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The
Gloucester Primary Schools’ Football Association (GPSFA) was formed as
an independent body at a meeting held on Friday 10th January 1958,
although not all 16 members present were in favour of Primary and
Secondary schools’ football in the city being organized on an individual
basis. In that first season the total income of the association was just
£24-9s-6d (£24.47) – compared to over £7000 today - the bulk of which
was a 15 Guinea (£15.75) grant from Gloucester City FC Supporters Club.
It is rather fitting then that several ex-GPSFA boys such as Doug
Foxwell of Widden Street School and Mike Burford of St.Peter’s initially
went on to play with distinction for the City team. In more recent times
a large percentage of the Tigers’ squad has come from the GPSFA ranks,
so the Supporters Club of 48 years ago can look back with some
satisfaction at a profitable return on its investment.
Prior
to 1958 there had been an annual fixture with local rivals Cheltenham
which continued for another 16 years before a break of 2 seasons,
Gloucester just edging those early encounters by 8 wins to 6 with 2
draws. The first GPSFA district game was played on 29th March 1958 on
the Market Street pitch in Cheltenham which was notoriously small even
for primary games. The result of that initial encounter was a 4-0 win
for Gloucester thanks to a hat-trick from D. Mace of London Road School
while the other goal was scored by R.Wallace of Coney Hill. In
Gloucester the Sutgrove playing field (now Calton / Ribston Hall), Coney
Hill and Elmbridge Schools were often used as home venues.
Within
a couple of seasons the search was on for more opponents and South
Gloucestershire were entertained for the first time in 1959/60, the
Bristol boys being beaten 3-2. In those very early days the AGM of the
Association discussed at great length the cost of hiring a coach to
travel to Bristol, so over 40 years on little has changed. In 1961/62
Dursley joined the fixture list and the City boys played out their first
drawn game, inevitably the opponents being Cheltenham
The two matches against Cheltenham and Dursley continued until 1968/69
when Stroud and Thornbury extended the list of opponents. By this time
Dursley had been on the wrong end of double figure scorelines on no less
than 4 occasions. In one of those games Andy Coburn (later to become
Chairman of Forest Green Rovers FC) of St.Peter’s Junior scored 6 times
and ironically 27 years later his son Jeremy played and scored against
Gloucester for Dursley Schools. During the Sixties the team was often
selected following a single trial, usually 11 were chosen with 3
reserves from on average 9 different schools – the names of some, like
London Road and Lower Tuffley, no longer existing. The 1968/69 season
was obviously a highlight because all 5 games were won with 29 goals
scored and only 5 conceded. This was the only season prior to 1986/87
that 5 games were played, more often it was only 3 or 4.
Press
reports of games varied considerably but quite often the team photograph
would find its way into The Citizen, although the players’ names
were not always printed in the early accounts. Goal scorers were often
referred to by their surnames only, however initials were sometimes used
- though it took until the early Eighties to learn that boys had first
names as well.
In the
early Seventies the Gloucestershire County Championship became
established, with Severnside, Cheltenham and Stroud forming the
opposition, Dursley having temporarily retired from the fray. In the
latter part of the decade Tewkesbury began to appear in the Championship
and Dursley re-emerged - but the last competitive game with Severnside
was played in 1974/75. In that year’s Schools’ KO Cup Final Robinswood
defeated a Churchdown side containing a certain G.Whittingham who went
on to score many goals in the Premiership for Sheffield Wednesday
amongst others, but he did not play in the City team which proves that
even GPSFA selectors are sometimes fallible. Or maybe, like vintage
wine, he improved with age.
The
early Eighties brought the scoring prowess of Dean Enon from Robinswood
who scored all 6 goals against Tewkesbury in 1980/81 and followed it up
by scoring all four for his school in the KO Cup Final against Harewood
that year. Harewood though had more than ample compensation as they
became the first – and as yet only - Gloucester school to reach the
finals of the English Schools’ FA six-a-side competition, and it was
Martyn Ellis who led out the Harewood team captained by Neil Willerton
before a crowd of nearly 40,000 at Wembley Stadium. |
