Have I Got Old News For You

[slappy]

I can't find the original evening gazette article, but this was in their letters page.
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July 24 (Evening Gazette - Middlesbrough) -- THANKS to your sports staff for their account of Boro's promotion clinching match against Oxford United on May 16, 1967. It brought back some wonderful memories.

In the previous year we had the pleasure of watching the World Cup qualifying matches at Ayresome Park - a Third Division stadium - thanks to the Geordies' inability to come to an arrangement with their local council.

And one of them was the incredible defeat of Italy by North Korea with the Ayresome Park crowd, of course, urging the tiny Koreans to victory as the flag of North Korea flew over Middlesbrough Town Hall.

I was at the Oxford game as a first-aider with St John Ambulance and we helped those who were injured.

The injured were taken into the players' tiny treatment room where Dr Philips, the club doctor, did a great job assessing the severity of each injury and the more serious casualties were swiftly transferred to hospital.

That there were not more casualties was certainly largely due to Harry Green's presence of mind. I'm sure that the good natured mood of the spectators helped as well.

I've seen some great matches at Ayresome Park and at the Riverside since that night, including the incredible European comebacks, but this match is up there with any of them for sheer emotion. And it was the night before my birthday.

I was lucky enough to watch the World Cup final at Wembley in 1966. That was an incredibly exciting and emotional affair too. Quite a year for a Boro and England fan.
CHRIS RAISTRICK, Marton
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Coincidentally, Boro beat us 4-1 away to win promotion in both 1967 and 1998.

[A-Ro]

It doesn't say why there were a number of injuries which seems a bit of an oversight unless crowd violence and injuries were so commonplace back in the day that it didn't warrant comment.

[slappy]

It doesn't say why there were a number of injuries which seems a bit of an oversight unless crowd violence and injuries were so commonplace back in the day that it didn't warrant comment.

Presumably it is covered in the original article, which isn't online as far as I can find.

It seems odd nowadays that there are things out there which cannot be discovered on the internet. Similarly, the OUFC OWS has lost several years of news articles and match highlights. Also the football league's obsession with protecting it's image rights means that there is more chance of seeing goals from a game 20 years than last season.

[andy james womble]

I would have thought it was due to crowd congestion ,in 80-81 I went to ayresome park for a FA cup 4th round tie against the Baggies the crowd was 28285 and it was tight then I think they increased the seating for the world cup (the end behind the goal) so cutting the capacity but in the mid sixties very little was done about crowd safety

[slappy]

I may get an update on the Middlesbrough game as I've emailed the journalist.

Meanwhile, Fulham's top 10 free transfers includes two Oxford United players (although neither were free from Oxford to Fulham).

[OUFC4eva]

Nick Cusack also joined Fulham on a free from United in 1994 and made a couple of hundred appearances.

I am thinking Danny Cullip was another free to the Cottagers from United ?

[theox]

Interesting reminder of the Diaz era....

http://thetwounfortunates.com/buenos-di ... -the-world

[andy james womble]

yes danny cullip was released by us to Fulham always thought he could have done a job for united

[slappy]

Ok I've now got three PDFs of the feature about the Middlesbrough game. Any idea how I upload them here? I've tried snipping to pictures, but the resolution is too difficult to read. I could cut and paste the words, but there is no formatting so would take a while.

[Dartford Ox]

Ok I've now got three PDFs of the feature about the Middlesbrough game. Any idea how I upload them here? I've tried snipping to pictures, but the resolution is too difficult to read. I could cut and paste the words, but there is no formatting so would take a while.

In the bottom left hand corner of the reply screen there is an option to 'upload attachment'. What does that do? Never used it but it seems like a possibility.

[slappy]

PART 1 - Thank you to Anthony VIckers of the Middlesbrough Gazette
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I played in massively big games - but this time the atmosphere was just incredible!
THE ELECTRIC Ayresome Park atmosphere in a promotion clinching clash with Oxford is burnt into the memory of John HIckton.

The high-stakes game was the climax of a 1966-67 campaign that had started slowly then burst into a sprint in the final few weeks. It was the last game and Stan Anderson’s side had to win to clinch a quick return after their first ever dip into the Third Division.

“I’ll never forget that night,” said the legendary goal-getter, Boro’s fourth most prolific all time scorer with 193 in his 12 productive years at the club.
“They sometimes say that atmospheres are ‘electric’... well that one really was. You could feel it crackling. The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck. It was incredible. “I played in some massive games for Boro, derby matches and big cup games against the likes of Manchester United and the 8-0 over Sheffield Wednesday that got us promoted to the old First Division under Jack Charlton - but none of them had an atmosphere as intense as that match against Oxford.
“There was a huge crowd and an incredible noise with all the Ayresome Angels singing,” he recalled.
“It was under the floodlights, there was a lot at stake, you could feel the excitement and expectation...
it had all the ingredients.

“Mind, it was very tense too. You could feel some nerves from the crowd early on. Until the first goal. After that the crowd roared us on and on and got louder and louder. It was amazing really.
“There was a massive roar when we came out of the tunnel before kick-off. It was deafening. All the players commented on it . We were really fired up for the game anyway but that just gave us an extra gear.
“I don’t know what the Oxford players thought about it but it must have been very intimidating for them. You just didn’t get that in division three.
“And it just kept up all game, all the noise and the singing and clapping and chanting. The crowd were going “easy, easy” just after we kicked off and once John O’Rourke got the first goal there was no stopping them.
“And at the end there was a pitch invasion from all sides as the crowd celebrated.

They said later there were 10,000 fans on the pitch all told. A wall near the tunnel collapsed under people surging forward on the whistle I think and a few youngsters were hurt but not too badly thankfully.

“It was great result and a great night for the club and I’ll never forget it.”
Ironically though, Big John doesn’t remember too much about the game itself.
“Surprisingly, the match itself is a bit vague,” he explained.
“I think the atmosphere and promotion blocked the detail out.

“I know we dominated though. We were well on top.
“And all four goals were headers. We scored a lot like that though.
“John O’Rourke was a very good header of the ball, he got a lot of height and power and he scored a lot of goals in the air. And I wasn’t too bad myself.
“Plus we played with real wingers and both David Chadwick and Derrick Downing could really whip a ball in and they made it easy for us. Chadders cross for my goal, that was the third.
“It was great way to finish the season but I think it took a lot of people by surprise but I don’t know what because Stan Anderson had put together a decent team.

“We started slowly - we were bottom when I joined from Wednesday in September .
“But we settled and gradually nudged up the table and we played some really good football.
“It was only in the last few weeks that we forced our way into the reckoning and then we beat Peterborough on the Saturday to set up the do-or-die last game against Oxford.
“We won and went up behind QPR but that was the first and only time we had been in a promotion place all season. We just sneaked in. “

[slappy]

PART 2 - Again, thank you to the Middlesbrough Gazette.
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A flood of goals, a collapsed wall and a quick thinking secretary as Boro march on to promotion
Boro.....................................................................4
Oxford..................................................................1
MIDDLESBROUGH marched majestically back into the second division on a wave of emotion - and a flood of goals - on a seething night at Ayresome Park.

Before a baying partisan crowd officially given as 39,683 but in truth far higher, a rampant Boro beat Oxford 4-1 to snatch a promotion place in the final game of a campaign that improved by the month.
On the whistle there was a pitch invasion that led to a wall collapsing in a moment of danger that left 14 hurt.

There was a tense opening spell but once John O’Rourke settled nerves with the opener after 29 minutes an inspired team grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck then maintained a tight and ruthless grip. O’Rouke went on to head home a hat-trick with John Hickton powering home the other goal - his sixth in three home games in a fantastic final flourish that has helped attain promotion.
Boro were tight at the back with Dickie Rooks on determined guard duty.
And in midfield young winghalf Don Masson dictated the shape and tempo and both wingers - Derrick Downing and David Chadwick - proved productive in attack.
Chadwick put in two intelligent corners that led to O’Rourke’s first two goals mid-way through the first half and then just before the break then Hickton sent in a bullet from a perfect cross by the flanker.
O’Rourke got a fourth from a Hickton cross before Harrington pulled a goal back for Oxford on the break late on.

Ayresome Park was well and truly was jammed. Only 420 tickets had been on sale before the game for the seated areas in the main stand.
For the rest it was first come, first served for a game that had caught the imagination.

Boro’s season had started with gates around the 8,000 mark but fervour had grown as Stan Anderson’s side threatened to gatecrash the promotion places with a late run of just one defeat in 13 at home.
Fans had queued in the rain for hour before the turnstiles opened and the ground was at capacity long before kick-off .
But still more supporters managed to gain unofficial access through ‘a squeeze’ while hundreds scalied the Hospital End wall and hundreds more forced the Clive Road gates to the Chicken Run.
The full-throated crowd were ecstatic and excitable and after the opener they were the biggest threat to a Boro victory than Oxford.
Twice in the first half then again in the second the referee had to halt play after incursions by hundreds of misguided supporters.
For a spell there seemed a danger the referee - who had terse touchline talks with police officers - could abandon the match.
But luckily Boro players persuaded the lively supporters to stay in the stands and that danger was averted.

There was an invasion on the whistle though with some 10,000 racing onto the pitch to create a moment of danger. A low wall near the players tunnel collapsed as supporters spilled forward and there was a threat people could stumble over rubble and trample those who had fallen.
The danger was averted as quick-thinking secretary Harry Green grabbed a megaphone and barked at the crowd: “Everybody stand still!” And incredibly, everybody did and as calm descended the police and medical staff got to work clearing the pitch and dealing with the injured.
Two teenagers were hospitalised overnight and 12 others were treated for cuts and bruises before being let home.

Match: Division Three final
fixture
At: Ayresome Park
On: Tuesday, May 16, 1967
BORO: Whigham, Butler,
Jones, Masson, Rooks, Horner,
Chadwick, Hickton, O’Rourke,
McMordie, Downing.
OXFORD: Sheratt, Beavon,
Lloyd, R Atkinson, Kyle, Clarke,
Harrington, Kerr, G Atkinson,
Hale, Shuker.
Referee: J Cattlin (Rochdale).
Attendance: 39,683.

[slappy]

[I tried 'upload attachment', but it wouldn't allow PDF as a file type]

[slappy]

A Derby Evening Telegraph feature has an article about guarding the Suez Canal Zone in the early 1950s.

"Life was not all hard work and no play. In winter, as mentioned, there was football played on hard sand pitches.

As in English football today, we had a sort of football pyramid (very apt) starting with the lowest teams such as Admin A and Admin B.

These teams would be confined to RAF Kasfareet. Above them would be the "Wing" team which would compete against other "Wings" on stations throughout the Canal Zone.

Ours was the Admin Wing and I was among a small group of supporters who travelled in the back of an RAF three-tonner to various camps to cheer our lads on.

The standard of football was quite high and several players on the books of English and Scottish clubs played in these matches.

For instance, there was a bloke called Wilkie, who played for Third Lanark, in Scotland, and a chap called Jackson, who was on the books of Headington United (now Oxford United).
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I guess it is either Jimmy Jackson, Headington United 1958/59, or Fred Jackson, Headington United 1955. Probably the latter, as the author says it was the early 1950s.

[slappy]

Following the Gareth Bale transfer, BBC Wales discusses a top 10 of previous Welsh exports overseas, featuring one directly from Oxford United, and another ex-yellow. Can you guess who they are without reading the article?