Division Championship in 1954, again in 1958 and 1959, and were runners up in 1955 and 1960.
In 1960, as a part timer, he lifted the FA Cup when Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 at Wembley and Slater was named Footballer of the Year.
He left Wolves in 1963 after 339 games and not one booking. He also played for Warwickshire CCC second XI.

THE HILLIANS

Just thought you might like a look at this link which will give you a few "Proper footy vids"
https://twitter.com/properfootyvids?lang=en

I went to the Dripping Pan at Lewes on New Year's Day and watched the Rooks lose 0-3 to a very able Burgess Hill Town FC, The Hillians.
On December 30th Burgess Hill sat in 18th place (out of 20) in the Bostick Isthmian Premier and Lewes were 4th, 17 points above their visitors.

Well, 0-3 was not a true reflection of the one-sidedness of this league game, The Hillians having had two goals disallowed.
Founded in 1882 the club was a founder member of the Sussex Football Association. They won the Sussex Senior Cup three times in consecutive years (1884, 85, 86) and were presented with the trophy to keep, which has remained on show in their clubhouse. The club presented a new trophy to the SCFA for future finals.
The club has worked its way from the Mid-Sussex League, through the County League and most recently to the Isthmian Premier, the 7th Tier.

Burgess Hill gets its name from the "founding" family of the Burgeys, based on the word "bourgeois" meaning "an inhabitant of a borough". Famous for its lamb and sheep fair, the town and market developed with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s.

Bobby Zamora lived in the town while he turned out for the Seagulls.

NEW YEAR'S EVE AND DAY SCORING

If I had been canny enough yesterday (31st), I could have boosted Peter Thompson's obit by including the historic point of his ex-manager, Bill Shankly making his professional football debut for Carlisle United as a 19 year old on December 31st 1932. The former coal miner played against Rochdale in Division Three North at Brunton Park. Score 2-2. And local rivals' famous manager, Alexander Chapman Ferguson was born in Govan in 1941.

January 1st 1927, George Camsell of Second Division
Middlesbrough, scored in his 12th consecutive league game, a feat never achieved before (or after), scoring 29 goals in total (1,1,1,4,1,4,1,2,4,5,2,3). In his next game he scored in a cup tie v Leicester City.
In this 1926/7 season Middlesbrough scored 122 goals and Camsell helped himself to 59 of them. (both records were beaten after a year).

Billy Sharp at 5'9" and 11 stone, aged 32, scored today against Wigan away in the 54th minute and made his tally 139 apps and 79 goals in his latest spell with Sheffield United. I saw him play earlier in the season
he is now the leading goalscorer in English League football this century with his 220th goal a typical "tap in". He has overtaken Rickie Lambert's record and has 17 goals so far this season.

Who has he played for having started at Sheffield United? Well the Blades three times-this latest visit since 2015, Rushden and Diamonds, Scunthorpe, Doncaster 3 times, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Reading and Leeds.

On November 2nd 2011, Sharpe scored for Donny against Middlesbrough in a league game and under his team jersey he wore a t-shirt with "That's for you son" printed on it, a reference to the death of his two day old son, who had passed away a few days before. Doncaster lost the game and the referee did not book Sharpe despite the well known law!
A few days later he scored in a win against Ipswich Town at Portman Road and the home fans gave him a standing ovation!