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Dave Thomson

Soccer was even more of a beautiful game to the lads of the 50s, 60s and 70s, according to Dave Thomson, of Littleover, who played for numerous works and local teams over three decades. Here he describes some of the most memorable moments.

Taking on the inmates at Sudbury Prison and getting sent off for punching a spectator are just some of the great memories I have of playing football in and around Derby from the 1950s to 70s.

I was reminded of my soccer heyday at a recent long-service awards dinner when the conversation turned to how many local football teams were connected to the engineering firms mentioned – places like the Carriage and Wagon, International Combustion, Bliss, Aiton’s, Celanese, Qualcast, Rolls-Royce and Leys and Ewarts.

At another awards ceremony, this time for football, at the Assembly Rooms, I noticed the players receiving awards were all very young and was told that the racecourse, which had a waiting list for football pitches in the late 50s, 60s and 70s, was now virtually empty on Saturday afternoons. Older lads were not interested.

When I and hundreds of others played football from the 1950s to 70s, they were the happiest days of our lives. Many friends were made who are still around today.

Leys and Ewarts football team

On Saturday night in town, we would compare results from the afternoon games and work out what position we were in the league. I played for many teams. The photograph, below, is of my days with Leys and Ewarts, where I worked after leaving school.

We played our home games at Normanton Barracks and the buildings that the Army had used were still there, including the entrance gate where the guards used to stand on duty, the sleeping accommodation, the parade square and the rifle range. There were two pitches there but the one we used the most ran parallel to Sinfin Lane and was approximately where the bowling alley and the car park is now.

Addy Foster was one of the younger players and one of the first to tie his hair back in a pony tail. I recall he sometimes wore a hair net. This increased his chances of being targeted by the “cloggers” but he was a clever player and they usually failed.

We were generally near to the top of the league but I think the photograph was taken before we lost to Mickleover British Legion in a cup final.

From Leys and Ewarts, I went to play for Allenton Athletic, which was a well-respected team that played their home games on the Municipal Ground. Both the first team and the reserves had good teams and the reserves once went through a season without losing a game.

We had two very skilful inside forwards, Bates and Greensmith, and the bigger lads, me included, were told to look after them as other teams were told that if they stopped them, they stopped the team.

I once looked after them too well against a strong Bliss factory team and was sent off. Pete Hinds, who was the manager at the time, wasn’t a happy man.

I moved to Qualcast to work and played for their football team. Our home games were played at Haslam’s Lane, where Derby Rugby Club now play.

Sudbury Prison inmates in 1968

We used to play Sudbury Prison and, at the away game, we always had a good crowd watching a captive audience. Their team was made up of warders and inmates. We were told by the crowd who were the warders and encouraged to make sure they had some bruises by the end of the game. Every challenge was cheered by the inmates.

When they played at our ground, the prison bus turned up and their staff kept a close eye on the players. They were always a very fit team. If they missed an early chance, the culprit was told from the line that when they got back to the site, he’d have to do 25 press-ups. Some of them would drop down and do them there on the pitch while the game continued.

I teamed up with many of my old school friends from Nightingale Junior School when I signed for Osmaston Park Rangers, including Ron Frost, Derek Hinds and Spam Lee. We played our home games on Osmaston Park. It was a very friendly club and had a wonderful manager in Ken Fritchett.

We made the national newspapers when Tony Winston was sent off and, when asked for his name, said it was Jimmy Greaves. The referee took him at his word and when he attended his hearing, his fine reflected him not providing his own name. The national press picked up the local paper’s report of the hearing and it produced the headlines of “Jimmy Greaves sent off”.

I recall when we went on tour to Jersey and we were on the same plane as Allenton British Legion which had Jack Stamps as a guest. I think it was before Jack became blind. If you used the club funds, the team had to play a game and I believe the local team from Jersey had to play four times in two days to accommodate the four teams on tour.

I had some happy years playing for Derby Clarion, a working man’s club situated in Loudon Street, off Normanton Road, whose home pitch was on the racecourse.

We sometimes met at the club and had a lift down to the ground on the back of a milk float driven by Chuck Brewin, who was a milkman and played centre-half.

I was sent off for an unusual reason while playing for the Clarion in a home game. We were playing Thorp’s, a construction firm in Princess Street. Everything was working out well. We were 15-1 up in the second half and I had scored 13 of the goals.

Then, I had a choice of another shot or passing. I went for it and missed. As I ran back, one of our supporters, Barry Moore, had a go at me for not passing to his brother, Terry. I had a rush of blood and went over to tell Barry what I thought of him.

The referee wasn’t happy. He sent me off for “leaving the field of play without permission to strike a spectator”. The final score was 17-1.

I played for other teams including Roe Farm Athletic, who also played on the racecourse and our main rivals, Roe Farm Colts, who were a younger, more trendy version of us. They included Dave Furlong, whom I still see, and the Fitzgeralds, a family of well-known footballers in Derby. I still swap stories with Tim, the eldest.

Graham Street Prims was another team I spent some time with. They played on the Municipal Ground and included Barry Hardy, a clever inside forward who had a season with Derby County and was quickly given a pair of boots by Geoff Barrowcliffe, one of the most popular players with the Rams at the time.

While playing for Prims, I had my only spell in hospital due to an injury on the pitch. I banged my head and was sent to the DRI with suspected concussion after failing the pitch-side test.

I was unable to answer three questions: what was the date, what was the score and was I married? I spent 24 hours in the DRI before returning home to my wife and two children and the comment “It’s about time you packed up that silly game”.

I recently spoke to an ex-team-mate and we discussed who, in our opinion, was the most biased linesman in the league at a time when each team provided their own linesman.

These were the linesmen that flagged every time the opposition scored a goal and gave a reason why it shouldn’t be given.

Two came to mind but I won’t embarrass them by identifying them here but they are both still around today.

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