Boys from the School were given the chance to join the Sittingbourne 5 a side league following the resignation of Thamesford FC part way through the season. Purely by chance the boys, playing as BGS FC, were unfortunate enough in their first two games to be pitted against the vastly experienced (and, in some instances, vastly girthed) Old Bordenians team.

Regular readers may know that the Old Bordenians have tried unsuccessfully to recruit players from the School but as we climbed the ever steepening stairs to the viewing gallery the reason for that lack of success was clear to see. Eight fresh faced 17 and 18 year olds wearing shirts that were not even bulging at the seams were enthusing at the prospect of playing the 5 wheezy old men currently resting at the top of those aforementioned stairs.

However, looks can be deceptive and it’s quite possible that they did not fully appreciate the significance of Phil Griffiths, lured at last from OB football retirement by the promise of free liniment and a fag at half time. Before Phil caught sight of the opposition we had his signature on the signing on form and had extracted his subs for the rest of the season.

Our normal keeper Dave Palmer had injured his leg some weeks earlier in a wheeled Zimmer Frame related incident and so we decided that the last one down the steep stairs to the playing arena would go in goal. A photo finish less than 10 minutes later showed that all five of us were separated by less than the width of a 400g bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, which we then shared walking along the corridor leading to the playing arena.

With Keith Shea in goal the rest of the team lined up using the “total football” concept beloved by the Dutch during the Cruyff era of the 70’s, albeit we did it fairly close to the door to save time at the end of the match.

The game proved to be very competitive but with Peter Thompson, Gary Johnson, Simon Thompson and Phil working wonders on the pitch and restricting BGS FC to long shots, Old Bordenians ran out 2-1 winners with Phil scoring both goals.

We had a one game rest before we played each other again and almost made it to the top of the steep stairs before it was time to come back down again. Fearing that the BGS may have unlocked the secret of our success we changed to a diamond formation, but rather cleverly, maintained our proximity to the door.

The second game also proved to be a very close match, however a doughnut suspended from the oppositions goal proved to be the difference between the two teams as it enticed Peter Thompson far enough up the pitch to score the only goal of the game as Old Bordenians ran out 1-0 winners.

Two wins moved us up towards the middle of the table but BGS FC are a strong and skilful side lacking 5 a side experience, but that will come after a few games and I’m sure that they will soon start to climb the table too.

It is hoped that the School can maintain the pupil’s interest in 5 a side by continuing to run a team in coming seasons and the Old Bordenians will do all it can to continue that interest once they leave the School.

Keith Shea.

During the first game it became evident that many players followed the pre season training routine – but only in part. Everyone had followed the instructions to keep the body fuelled with regular food and drink but did not follow any of the exercise regime; this should come as no surprise as it has happened for 30 years on the trot. But I digress, we conceded 2 late goals and my rather biased view is that the score line flattered the opposition.

With 12 minutes exercise under the collective (large) belts from the first game we played a much tighter second game closing down the opposition earlier, finding more space and testing their keeper more often. We were even denied a penalty when one of the opposition’s outfield players had both feet in his own ‘D’. The referee blew his whistle – for half time! Fortunately the vuvuzelas drowned out the comments we made to the Ref, but we still went into half time 2-0 up.

We made two changes at half time to allow the outgoing player’s access to the oxygen cylinder and, to a degree that unsettled the side, but we still ran out winners.

Our squad is down to 8 players with the early retirement of Matt Norris who doesn’t want to risk a footballing injury as it would hamper his ability to compete in 10k runs, Half Iron man events (no, me neither), 50 mile time trials, half marathons, Duathlons, triathlons, etc – seriously. He was always the fittest squad member and now I know why.

So we are still in need of 2 or 3 good (and fit) players and we have enlisted the help of Marcus O’Neil, the head of P.E at Borden, who hopefully will pressgang a couple of 6^th formers or teachers.

Marcus has also suggested an 11 a side game between the Old Boys and the Staff. Most of our 11 a side footballers are vintage, veterans even, so if we want to play the fixture we will need, let’s not beat about the bush here, a few younger and fitter players to register an interest.

If anyone is interested in either 5 or 11 a side let me know at toshea@live.co.uk

Next 5 a side games are on 23^rd September.

Squad for this week was: Peter Thompson, Dave Palmer, Keith Shea, Darren Johnson, Simon Thompson, Keith Tummon, Luke Johnson.

 

Keith Shea 10.9.10

To update Old Boys of the school who don’t have access to the local newspapers, the following articles related to the school have appeared in the last few weeks.  The first one (next 2 clips linked) relates to the recent decision by the Government not to take forward the schools building programme initiated by the previous Government.

The next article celebrates the success of the current BGS under 13 cricket team.

And finally, whilst we have published a good deal of information in recent months about the Remembrance activities by Old Boys within the Association, the following article shows that the school also still involve current pupils in such activities.

Let’s hear from other former players with tales of skill, artistry and football magic!

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/east-kent-gazette-the-sittingbourne-uk/mi_8114/is_20100414/football-memories-flood/ai_n53161632/

As early as 1926 it was hoped to start an Old Bordenian Football Club, but nothing materialised.  The first match (apart from the annual game against the School) was played against the Old Anchorians (Gillingham County School Old Boys) on November 5^th 1927, and the return game in March 1928.  The next effort was in the spring of 1930 when three friendly matches were played.

During the 1930-31 season three friendly matches were played against the Kent Farm Institute and two against the “East Kent Gazette” F.C.  At the Annual Meeting on 4^th July 1931, it was confirmed that an Old Boys F.C. had been formed at a special meeting on 25^th June when H .E. Smith was elected secretary and Ango Ponton captain.

The first minutes available are of a meeting held at the School on 20^th July 1931.  There was an attendance of six and various propositions were made which put the Club on a competitive footing.  A further meeting held at the George Hotel on August 21^st and attended by eleven members really got the Club moving and from that point it was an active member of local football.  At the 1932 Annual Meeting Roy Cole was elected captain, a position he held until 1958.  In 1935 Roy became secretary and from then on was the main prop of the Football Club.

Throughout these years the playing record of the Club had gradually improved and the 1936-37 season was the most successful the Club had had.  They won Division II of the new Brompton and District League, the East Kent Secondary Schools Old Boys’ League and the Sittingbourne Charity Cup.  The full playing record was Played 35, won 27, drawn 6, lost 2.  The New Brompton League table was as follows:-

The East Kent Gazette of May 8^th 1937 carried a three column spread of a report of the Sittingbourne Charity Cup final when the Old Boys beat Minerva 4-1 together with details of the season and the photograph which appears below.

The 1937 Team.  Standing: S.Callaway, J.G.Overy, K.C. Foster, E.L. Bush. E.J. Bush, C.W. Harris.  Sitting: L.Luscombe, F. Knowles, R.G. Cole, L. Lukehurst, W.G. Taylor.

A regular player missing from the photo was C.G. Cole who was playing cricket for Kent, the first time in the Club’s history that it had been honoured in this way.

The following season the Old Boys won the Sittingbourne Charity Cup and this proved to be the last pre-war effort of the Club as hostilities put paid to football as an organised Club until 1946-47 when the Cup was again won.

For the next few years the playing record was just average until in 1952-53 the East Kent Old Boys Cup was won to be followed with the Sittingbourne and Milton District League Championship in 1953-54.  This successful run was maintained in the following season when the Old Boys were runners-up in the Sittingbourne and Milton District League and the New Brompton League.  This season saw the Club awarded the New Brompton League Sportsmanship Cup.

The 1960-61 season was also reasonably successful, winning the East Kent Old Boys’ Cup, reaching the final of the Sittingbourne League Cup and being awarded the Sheppey League Sportsmanship Cup.

At the annual meeting on 29^th September 1961 Roy Cole relinquished the office of secretary after 25 years.  Jeff Spice was appointed and carried out the duties until 1967 when he was succeeded by John Collins.  From 1961 onwards fortunes were of a varying nature with the Club awarded the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Combination Sportsmanship Cup in 1965-66.  From this point on difficulties in keeping the team going gradually increased until at the annual meeting in 1971 it was decided to call it a day and after 40 years of varying fortunes the Football Club closed a very interesting chapter of Old Bordenian history.

Much of the early success of the Football Club was mainly due to Roy Cole as Hon. Secretary, player and captain for over thirty years – a truly wonderful record.  The Club was also fortunate to have had several players who turned out regularly for periods of from ten to twenty years.

Only two years passed before the efforts of Mike Pack, Greg Pope and Peter Lusted saw the Club reformed and entering the Combination division of the Medway Area Sunday League in 1973.  The squad consisted of mainly Old Boys, a couple of boys from the School and a few friends.  Finishing third in the division the Club was promoted and within a couple of years a second team, under Roger Goodger, was started which played in the Sheppey Sunday League.  Many memories exist including one game where due to a car breakdown the opposition started with only seven men.  Almost immediately an Alan Snelling tackle reduced them to six and we went into a quick 5-0 lead.  The missing players arrived and we hung on to win 5-4.

The first team continued moving up through another four divisions before winning Divisions 3 and 2 in consecutive seasons, remaining unbeaten in the League for both those years.  As a result of this success the team was promoted to the Premier Division.   After several years finishing in the top half of the Division the second team also moved across to the Medway Area Sunday League to seek new challenges. We were grateful to Bryan Short for allowing us to use the School pitch and for some of us it brought back memories of school and those early Latin lessons from Ken Booth where we learnt those important football verbs – vasto, vastare, vastavi, vastatum, and jingo, jingere, squeaksi, smackbum.  The first, often used by the Julius Caesar First XI , meant to “lay waste”, whilst the second loosely translated meant “ the half back passed the ball to the winger who rounded the full back, centred and the centre forward rose in the air and nodded home”.   Whilst we were not averse to following Caesar’s tactics on occasions, we preferred the more poetic route to goal.

Local football is very dependent on referees giving their time in what appears an often thankless task.  We generally enjoyed good relations with our refs who ranged from bad to excellent.  One did leave us lost for words however after a particularly physical affair in the Kent Cup against one of our former mining villages.  In the very first minute our goalie, Andy Mattocks, comfortably collected a cross only to have an opposing forward throw himself at him a good ten seconds later, leaving him requiring attention.  This set the scene for the match and we eventually lost by one goal.  In the changing rooms afterwards the referee said to us “you were doing really well until they started kicking you about”.  Was this the start of the current “Respect” policy being preached by the FA?  Clubs were expected to provide their own reports of matches to the local press although the League Secretary always provided full scores and league tables.   They were not without the odd misprint, and one away game which ended 0-0 although we did everything but score, was reported in the paper as  0-¹/8, a meagre return for our efforts!

Near the end of the season, previously postponed matches had to be played mid week, and it was not unusual to find a group of smart, refined young men in suits assembled at a changing room in the backwater of the Medway area, having made all sorts of excuses for leaving work early so that they could embark on a mystery adventure with British Rail from London or elsewhere.  Changing into football kit saw changes in character akin to Clark Kent into Superman, and no doubt also fuelled by often being greeted by the opposition as “Old Bordonians”, many points were won in these encounters.  The young men never looked so refined in their suits afterwards!

The 1976  squad.  Rear: Nigel Snelling, Alan Snelling, Colin Hills, Lee Orgill, Brian Nottle, Steve Jarman, John Jonstone, Peter Webb.

Front:  John Keys, Mike Pack, Greg Pope, Jamie Henley, Rob Wiberg, Peter Lusted

Over the years, natural turnover in players occurred with boys going to University or job changes meaning moves away.  It was rare however for players to move to other local clubs and many remained with the Club for their entire playing career. Fortunately agents had not made an appearance at this level and no unreasonable demands were therefore made on players to open boutiques, write biographies or be caught in flagrante delicto.  The main concerns were trying to get up on a Sunday morning after a lively Saturday evening, paying the match fee and putting up the goalposts!  We actually started one away match and after ten minutes had to stop and dismantle our goals, as apparently the several sets of posts and bars had become mixed up and the teams on one of the other pitches had just been unable to assemble the remaining pieces into real football goals. Clearly MFI produced more than just household furniture.

Unfortunately an influx of new players had seen the percentage of Old Boys in the first team drop and success had been to the detriment of club atmosphere and team spirit.  It was felt that this needed to be resolved so it was decided in 1981 that the Club would continue as one team only in Division 6, leaving those players that wished to continue in the Premier Division under another name.   The move was the right one and the team, comprising mainly Old Boys with other long standing club members won Division 6 that year.

In 1983 a friendly match was arranged between two teams of players who had played for the Club.  On this occasion it was “Young” Old Boys against “Old” Old Boys, but the concept of a reunion match continued for many years, usually on Boxing Day.  In this same year, after running the Club since its reformation Peter Lusted handed over the reins to Martin Graham, but had to step in again as Martin’s work took him out of the area.

Paul Chappell then took on this role for three years before Nick Gimson stepped into the firing line for the next five years.  The team again moved through the divisions and having finished second in Division 1 was promoted to the Premier Division once more.   The next few years were tough and relegation was only just avoided twice.  Phil Griffiths then took the hot seat in 1992 and the team had some good finishes only missing out on promotion to the Senior Section by 4 points in 1995.  Phil stayed in charge for 5 years before Kevin Irwin took over for a short while but problems attracting sufficient players were causing difficulties on the field and the Club again finally came to an end just before the new millennium.

You will be forgiven for imagining that the story ends here, but although you cannot teach old dogs new tricks they can certainly put on football boots and race, well OK amble, around a football pitch.  Due to the efforts of Alan Snelling, the Old Boys played occasional games as a veteran team and although an old copy of the Maroon indicates that these were to end in 2001, enthusiasm dictated otherwise and the latest one was played on the school pitch in September 2008, involving just former players in both teams. Tony Clayton who had taught PE to many of the players came down to watch and claimed credit for the quality and longevity of his “boys”.  We recall that he was less complimentary during lessons!  Keith Shea is equally responsible for refusing to let players hang up their boots by organising 5-a-side teams, which included Old Boys, in the Faversham and Sittingbourne leagues during the last 20 years.  In more recent years these teams have taken on the name of Old Bordenians so the Club still lives on.

Throughout the last 35 years the Club has reached high levels of football winning various trophies but readers will be pleased to know that it equally won the Sportsmanship Trophy many times showing that success and sportsmanship can go hand in hand.  No doubt the obligatory after-the-match analysis at the nearest hostelry also paid dividends.

Thanks are due to far too many people to name in full but mention should be made of everyone who took on the role of running the Club, Bryan Short for his support and allowing us to play again on the School field, the School staff who helped us with access to the School, pointing schoolboys our way, or by playing, particularly John Weekes, John Macrae and Neil Redmond.

2008 Veterans.  Rear: Paul Bedelle, Matt Morris, Kevin Cope, John Kingsnorth, Andy Bushell, Alan Abery, Cliff Cork, Peter Thompson, Peter Lusted.   Front: Alan Irvine, Mark Spree, Keith Shea, Neil Redmond, Alan Snelling, Mike Pack, Rob Kemsley, Jamie Henley

This is only a short factual report of the Old Bordenian Football Club and it is the intention to add more details, names and photos to the website so that these records and memories are there for posterity.  The early years of the Club are taken from an article by Charles Harris in a previous Maroon, and the details after that have been compiled by Peter Lusted, Alan Snelling and Keith Shea.  We do however encourage everyone who played for, or had involvement with, the Club to send in your memoirs and photos – remember the performances get better with each telling of the story!  As a starter we have added a few thoughts of our own.

Peter Lusted’s comments – I feel privileged to have played firstly with the Saturday team from 1968 and then to have been involved in reforming the Club in 1973.  Particularly pleasing is that I know and have played with Old Boys from all the different eras right up to the last veterans game in 2008 , and likewise all the Club secretaries from Jeff Spice’s time in charge. The camaraderie of all the different age groups has been exceptional which is why we can still organise such games and get such a good response from former players of all ages. We are in the process of asking the FA to allow zimmer frames to be used in football matches!

Alan Snelling’s comments – The best thing about playing for the Old Boys was the use of the large School pitch. Most of the team had grown up with the pitch from schooldays in the 1960′s. The pitch was always in excellent condition (I spent of lot of time sliding along it) and in the 1970′s it was one of the largest pitches around and visiting teams were surprised at the size and also the slope. We were never the fittest nor the most skilful of teams but we had a terrific spirit. In the late 1970′s most players were roughly the same age and there was a real competition for places and the outcome of team selection meetings on a Tuesday (after training) was eagerly awaited. I have discovered some old photos and will be putting them on the website soon.

The season finished in May with an upturn in our fortunes. Disappointingly we couldn’t muster enough players to field a team on two of the last three weeks resulting in four 0-4 defeats in the record book, however, the last third of the season saw us win most of our games lifting us from a very poor 9^th place to a much more respectable 7^th.

This was the first season that the Sittingbourne 5 a side league comprised just one division and this pitted us against stronger teams than we had previously faced in the old Second Division. Even so we took points off of every team except for the league champions and, as you will see from the final league table below, they lost just 2 games all season.

Our winning run coincided with a few weeks of a relatively settled side and we did play some simple but effective football. We even had the league champions rattled before conceding two very late goals to lose a feisty game 3-0. So rattled in fact that they had two players booked, but with age comes experience and the referee didn’t spot our misdemeanours!

We were also runners up in one of the cup competitions but considering our recent good form, we were disappointed to lose the final, especially as we had beaten the eventual winners in an earlier round.

Old Bordenians FC has entered the league again for next season and we hope to add a couple of Old Boys who have recently finished university. With a committed squad of 9 or 10, some with legs still in their 20s, we can look forward to a better season. Incidentally there is a vacancy for a further team so if there is a budding OBA 5 a side team out there then send me an e-mail (toshea@live.co.uk).

With most Old Bordenians footballers now in their 50s and 60s and it means that we struggle to find ‘appropriate opposition’. Thursdays are out because that’s pension day and during the normal football season many of the mobility scooters can’t cope with muddy bobbley pitches. Consequently, we don’t get together very often to the detriment of a very enjoyable social side to the OBFC. To resurrect that social side we plan to hire a hall, say once a month for an hour or so, and play some 5 a side before retiring to a pub. I was going to suggest we play some ‘gentle’ 5 a side etc but knowing how competitive OB footballers are I can’t see that happening. We will need around 15 committed players and I’ll send out details by e-mail soon. A straw poll of OB footballers taken at the Dinner suggested there is already considerable interest. Indeed, as the evening progressed, interest grew at a rate that was proven to be inversely proportional to the rate of beer flowing down the collective necks.

That Leyton Orient reserve kit will soon see the light of day again. I’d better wash it.

Keith Shea.

The Sittingbourne Five-a-side league runs several cup competitions each season and there is an opportunity to put a second Old Bordenians team in this year’s Charity Cup which is to be held on 13th or 20th May 2010 depending on the draw.

There is also an opportunity to enter a second team in next season’s league which runs from September 2010 – May 2011.

We have a set of shirts that we could loan out for the Charity Cup so if you are able to put a team of Old Boys together then let me know as soon as you can by e-mail toshea@live.co.uk and we’ll sort it out from there.

Keith Shea

If you have information, please leave a comment in the Reply box below.

Back row (left to right): Paul Beer, Henry Nye, David Heathfield, Keith Aylen, Paul Akehurst, Roger Usher, Roger Fahy.