Ripley All Stars: Team of superstars but they still lost

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The Ripley All Stars team in the 1950s. Alf Limbert is in the centre, front row

A PLEA for information about the Ripley All Stars football team circa 1950 has produced a couple of res- ponses, proving what a truly star team they were.

Terry Watson, of Somcotes, rang to point out that Ken Rawson (back second from right) went on to play for and captain Nottingham County in about 1960, after which he moved to Ilkeston to play in the Midland League.

He said: “The player third from the left at the back is Don Strange. He played for Ripley Miners’ Welfare for many seasons.

“His father, Alf Strange, captained Sheffield Wednesday in the 1930s and also played for and captained England.

“I’ve played with both Don and Ken. I used to play with Ken in the A team at Notts County and with Don at Ripley in the 1960s. Unfortunately, I had to give up at 26 due to an ankle injury.”

Peter Smith, of Pine Close, Ripley, contacted Bygones after spotting himself on the photograph. He is fourth from the right, standing next to goalkeeper Billy Lees, and can name most of the players.

He said: “The three Rawson brothers – Jack, Noah and Ken – are on the back row between Billy and Alf Baker in the trilby.

“The man in the flat cap, far left, is a Mr Lancashire.

“The players on the front row, from left, are: Bill ?, ?, Hodgkison, Alf Limbert, Ike Lichfield, Sid Pickering and committee member Mr Waterfall.

“The match was the semi-final of the Derbyshire Medals competition against Ripley Miners’ Welfare FC played at Codnor Miners’ Welfare in 1950.

“We had a senior side and a junior side but it was the juniors who got to the semi-final.

“Mind you, we had three or four out of the first team in the side that day. Not that it helped. We lost, anyway.”

The picture was sent in last month by Dave Welford, of Dalbury Lees, whose mother-in-law, Mary Limbert, Alf’s widow, is trying to trace a cartoon that featured her husband in his footballing days.

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