One for the oldies!

[GTBLUE]

Just how many people in suits are there. I can remember Lionel Duffin playing in local football when I started, as well as for Barrow. Small for a keeper it was deemed back then, but he had great speed off his line and amazing courage. Also, not a single pair of stupid, sickly, flourescent boots. Happy days.

A good few on there played local football. I can't remember who Lionel Duffin played for but Keith Eddy played for Walney Rovers although Keith was playing U18 when he was young enough to play U16. Roger Coutts played in the same team U16 as I did - Hawcoat Methodist Youth Club and at the same time Bob and Mike Knox were playing for Roose as I think was Johnny Martin who went on to play for Morecambe. I think 2 others who played for Barrow - Jimmy Armstrong and Mike Crowe were also playing for Ulverston Rangers.

Amongst others Lionel played for British Legion, who I later played for.

[russell_anderson]

Incidentally, the lad on the front row called Ray Brennan was captain of the team that I mentioned in an earlier post which beat the Barrow Grammar School team I played for in the Lancashire U15 competition. At the time, he was also in the England U15 side and was expected to do well professionally. He played for St Anne's School from Blackpool which beat our Barrow Grammar team 3-2 in a reply after we had drawn 4-4 away and then they went on to win the competition. Brennan became a professional with Blackpool who were a top team at the time but never made it with them and ended up signing for Barrow. We also had one lad in the Lancashire side called Ray Buchanan who was a very fast, goalscoring centre forward. Keith Eddy, who was our best player never made the Lancashire side and St Anne's had lad in their team called John Hurst who ended up playing in a very good Everton team and for England as a central defender.

Some interesting bits of info there, Russell. I was particularly interested to hear of John Hurst as I remember he was a League Title winner with Everton in 1970. John Hurst didn’t play on the (sacred) Swamp did he?!? Hard to imagine! Or was it the first team or second team pitch? It got me wondering just how many former top-flight players (other than Emlyn Hughes who must presumably have done so) once graced the old Grammar School playing fields as schoolboys. It’s not a poser that anyone is likely to be able to answer but it’s intriguing to consider how many top-flight stars, past or future, may have played on local pitches other than Holker Street, whether it was Grammar School pitches or otherwise. (Also not counting the recent appearance of Paul Scholes at Holker!)

The very same Hurst but in those days he was a skinny winger and unfortunately for me was playing directly against me as I was left back! Although the competition was for U15, Hurst was so good he was a year younger than the rest. The match was on the first team pitch and there was a huge crowd watching. There wasn't a space anywhere on the touchline. St Anne's were a crack team and we had drawn away 4-4 when we should have won and were all over them in the replay leading 2-0 with 8 mins to go and it should have been more. Sadly, they scored 3 in the last 8 mins as we panicked after the first goal! They went on to win the competition comfortably. Roger Coutts from the photo played right wing that day and Keith Eddy played right half. I believe the St Annes's centre half whose name I've forgotten also became a pro, plus Hurst and Brennan so there were at least 5 on the pitch that day who had professional careers with Hurst and Eddy doing particularly well. I would guess that there must have been quite a few lads who went on to be top pros who played on that pitch over the years although I don't think Emlyn was one because he played against us in an early round of that competition that year for Risedale (although like Hurst he was also a year younger) but they were at home and we beat them 10-1 if I remember correctly. I think Kenny Haddock from the picture was also playing in goal for Risedale in that match. I doubt if Emlyn played at the Grammar pitches because Sam Price the headmaster would only allow us to play other Grammar Schools so we never played against any other Barrow schools unless it was in the Lancashire Schools competition! This was actually pretty good news for us because every other Saturday we travelled to all parts of Lancashire to play other Grammar School teams and stopped off to watch the likes of Blackpool, Burnley, Blackburn, Preston and Bolton when they were all top sides in the country. The downside was that those of us who followed Barrow missed some home matches!!

[russell_anderson]

A good few on there played local football. I can't remember who Lionel Duffin played for but Keith Eddy played for Walney Rovers although Keith was playing U18 when he was young enough to play U16. Roger Coutts played in the same team U16 as I did - Hawcoat Methodist Youth Club and at the same time Bob and Mike Knox were playing for Roose as I think was Johnny Martin who went on to play for Morecambe. I think 2 others who played for Barrow - Jimmy Armstrong and Mike Crowe were also playing for Ulverston Rangers.

Amongst others Lionel played for British Legion, who I later played for.

I played for the British Legion team from its creation from the old Hawcoat Methodist Youth Club U18 team from 1963 until I left Barrow in 1969. I don't know when Lionel played but we had 2 brilliant goalkeepers in Stuart Taylor who played some games for Barrow and a Scottish lad called Jim Hunter who came down from Greenock to work in the shipyard and was equally as good.

[GTBLUE]

Amongst others Lionel played for British Legion, who I later played for.

I played for the British Legion team from its creation from the old Hawcoat Methodist Youth Club U18 team from 1963 until I left Barrow in 1969. I don't know when Lionel played but we had 2 brilliant goalkeepers in Stuart Taylor who played some games for Barrow and a Scottish lad called Jim Hunter who came down from Greenock to work in the shipyard and was equally as good.

Stuart is my brother. And yes, he was absolutely brilliant. (Total non bias ) The best I have ever seen Played for Barrow for two seasons after we got relegated in 72.. I played in the same Legion and Derby (Sunday league) sides in the 70's. Also big Jim Hunter, really good.

[russell_anderson]

I played for the British Legion team from its creation from the old Hawcoat Methodist Youth Club U18 team from 1963 until I left Barrow in 1969. I don't know when Lionel played but we had 2 brilliant goalkeepers in Stuart Taylor who played some games for Barrow and a Scottish lad called Jim Hunter who came down from Greenock to work in the shipyard and was equally as good.

Stuart is my brother. And yes, he was absolutely brilliant. (Total non bias ) The best I have ever seen Played for Barrow for two seasons after we got relegated in 72.. I played in the same Legion and Derby (Sunday league) sides in the 70's. Also big Jim Hunter, really good.

If you see him tell him Hello from Russ Anderson. Stuart was brilliant as was Jim Hunter and Ken Fee, the manager had a hell of a job keeping them both happy as they were both such great goalkeepers. One of Stuart's best mates was Colin Robb who was another terrific player for us. Colin used to get kicked to death and he had a short fuse so I was given the job of getting in quick when he lost his rag to pull him away before he hit somebody! Happy days!! We had a great side which got even better when I left and they moved Steve Conroy back to central defence where he was brilliant.

[Ralph]

What about Gary Stevens? ex- England/Everton/Rangers playing full-back born in Barrow.excellent player very rarely mentioned as being a Barrovian. G school?

Yes, he was at BGS, remember him being in the school team. I was in the school team that played his year's school team in a practice game, they had a Cumbria Cup game, IIRC, and he had a heck of a kick back then. I remember lining up in the wall, and he took the free-kick, only for the ball to hit my thigh at some considerable pace. We were playing with an adidas ball, which had the writing either woven or embossed upon it, and remember lying on the ground trying to make my leg work again, only to see the word adidas (back-to-front) coming up on my leg. It was a freezing day as well.

Wikipedia tells us that "He then moved to Australia and works as a physiotherapist in Mandurah south of Perth."

[russell_anderson]

What about Gary Stevens? ex- England/Everton/Rangers playing full-back born in Barrow.excellent player very rarely mentioned as being a Barrovian. G school?

Yes, he was at BGS, remember him being in the school team. I was in the school team that played his year's school team in a practice game, they had a Cumbria Cup game, IIRC, and he had a heck of a kick back then. I remember lining up in the wall, and he took the free-kick, only for the ball to hit my thigh at some considerable pace. We were playing with an adidas ball, which had the writing either woven or embossed upon it, and remember lying on the ground trying to make my leg work again, only to see the word adidas (back-to-front) coming up on my leg. It was a freezing day as well.

Wikipedia tells us that "He then moved to Australia and works as a physiotherapist in Mandurah south of Perth."

Gary's father Ronnie was also a fine player in my era although slightly older than me. He played in the Vickers Sports first team when they were clearly the best team in Barrow being the only one who played in the West Lancs League at the time.

[Ilford Mouse]

Gary Westwood played in goal in the same Grammar School team as Gary Stevens went to Ipswich (then in Division 1) as an apprentice, moved on to play for Reading 151 times. Also remember seeing him plat as a centre-back for Vickers U-16s.

[Esso Blue]

Glenn Skivingon of course. He was in the same year as me at BGS.

[DIXIE]

I see both Knox boys are there, Bob and Mike(?). Who is third in from the left of third row back (next to Malcolm Edwards) - it looks like a lad from Barrow Grammar School but I can't think of his name.

Yes, that's Roger Coutts. I played in the same Barrow Grammar School team as Roger and Keith Eddy which got to the last 8 (or last 4 - can't remember which) of the Lancashire Schools U15 competition. Roger was an excellent right winger with lots of skill and followed an old winger from Barrow Grammar in Jackie Maddison. I'm pretty sure the lad top left is another good Barrow Grammar player although a couple of years older than Roger and Keith called Kevin Morrall.

Kevin Morrall was later player manager at Swarthmoor and took them to a lancashire amatuer shield semi-final.

[xerxes]

My parents took me to my first game in 64-65. I'm sure it was either Millwall or Barnsley at home. I think we conceded 5 in each game so I cant be sure which.

That would have been Millwall, 0-5. Barnsley was the following season, 1-5 after we were 1-0 up at half time.

Am I correct in saying that the 64-65 season was one of the worst in our history? Strange really since the core of our promotion wining side can be seen within this picture. Just waiting for Else, Smith and Mulholland to make it a really good side. Perhaps I should add Tony Field to that group since I don't see him in the picture either.

64-65 wasn't too bad; the previous season was worse when we finished bottom. But worst of all was our penultimate League season, 70-71 when we finished bottom with just 22 points.

[xerxes]

Stuart is my brother. And yes, he was absolutely brilliant.

A former workmate of mine used to play with Stuart in amateur football, before he played for Barrow. He used to tell me how good Stuart was.

He told the tale of how the team used to whack the ball back to Stuart when in trouble (before the rule banning keepers from handling backpasses) from anywhere, at any speed, because they knew it would just stick in Stuart's hands.

One day Stuart wasn't available, so a reserve keeper was used. As usual, the centre half decided to whack the ball back to the keeper, expecting him to catch it as Stuart would. The keeper had no chance, and the ball sailed into the top corner for a spectacular own goal.

[DIXIE]

Stuart should have played at a much higher level than he did, fantastic keeper.

[boyliegladbach]

He was no daz Boyle

[Jameston1]

heres another which is defo taken from the 61/62 season.. who can you name

2nd in from the left on the back row is winger Jimmy Armstrong who incidentally still comes to Barrow games week in week out