Your best ‘trait’ as a young footballer.

[Usher wide.]

Were you taller than most for your age so could win every ball in the air that came your way in either box?

Was your trait in deadball situations where from corners you could pick out the lad above, or could you hit a free kick as if it had been launched like a cannonball?

Were you speedy? Head down, ball at your feet, keep pushing it on another 5 yards & nobody could catch you?

Was your trait agility & good handling which saw you a No.1 choice for the goalies jersey?

Whenever I was picked to stay over at Kingfisher Junior School to ‘trial’ for the school team at the age of nine, my ‘trait’ was to scuff my bare knees on the grass verges on the way home so that my mum could see I’d really tried my best & got stuck in.

[tommy toes]

I was like Lewis Guy.
Great in training, kin useless when it mattered.

[Drover]

Passing and shooting with good aim,I was usually chosen to take our pens too,due to having a good shot,only because I was'nt as fit as most others and learnt quickly that being good at passing meant I could get away without running as much, I like to think I was the Jan Molby of park football,in reality I was the Fat tw@t on the field!

[Spud]

Pace, I started out at the back, I could usually give a striker a few yard start & still catch em, my youngest lad is the same but taller & even quicker.
Later it was my work rate, win the ball & give it to someone who could actually pass a ball

[Lesonthewest]

Was the only player in the squad who could cross on the left foot, & was a bit quick, that's where my traits ended!!

[Barmby Rover]

I was left footed, but definitely not good enough.

[turnbull for england]

I carried a mean orange

[Fal]

Fast striker but i would score a worldie every now and again, but then miss badly from 2 yards out in most games!

[BillyStubbsTears]

As our coach at Meccy 6th Form put it when he went round the pros and cons of every player in our side before the Donny Schools Cup Final:

Billy. He's as quick as anyone on the pitch. But not very good on the ball. So when he gets it, somebody offer him an easy pass.

[tommy toes]

Was that Mr Bennett BST?
He had a big influence on Kitch at MGS, though he might have retired by your time.

[Dutch Uncle]

When I was young ....................... often it was my ball

When I was older ..........................getting in the first round of drinks 

[moses]

Not joining the all night card game in the Abbey on a Saturday night was the main thing that got me in the team come Sunday morning.

[ScillyRover]

I was regarded as the double of Laurie Sheffield during our local Sunday morning kick-abouts. Often joined for the game by the illustrious company of Willie Watson, Alan Warboys, Dennis Leigh. The former describing one header I planted in the top corner following a free kick as the best he’d ever witnessed. The only difference between me and Laurie was that I couldn’t speak Welsh !  

[ravenrover]

The last time I played competitive football as a young un,  I played for Jossey Lane juniors 1963 Gundry Shield final in goals, we lost 6-0  to Richmond Hill our team included Jimmy Golze and Kevin Johnson
Rugby it was at Don Valley back then and I didn't start playing football again until I was 18 do I still count as a young footballer?
Apart from the height all the othets fit me perfectly as I'm sure SS wlll confirm
:-]] :-)) ROFL Guffaw Guffaw

[BillyStubbsTears]

Was that Mr Bennett BST?
He had a big influence on Kitch at MGS, though he might have retired by your time.

Yep it was. He was a cracking coach. Even got me playing half decent.

[Bentley Bullet]

Scawsby Steve had a style like Matthews.

... Not Stanley, Jessie.

[ravenrover]

He had a good eye for talented skillfull footballers though........
Not sure what his other eye was good for though

[Nudga]

My best trait as a youngen was that I was super aggressive and never gave up.
If I knew I was having an off game, I made sure I bullied the centre halves.

As I got a bit older, that aggression often got the better of me. I got sent off three times in one season for fighting.
Loads of bans and fines and a letter from Sheffield & Hallamshire fa  threatening me with a 5 year ban if I got sent off within two seasons made me calm down..........a bit.

[idler]

I was regarded as the double of Laurie Sheffield during our local Sunday morning kick-abouts. Often joined for the game by the illustrious company of Willie Watson, Alan Warboys, Dennis Leigh. The former describing one header I planted in the top corner following a free kick as the best he’d ever witnessed. The only difference between me and Laurie was that I couldn’t speak Welsh !  

Was that on the Sandford Road pitches in Balby?

[tommy toes]

Was that Mr Bennett BST?
He had a big influence on Kitch at MGS, though he might have retired by your time.

Yep it was. He was a cracking coach. Even got me playing half decent.

My walking pal Tony Marsh used to teach at MGS and was a big mate of ..was it Bob? Bennett.
I spoke to Kitch recently and he was full of praise for the help they gave him at school.

[RoversInSpain]

Goalkeeper. Wanted to be Gordon Banks. Closer to Gordon the Gopher.

[Draytonian III]

I wasn’t very good at football either at school or as a Sunday morning pub player, ended up running/managing a couple of local teams but that stopped when the team was kicked out of the league for unpaid fines and bad discipline record, we something like 12 sending offs in the first 3 months of the season. The players got banned for the remainder of that season and were only allowed to play again when they had paid their split of the money owed. I wasn’t a signed on player so I got a ban for 18 months

[Goole Rover]

My best trait as a youngen was that I was super aggressive and never gave up.
If I knew I was having an off game, I made sure I bullied the centre halves.

As I got a bit older, that aggression often got the better of me. I got sent off three times in one season for fighting.
Loads of bans and fines and a letter from Sheffield & Hallamshire fa  threatening me with a 5 year ban if I got sent off within two seasons made me calm down..........a bit.

Well that’s really something to be proud of. I was considered a dirty player due to my lack of skill I really regret that I didn’t have the skills of my team mates. But I suppose every team has their idiot.

[Nudga]

My best trait as a youngen was that I was super aggressive and never gave up.
If I knew I was having an off game, I made sure I bullied the centre halves.

As I got a bit older, that aggression often got the better of me. I got sent off three times in one season for fighting.
Loads of bans and fines and a letter from Sheffield & Hallamshire fa  threatening me with a 5 year ban if I got sent off within two seasons made me calm down..........a bit.

Well that’s really something to be proud of. I was considered a dirty player due to my lack of skill I really regret that I didn’t have the skills of my team mates. But I suppose every team has their idiot.

Wow, hold your horses there buddy. It's not something I'm proud of, it's a story of mine sharing a bad side of me as a young man.
This was the 97/98 season, my grandad died in February 97 and looking back, my mental health was shattered.
I'd been physically abused by an evil bas**rd step dad as a nipper and my grandad was the only real man I'd ever loved, respected and trusted and then he was gone.
I was actually a decent player but I decided to share the jekyll and Hyde side of me rather gloat about how good I considered myself.

[ScillyRover]

I was regarded as the double of Laurie Sheffield during our local Sunday morning kick-abouts. Often joined for the game by the illustrious company of Willie Watson, Alan Warboys, Dennis Leigh. The former describing one header I planted in the top corner following a free kick as the best he’d ever witnessed. The only difference between me and Laurie was that I couldn’t speak Welsh !  

Was that on the Sandford Road pitches in Balby?

It was. And occasionally in the play park off of Weston Road. I later played for Loversall Utd.
Didn’t you live in Herrick Gardens? Knocking on nearly 60 years ago now.

[bobbymax]

I'm tall and could catch and drop kick the ball into the opposing penalty area (useful in the 60s). Naturally, therefore, I was told I was playing rugby at high school with a tubby kid with the agility of a plant pot (who was the nephew of the maths teacher) preferred in goal. Went on to play Saturday and Sunday league as a keeper for 20-plus years. Still playing well into my late 60s on the veterans' circuit.

[Beerseller]

Being honest with myself, I'm fairly useless at football, certainly the foot to the ball bit and especially while I'm moving.  Dribbling is something I was always better at from my mouth than with my feet.

I can hit a dead ball pretty well, so well that I was always decent with penalties or hitting a long free kick.

I was extremely fast over 30-40 yards but beyond that I slowed to a trot so I tended to stay in my own half.

I also had a good eye for the flight or movement of the ball so I made a decent enough keeper - except for my lack of height.  That tracking of movement also meant I could head a ball well and I could judge the timing of a tackle reasonably well.

I've pretty much given up on ever making it professionally in the game, unless anyone needs a 60 year old keeper who is well off his best, way out of shape and only 5 and a half feet tall.

[idler]

I was regarded as the double of Laurie Sheffield during our local Sunday morning kick-abouts. Often joined for the game by the illustrious company of Willie Watson, Alan Warboys, Dennis Leigh. The former describing one header I planted in the top corner following a free kick as the best he’d ever witnessed. The only difference between me and Laurie was that I couldn’t speak Welsh !  

Was that on the Sandford Road pitches in Balby?

It was. And occasionally in the play park off of Weston Road. I later played for Loversall Utd.
Didn’t you live in Herrick Gardens? Knocking on nearly 60 years ago now.

No, I lived on St. Catherine’s Ave. near Peglers. We occasionally played at Sandford Rd. but almost always on  Westfield/Fisher’s Park. I was in the same year at Oswin Ave as Willie Watson and played with him.
A good mate, Malc. Redfern from Carr View Ave. was in the same intermediate team as Willie, Denis Lee and Coco Warboys as the other lads called him then. I know they used to play on Sandford Rd. sometimes in those days.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Was that Mr Bennett BST?
He had a big influence on Kitch at MGS, though he might have retired by your time.

Yep it was. He was a cracking coach. Even got me playing half decent.

My walking pal Tony Marsh used to teach at MGS and was a big mate of ..was it Bob? Bennett.
I spoke to Kitch recently and he was full of praise for the help they gave him at school.

They had an amazing record as a school football team. Won the English Schools FA Cup in 1972 and made the semi in 75 and 77. If I remember correctly, the 77 team included Ian Banks who was a key player in the excellent Barnsley side of the early 80s, and went on to have 3-4 years in Div 1 with Leicester.

[ForsolongaRover]

I was left footed, but definitely not good enough.

I wasn’t left-footed, but could kick tolerably well with it at a time when football was a rather less fluid left-right sided game. It was a good thing really because I would never had got into the (junior school) team playing on the right.

Then I was forced into rugby - a mobile fighting match with an unpredictable ball and rules no one knew which was no good at all for a 6 stone weakling.