Keele Icons – 5-a-side football
I think it’s fair to say that the most popular sport when I was at Keele the first time around, both s a participant sport and as a spectator sport, was 5-a-side football
When I arrived there were two leagues, one on Tuesday and another on Thursday nights from 6-8. Teams from outside Keele were allowed to compete in the Tuesday League, which featured the likes of Firestone, Newcastle Police, Hanley Police (that clash was always worth watching!) and Finch’s 5. Some of these teams had a smattering of Stoke City footballers – Gordon Banks, Peter Dobing, George Eastham among them. Imagine a World Cup winner playing in a University league nowadays! Eastham was a fabulous player and in my first year his team, Finch’s 5, won Finals Night (the top four from each league entering a straight knockout competition) and lifted the Roy Capey trophy
That was the last year that ‘outsiders’ were allowed to play in the Tuesday League. I can’t remember the reason, but I have a feeling it was something to do with the number of student teams that were being excluded. There was only space for 16 teams in each league. So the Police teams et al set up a third, Friday league. Even this wasn’t enough to cater for demand so pretty soon there was also a Sunday league. At it’s height there were 64 teams, with an average of 7 in a squad, competing. That’s around 450 players!
And it wasn’t just about competing on the night. We used to practice for hours, discuss the next week’s fixtures the minute the current week was over, argue the toss in the bar over a pint or three. Picking team names was also an art form, with many double entendres and dodgy spellings used in attempts to foil the censor. Thus we had Betty Swollox, Cunning Linguists, Fupped Ducks, etc. All this for a game that lasted precisely 10 minutes!
In my eight years the team that was most successful, though it hurts me to say it as they beat my teams twice in the Final, was Dale Star, winners in 1975,76 and 77. Jake Lewis, Dave Beahon, Kevin Barry, Willy Peters, Graham Benmore and Pete Desmond. A formidable combination.The most successful player was Kevin Barry, who played in two of those teams (75,76) and also won with Caric’s Phallics (78) and SNAFU (79). I suspect, though I’m willing to be proved wrong, that I won most medals (5 League, 3 League Cup, 6 Sneyd Cup, 2 Cygnet Cup, 4 Finals Night runners-up). The one I haven’t mentioned was the sweetest, because in my last year, having lost 4 times in the Final (also, I suspect, a record) I was in a team, SNAFU, that ‘won it all’
I’ll also be controversial here and say that, in my opinion, that was the best team during my 8 years here. Martin Wynn, Steve Quigley, Andy Golledge, Kevin Barry, me and super sub Rich Shanks. We were never beaten, never even drew a match. We even came back three times after leaving to win the Sneyd Cup
While we may have been the best, and Dale Star the most successful, the best loved team was undoubtedly the legendary Millstone Grit. Mature student Denis Keating used to keep goal wearing a smoking jacket and his carpet slippers, while Dave Hadfield, Steve Adams, Brian Evans, Farouk and Paul Dalton (who was actually a very good player) careered around, usually to little effect. I think it took them three seasons before they actually won a game! Great stuff!
And now? Sadly 5-a-side as we knew it is no more! It’s perhaps the most shocking change I’ve found from the seventies. None of the current students know when it died out, so if you do, please let me know
In that vein, apologies to the many great teams and great players I’ve not mentioned. Feel free to add comments about your memories of 5-a-side!
Nothing controversial there at all Gordon! 🙂
Surprised the shorts you are wearing in the SNAFU photo weren’t mentioned! Didn’t they appear in every game?
Great shame that it’s no longer part of Keele’s sporting life. Surely there would be some interest in it now, there are new 5-a-side venues, Powerleague, PlayFootball, Goals etc. opening up all the time around London. Can’t believe students now wouldn’t be up for it.
I have fond memories of the Friday league for external sides though we never won it the police side being so dominant . Everyone wanted to beat them including the crowd, and we managed it in the Friday cup once and went on to win the final. Players included ex Keelers Rich Shanks, Les Freeman, Nye Evans.
We too loved our team names including Knoydart Munros, Clachaig Gullies (the cup winning team),Drumbeg Ptarmigans, Chomolungma. Any more Les?
We could add a photo if I knew how!
No issues with the post BUT one or two comments on memory and history. It was a long time ago and not all recalls are as accurate as they can be.
It was a great part of Keele: in my first year [1971] Five a sides were run and managed by the Sports Centre Manager, Gus Nabney who had many links with Stoke City, but due to a falling out with students connected to the ‘outside teams’ he didn’t run it for a while. One Chris Holdsworth took temporary charge. This was of the Thursday and Tuesday leagues of 16 but the Friday league was separate, all outsiders, and didn’t compete on finals night. A shame.
I then approached Gus Nabney to re-unite the leagues and we ran it successfully till I left Keele in 1975 by which time it also included a sunday league of 16 girls teams including the amazing Karen Ambler. It was still going strong in March 1981, and on that finals night, I was with the much missed Paul Smith of Albanian Hunchbacks fame, who tragically died the next day of a heart attack.
Oh and the best team ever! In my opinion, Pilliwinks, with their unique 1-3-1 formation, who not only won finals night but thrashed Stoke City’s first team 5-1 for good measure.
Hamish aka Martin McArthur
Enjoyed reading your stories. I joined Keele in 1979, and was amazed to find that 5 a side was the favourite sport for many and that there were some good players who didnt even play 11 a side. There were 4 leagues, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday for students, and Friday was the Potters League. Finals Night was a great occasion. In 1981, we qualified for it, as part of a team called Vibration. Royal Flush with feared goalscorers Con Morrisey and Tony Wright were our semi final opponents. We decided to play for a draw, and won 9-8 on penalties. The goal that Ian Williams scored in the final was our only goal all night, after 2 penalty shoot out wins, but we were champions. Great party ensued in K48. Two years later, along with Tommy Keys, Pete Bowler, Mark Evans And Graeme Henderson, we won our first of three more Finals Nights as Dynamo Tblisi. In 1985, we played in the Friday League, and Evo came back every Friday from Manchester to play. In 1984, the UAU held their first ever UAU 5 a sde competition and Keele was chosen as the venue. As Keele champions, we were invited to represent the Uni. On our own court, we were pretty formidable, and after beating Leicester, 9-2 in the semi, we beat Loughboro, who had selected their best 5 footballers, 5 nil in the final. There were some great teams around at the time, TSV LONDON were our toughest opponents, and high standards, and unforgettable memories. We used to return to Keele up until 1998 for the Sneyd Cup, and it was a real reunion weekend that sadly is no longer. Neil Smith and Gus Nabney did so much work in organising the leagues, and so many others played their part to. Great memories.
Dave Murtagh
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