Former FIFA president attends Portsmouth North End League bash | Nostalgia
There was a time when each Saturday every football pitch on Portsea Island and farther afield was booked.
I remember when the showers after mid-winter matches were packed with mud-covered, naked bodies all vying to get at the water pouring from the shower heads, if you were lucky. Sometime the water just drizzled.
Bob Richards, once of Portsmouth and now of Sutherland on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, has sent me several photographs and documents of the Golden Jubilee of the North End League. Bob, 81, and his wife Pamela (née Dines) emigrated 40 years ago.
One of the biggest and most successful leagues in Portsmouth, the North End League is now defunct. There we so many leagues and teams I sometimes wonder how they found enough referees.
In 1955 a Golden Jubilee dinner was held at the Rock Gardens, Southsea. Sir Stanley Rous, the secretary of the Football Association and former international referee who later became the 6th President of FIFA, was guest of honour.
Some time before 1905 the Southsea Amateur League was formed but was not a success. From that, in 1905, the North End League was formed and continued for 95 years until 2000. Thousands of footballers played in hundreds of teams in thousands of games over the years. What made it successful were the officers who ran it.
Many cups were played for and there was also a North End League team who played against other Portsmouth leagues. Each year there was a presentation dinner where all the teams were represented by managers and captains.
One cup was the Oscar Owers Trophy, played between the two teams who were judged to be the most sporting and well-run. All the cup finals were played at Fratton Park. I played for Minimodels from Havant for this trophy but as three teams were chosen, a draw was made for a play-off. We were the unlucky team who had to play to see who would appear at our local Wembley.
It was a disaster with, as I remember, three players sent off, two of ours and one of theirs, somewhat ironic when it was supposed to be the two most sporting teams. I was heartbroken after we lost 3-2.
In the two photographs, from the left, are Bert Dines, Sir Stanley Rous and George Day, the lord mayor of Portsmouth. You can see Sir Stanley’s signature on the menu.
•Turns out the recent photograph of MIlton Creek was nothing to do with Portsmouth but it is in Kent. Several former residents from Sittingbourne living locally told me the area had an important brick-making and sea-going barge-building industry. The area is now a country park.