FOOTBALL, FOOTBALLERS, FIXTURES AND PITCHES
UNFORTUNATELY, A LARGE NUMBER OF FOOTBALL MEMORIES
GOT LOST DURING A DATA FILE TRANSFER. ANYONE WHO STILL HAS THEM CAN
SEND & WILL GET OUR ‘FOOTBALL RETRIEVER OF THE YEAR’ AWARD.
still from the RLS film 'A Day at the RLS'
Staff Football, 1960. (see archived photo) Hmmm! Wasn't that
the year that, for the first time, the fixture Staff v. 1st XI was consigned
to history in favour of Staff v. Prefects? The reasoning behind this was that
the staff would have NO chance against the 1st XI - even Mal Griffiths was
too slow to kick them! So rather than face an embarrassing defeat which would
have looked more like a cricket score, the staff decided they would have more
of a chance against the prefects (For a start they wouldn't have had an agile
and competent goalkeeper to beat!)
I seem to remember that, in the event, the prefects even proved too good!
But I expect that TEO will dispute that! To pre-empt him I would just direct
your gaze to the footwear of Arnold Pease and Doc Atkinson! Make up your own
minds about the probable levels of footballing skill achieved by players sporting
such boots! (DGM)
around 1972 Mr T. G. Edwards Wasn't that Dr. (Tom?) Edwards,
who taught me chemistry in conjunction with "Jet" Morgan and Mrs.
Moxley?
around 1972 Mr D. G. Jackson Taught me English circa 1970, I think it was
in room 9 or 10.
around 1971 and 1973-5+ Mr. P. (Peter) Jarrold, Applied Mathematics Took a
temporary break from teaching in about 1972 to join the building trade and
helped build the new teaching blocks and sports hall. (John Phillips)
i do indeed remember mick inkpen as a small wiry guy with a mop of dark wavy hair i particularly remember him in a game football being played on the pitch nearest to the playground under the trees and alongside the brick storage huts, nearest to the woodwork room {david maltby will remember which XI played there} during one struggle for the ball along the touch line a clown alongside me sarcastically called out....." come on inkpen, use your weight !! " strange the things one's mind retains, but i do know he was a very quiet and thoroughly nice bloke. (Graham Lee)
At the Elm Park end of Harrow Lodge a number of 65ers used
to meet for Sunday morning football - of the coats for goalposts variety -
before adjourning to the Elm Park Hotel for a pint or two. I'm not sure how
or why these sessions started, but they continued for at least 2 or 3 years
after we had all left RLS.Hon Mem Stennett may remember these matches, but
I don't think any of the others are members of the group (yet). I look back
on those games with considerably more positive feelings than memories of shivering
on Pitch 4 or at Balgores. (Tim Knights)
Balgores tin bath with its lumps of turf floating in it was an institution, both at RLS and then playing for the Old Boys. I think, in order of muddiness, it was the 4th XI pitch (usually flooded) first, Balgores second, the 1st XI pitch third and the remarkably dry 2nd XI pitch last of all (it was on higher ground). The cocoa-nut matting cricket pitch was located between the 1st and 2nd XI pitches and its proximity to the wire fence on the western side made fours easy to it from either end. The cricket nets were located on the northern side of the 2nd XI pitch, based again on the fact I suppose that it was dry in that area. (Mike Merry)
In 1959, I was asked at 11 whether I played junior school football. I replied that I was the reserve goalkeeper. That meant I spent the next two years of 'top 22' matches freezing my *rs* off with nothing to do. They played the first team forwards against the first team backs. That meant I was part of the second team backs, defending against the second team forwards, who hardly ever made it all the way to the goal.
At the age of 14 I joined Eton Manor and played rugby on
Saturdays. I told the school I was no longer interested in football 'at the
highest level'. On Wednesday afternoons I could therefore join the rest of
the non-combatants in 'playing' football in the Balgores
mud. Much more enjoyable, because there weren't really hard and fast positions,
so I could run around a bit and keep warm.
As regards the Balgores bath, I
don't recall anyone ever doing the full monty.
As far as I recall, we just rinsed off the worst of the mud and waited 'til
we got home for a proper wash. The three football pitches at
"It was decided that 20 acres of land between
David S asked: If my memory serves me well, did we not have
four football pitches on site and another two in
As most of us know, back in the '50's there were 4 football pitches at the school and perhaps three or four more at Balgores. Pitch 2 (2nd XI) was inside the NW gate (where the Pavillion was eventually built. Pitch 3 at the rear of the playing fields. Pitch 1 (1st XI) was between Pitch 3 and Hare Hall. Pitch 4, that mud patch, was behind the outdoor bogs and I swear that that had something to do with the fact that it flooded every time two stools were flushed at the same time.
The main cricket pitch was just to the right of Pitch 2 as one faced north. Jealously guarded by Bert and Bill, this hallowed patch of grass was rolled and cut by hand and watered lavishly in the dry summer months. The other wicket was between Pitch 3 and Pitch 1. It was made of concrete and covered with coco-nut matting. To the north of pitch 3 were the nets and the infamous slip-catching machine which accounted for many of RLS boys of those days, having fewer children than the rest of the population when they married. Washing facilities were at the rear of the Gymnasium, or, failing that, in the cloak rooms to the left and right of the main entrance hall in Hare Hall. Here there were only wash basins and these were not the best place to try and get clean. The gym boasted hot water if Bert felt like it but it was very dark in there. At Balgores the pitches were also muddy but there was the big tin bath to look forward to at the end. I heard that when they eventually cleaned it out they found a skeleton under the mud.
Basketball and Volleyball were played in the Gym but apart from the lessons, boxing tournaments took place on the stage. It was quite difficult doing the "advance one two, retire one two" on the one in eleven grade of that stage!
Tennis was played by the sixth form on the grass court beside
the driveway from
Steve'e memory is failing on one point - there were actually three pitches at Balgores rather than two. I believe I have scored at least one superbly jammygoal on each of the three ! I also scored with my head on Pitch 4 at RLS, a near-fatal mistake with the old "rock balls" we used to play with ! The dreaded, elitist "top 22" used to play on Pitch 2 each week, Pitch 1 was reserved for matches against other schools. (John Bailey)
Biffo wrotre: "The dreaded, elitist "top 22" used to play on Pitch 2 each week, >Pitch 1 was reserved for matches against other schools."
Elitist was the word mate, they asked you when joining at age 11 if you were in your junior school first team, and the simple answer of "yes" or "no" decided if you were one of the elite 22 or not for the rest of your footballing career at RLS. No thought of trials or watching us play to decide who really were the best 22. Hence stupid situations like Dave Whiffin not being in the school team, despite being the best keeper in our year, just because he said "no" at age 11 to that question. They really thought they were something special to, those chosen 22, it gave them a certain swagger which made them unpopular with many of us, and led to much of the cliques. Did this happen in other years, please let us know boys. (Stephen Byrne)
... It was three pitches at the school for us 66ers, divided by the driveway leading from the pavilion entrance. There were two pitches on the pavilion side of the driveway and one on the other.
Of the 'pavilion pair', the one nearest the main building was pitch one, the other pitch two. Curiously, I believe the pitch on t'other side was pitch 4 which suggests pitch 3 was swallowed up somewhere along the line. Did it become part if the playground, or was there a pitch running at right angles to pitches 1 and 2 (which would have covered the area of the cricket square and may therefore have been abandoned)?
Incidentally, who, among the footballers, remembers the excellent iced buns we used to be given after matches at the Sir George Molyneux school over towards the Chingford area? (Chris Stratford)
Chris S said "There were two pitches on the pavilion
side of the driveway and one on the other. Of the 'pavilion pair', the one
nearest the main building was pitch one, the other pitch two. Curiously, I
believe the pitch on t'other side was pitch 4 which
suggests pitch 3 was swallowed up somewhere along the line. Did it become
part if the playground, or was there a pitch running at right angles to pitches
1 and 2 (which would have covered the area of the cricket square and may therefore
have been abandoned)?" Pitch 2 ran from North to South, this was the
first pitch in front of
the Pavillion. Pitch 3 and Pitch 1
both ran East to West. Pitch 3 being on the far side of the concrete/coco-nut
matting wicket. Pitch 4 ran south East to
…we had the 3 pitches for the First , second 11 games etc, and the plebs deemed to be "not good enough" had to use Pitch 4 or the 2 at Balgores. Most of my games were thus on the latter pitches, Balgores’ meant 10 minutes walk each way wearing full kit, and that got some laughs from shoppers by the Station on occasion. One memorable moment was when Lurch (a.k.a. ex RLSOB member Alan Golding) swung from the cross bar at Balgores, and it snapped in half, leaving Lurch flat on back with cross bar snapped. We had to abandon the game, Herbie was less than pleased, even though it gave him more time in the showers. Dunno if we rented them or what, sorry. (Stephen Byrne)
The Balgore’s bath was the venue for the weekly "Breath Holding" competition, which on reflection was, I reckon, not dissimilar to the annual bog snorkelling event (in Wales?) which gets radio and newspaper coverage each year, on account of the Balgores bath water being both murky and thick with mud.
Goodness knows what persuaded us to compete, but I can remember ducking my head under water and attempting to beat whatever mark had just been set while listening to the muffled 'clangs' of the remaining lads as they marked each second by stamping their feet.
It was on Balgores main pitch, alongside the library and with one goal parallel to the road, that Steve Taylor - a player of stunning skills - broke a leg in desperately unfortunate fashion. Dragging the ball back with the studs of his boot to avoid a lunging tackle, he slipped, straightening the leg with such rapidity that it snapped.
Two or three of us were sent to the nearest phone box to dial 999 and ask for an ambulance. The operator asked if the teacher present (Bob Evans?) had a car and when we said "Yes" we were told Steve would have to be fetched to the hospital in that. Poor Steve was in agony as we hauled him off the ground and into the back seat.
Steve was still an excellent player in later years but I'm not sure whether the incident left a mental scar which he was never quite able to overcome. (Chris Stratford)