Part 6. The End of the World’ - not the U.S. Soviet contretemps - Peter Kearns leaving!

‘The End of the World’ - not the U.S. Soviet contretemps - Peter Kearns leaving!

The Steelmen had been making steady if not slow progress since they entered the Southern League in 1958. Could the trend continue and promotion to the Premier Division be achieved in the 62/63 season? This was Tommy Hadden’s first full season in charge and he had already shown a ruthless streak by saying goodbye to ten players from the last campaign. The search for new players began with the aid of a publication that all football fans waited for every summer. The News of the World Annual. Not only did it have the forthcoming fixtures but also all the stats you needed about players, their appearances, goals, if they had been released, where they were born, a real almanac for football fans, and football managers alike. Tommy Hadden told me he regarded it as his Bible. So, in the beginning…after the Exodus of so many players…he signed goalkeeper Alan Alexander from Bradford Park Avenue. Full back Scott McLuckie was poached from Albion Rovers, John Richards, a premature grey haired fellow was signed from Aldershot. He looked older than what he was, I remember thinking he looked like my granddad in a football kit. He was faster than that though, even if he wasn’t easy on the eye. Another signing was a wee fellow with an appropriate name, David Short. Snapped up on his release from Bedford, Davie must have only been about four feet tall! He played on the wing, was a bit of a whippet and Hadden obviously thought the little guy would prove to be an asset as he slipped between defender’s legs.

Whilst Tommy was flitting around the country looking for players, the Occupation Road ground was being given a facelift with a new roof on the Westfields Road grandstand, the surrounds of the pitch given a lick of paint in club colours, the centre of the pitch dug up for new drainage, new turf laid and last but not least, a new brick built tea kiosk to replace the old wooden shed at the Occy Road end of the ground. And in case Maw Broon was looking on in envy from the kiosk that was her domain in the stand, this too was given a makeover. Not that we noticed much. When she opened the shutters, clouds of steam would still belch out and envelop you. Don’t know what the renovation was, maybe they had a new tea urn or something. The cost of the whole revamp was £1760, ‘paid for by supporters, officials and directors, including 21/- from Gateman Tommy Edwards.’ who if I remember right, was the miserable chap who commandeered the gate at the top end of the ground, and scowled at all of us youngsters who he thought were trying to sneak in. We avoided him best we could. To be honest this was all part of the fun. Climbing up the Poplar trees at the Welfare End to scramble over the wall, crawling through hedgerows behind the Westfields Road stand, sneaking through gardens and climbing over garden fences at the Occy Road end. And trying to steer clear of the eagle eyed Tommy!  

Excitement was gripping us lads in the street. A group of us set about making banners for the coming season. Wood, nails, tins of paint were sought out from sheds or the back of shops. We painted slogans on the banners, ‘C’mon the Steelmen’, ‘The Steelmen For Me!’ The day of the opening game against Barry Town, we trudged off, six of us, carrying these wooden banners, noisy rattles, a hooter, all the way down Occupation Road like a band of CND marchers. Women looked out of windows to see what the racket was. It wasn’t ‘Ban the Bomb’ or “Get out of Vietnam!’ we were hollering, it was ‘Up the Steelmen!’

By the time we were settled on the half way line, perched on the perimeter pipe, we were knackered! Our enthusiasm drained. Great fun it had been, but at the end of the match, which Corby won 2-1, we dumped the banners. We couldn’t be arsed carrying the things home again! 

The Corby 'Ultras'.

The season was off and running again. Sittingbourne away was the next match and a rude awakening and bruising encounter it was. Jimmy Kelly was sent off for retaliation, Scott McLuckie was stretchered off with a head injury and we were down to nine men, holding our own despite the handicap, and then Alan Alexander was fouled as he attempted a save in the last minute, the referee turned a blind eye, the goal stood and the Kent boys had won it 2-1.

The Steelmen dressing room looked like a casualty ward. 

Niggles and aches would cause an early season selection crisis which wasn’t helped when wee Davie Short was stung on the back of his knee by a wasp! You couldn’t make it up. Could have been the reason why the Steelmen struggled to gain some rhythm in the early matches but they still managed to negotiate their way through the early rounds of the F.A.Cup though manager Hadden was clearly unhappy about things. Despite defeating St Neots 1-0 he described the game as pathetic. Tommy might have been losing some sleep over the football but worldwide there was a crisis brewing that threatened to to make everyone lose some sleep. The Cold War was being ramped up with the Cuban Missile Crisis after the Soviet Union had sent warships carrying their cargo of nuclear warheads towards Cuba. The world was on the brink of Armegeddon. U. S. President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Kruschev were playing a game of poker with the survival of the planet at stake. The world held its breath as they negotiated a way out of the crisis. The fears were real. The tension great. Even as a 12 year old I can remember the worry that this was going to be our last day on earth. Fears not eased with a huge hit by country star Skeeter Davis being played relentlessly on the airwaves. ‘The End of the World’. Was that coincidence or exploitation to get a hit? Sounds dramatic and a tad over the top but whatever, you had to be there. 

When Kennedy and Kruschev sorted things out we got our heads down again at school. Not that I was an academic by any stretch, I was more interested in getting into the school football team to be honest. Charlie Kluk was holding trials and so I asked him if I could turn up. “What position do you play Smeez?” I told him, thinking that not many would claim they wanted to be a defender, that right back was my preference. The trial at the Studfall Infants School ground, where the Boys School played their games, went well, Charlie picked me for the first game at the Our Ladys School, and I played in every game we had that year! Not at right back though I hasten to add. I’d made a balls up in the last minute of that game when we were drawing 2-2 and tried to dribble the ball out of the area after our keeper Robert ‘Nick’ Nicol was left stranded. My mucker Danny Coyle took the ball off me and scored! Couldn’t believe it! And I’ve never forgotten to call him ever since. Anyway Charlie moved me into the inside left position, I scored a couple against Hazel Leys in a 5-2 win, then a few more against the Grammar School, 10-3 that was against the rugby minded lot and a few more against other schools. In the team were future Corby heroes Gordon Hall and John Fyfe and future Corby Club Shop star, my old pal John ‘Wilf’ Wilson. 

Anyway, away from all that, Jimmy Kelly had meantime left for pastures new at Wisbech with the Fenmen’s Tommy Huckstepp coming the other way. Tommy was a barnstorming centre forward, whatever that was meant to be. Never have heard of anyone storming a barn but that was the term they used. Memory does have him as more of a wrecking ball but I guess he complemented Tommy Crawley who picked up the pieces. Larry Wealthall remembers Tommy Huckstepp's arrival. "His first game was in the reserves, and the shorts were all in a heap, first come first served basis. Tommy was left with the baggiest shorts. 'F--- me!' he said in his cockney accent. I know there's a lot of Jocks at the club but I didn't know we played in kilts!'"


David Short had been released at his own request, never quite got over being stung by that pesky wasp! Two significant moves occurred prior to Christmas. One was Peter Kearns, the popular inside forward inevitably leaving and signing for league club Aldershot, just a few weeks after he’d scored four goals in an 8-0 demolition of Tunbridge Wells and had signed off with a brace in a 3-0 win at Burton Albion on Boxing Day which brings back fond memories for winger Gordon Anderson. "I vaguely remember a bottle of whiskey kindly supplied at half time by Burton which was happily devoured with our tea. Can't remember the half time score  but I think the drink worked the opposite way Burton thought it might!"
There were a lot of sad faces around when it was announced but Hadden had already lined up a replacement and in came a guy who would become over ther next decade, a Steelmen legend. Alex Stenhouse from Bedford. Alex had one of the fiercest shots in football. Forget Bobby Charlton, Peter Lorimer. When Alex lined up a shot, you could feel the excitement and intake of breath. BANG! Wilf in the Club Shop was such a fan of Alex he would be shouting 'SHOOT!' as soon as he appeared out of the players tunnel.

'Hot shot' Alex Stenhouse 

Everyone will associate the Cold War with the relations between east and west in those early years of the 60s but in the winter of 62/63 there was another Cold War to contend with. The freezing and horrendous weather that consumed the country. Snow began on Boxing day and never let up until three moths later. The country was at a standstill. Only a handful of football matches were played. A Pools Panel of former professional players and a referee was set up to help the millions of punters who placed their bets on the football matches every weekend. Unfortunately the cold weather didn’t prevent us from going to school! On the upside though, you could make slides a 100 yards long on the paths and have fun crashing into each other and garden hedges. Old people whinged about it and threw buckets of salt over the slides to spoil the fun but we just made another one! Best fun of all was standing in the Boys School playground on the corner of Pen Green Lane and James Watt Avenue with all the other kids and cheering and laughing at everyone coming off their bikes as they tried to round the corner. Especially the teachers. There weren’t many had cars those days. If they did they were old bangers. The favourite was a loathsome teacher called Parker, if he fell off his bike he got the biggest cheer of the lot. His idea of punishment was standing on one leg with arms outstretched for half an hour. If you began to wilt he’d be there with his cane. Dispicable bloke. 

As we headed into 1963 shivering, coal fires and paraffin heaters going into overdrive, a lighter note came with the emergence of a Liverpool band that came to have a seismic effect on the music world and life in general. The Beatles! Suddenly the austerity and dullness of the post war years were canned with the Beatles in the vanguard of a revolution. When we got back to football and the weather had released its hold on the country, the Merseybeat sounds of the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J.Kramer and co were on the play list for the Occupation Road pre-match entertainment, a breath of fresh air from the Frank Ifields, Anne Sheltons, The Temperance Seven. At last the 60s were beginning to swing!

Hardest working man at the club had to be groundsman Fred Loak who had the unenviable task of clearing the snow at Occupation Road but finally the Steelmen were back on the road, away to Cheltenham to give Alex Stenhouse his debut. He scored too, in a 3-2 defeat. Don’t know if he bust the net but he scored nonetheless. 

By all accounts the Cheltenham fans weren’t too enamoured with Corby’s performance, described as robust to say the least. Cheltenham suffered a few injuries but it was Corby’s first game for months so you can put it down to being a bit rusty I suppose. They still won 3-2 anyway!

Steelmen on their way to Kent. Goalscorer Tommy Crawley behind the wheel. "We had to haul him out of the seat, he wanted to drive the bus!' - Gordon Anderson

It took a while to get going again, and it was a couple of trips to Kent that saw us back on the winning trail. 3-2 at Tonbridge and 4-1 at Tunbridge. Then a week later we drew 3-3 with Tonbridge in the return league fixture and then stuffed Margate 6-2, which was an unusual 4pm kick off due to the clash of the Grand National on television. 971 still showed up. Those who preferred to stay at home saw Ayala at 66/1 win the race. Happy days. For those who had a couple of quid on it! 

Interestingly, for those historians amongst us, the day after the Tonbridge 3-3 game was when the infamous Dr Beeching announced his plans for the destruction, reorganisation, call it what you will, of the British Rail network. Hundreds of stations were to close, including Corby’s. Devastating news felt by towns all around the country. Dr Beeching’s axe they called it.

Back on the football pitch, barnstorming Tommy and Rocket shot Alex were among the scorers against Margate as was Gordon Anderson, one of the promising young reserve players that Tommy Hadden had signed on semi professional terms. “Tommy signed me on for £6 a week plus £2 win and £1 draw in the steelworks engineering shop”, Gordon recalls, “he was the mechanical fitter who taught me my trade. As an apprentice fitter I was earning about £15 a week. Happy days. My football money paid for a new Austin 1100, £18 pounds 19 shillings and 11 pence a month!”

A significant signing the week of the Margate game, who went on to win the league, was Bobby Laverick from Coventry City. The former Everton and Brighton forward oozed class and quickly became yet another big favourite with the Occupation Road faithful. Promotion was back on the cards but the tailback of fixtures thanks to the terrible winter we had, derailed the challenge.

Many youth team players were making their mark, Larry Wealthall had tasted first team football but with the more experienced Alan Alexander joining up was now his understudy, Anderson had progressed into the first team and two others had been snapped up by league clubs. Norman Dean at Southampton and Mick Moran at Manchester United. Maurice and Mick Goodall would also go on to carve out successful careers at Corby and Kettering. 

Stars of the youth team taking a winter break on holiday in Blackpool.
Larry Wealthall, Gordon Anderson and Dave Halsey.

The promotion challenge fell at the latter stages of the campaign, similar to the previous season but there was still two games to whet the supporters appetites before the finish. First was the final of the Northants Senior Cup which truthfully speaking was of little interest until we knocked Kettering out in the semi finals to obtain a fixture, at home, against a strong Northampton Town team who had been crowned champions in the Third Division of the Football league. The Cobblers were on a remarkable journey that would take them all the way to the top division before immediately sliding all the way back down again. So, even though the Cobblers, fielding their strongest team, may have taken the game lightly, the Steelmen didn’t. And that man Stenhouse again, with a rocket shot from the wing, and I was right in line with it, sent the Corby fans into raptures when he fired us in to the lead. A David Laird goal secured a 2-0 victory and the cup, the first trophy the Steelmen had lifted for seven years. Proudly held aloft by skipper Barry Parsons in front of a crowd of 2760.

Manager Tommy Hadden "Goodbye Tommy and John!"

The second game of note was a testimonial game against Aldershot for stalwarts Barry Parsons and John Rennie with the added attraction of seeing the return of fans favourite Peter Kearns in the Shots team. 1650 turned up to witness Peter score one of their goals in a 2-1 win but the night belonged to Rennie and Parsons, two of Corby’s finest ever servants. 

The season had stretched well into May and we eventually finished up in 7th place which again was impressive, stable and it seemed that every year, under Tommy Hadden, our hopes of gaining promotion were growing a step nearer. A number of players were released including John Richards and Tommy Huckstepp who had scored 18 goals apiece. Bit of a surprise but they were into their early 30s and, according too the press, the directors deemed them too old and they were looking to sign younger players for the next campaign. 

Walkin’ Back To Happiness..

Part 5   Walkin’ Back To Happiness..

John Rennie and Peter Kearns attacking the Sittingbourne goal at Occupation Road

1961 was a big year, the year I stepped up into the ‘Big’ school, Samuel Lloyds Boys School. Having failed the ’11 Plus’ this was my destination which to be quite frank I wasn’t too displeased about. First thing I thought on hearing the result of the exam was ‘great, well at least I won’t be forced to play rugby instead of football!’ One thing bothered me though. The dread of being thrown down the ‘banks’. An initiation new inmates had to face. The ‘banks’ were grass slopes alongside the Telfords Lane side of the school. Our friend Graham Henderson had been thrown down them the year before and suffered a dislocated shoulder! The summer months were thus spent worrying about this foreboding adventure. When the day arrived, thankfully, after being hurled down the banks into the railings, I survived. 

Thinking about the Grammar School and the rugby, Alan Murphy, one of our football mad mob on Studfall Green still shudders about his first experience of chasing the egg. "We had trials at the Grammar School", Alan recalls, "an attempt to teach us the rudiments in the art of the game. I dreaded it. They put me on the wing which I thought was OK as I thought I was out of the way. Then somebody passed the ball to me. I thought 'what!', then 'help!' I looked up and saw this burly figure charging at me. I thought 'bollocks to this' and promptly threw the ball out of play. The Headmaster Mr Kemp on the touchline went bananas. 'You're a disgrace boy!' 'An embarrassment!' 'Get off" he roared. He was furious. Kemp later would leave the Grammar School to become Head of Gordonstoun School where Prince Charles was a student. Alan; "Many said it was my flagrant disregard of the rules and spirit of Rugby Union that made up his mind to leave Corby! It worked in my favour though. I wasn't asked to partake again!"

The Boys School turned out to be great for the sports minded. The sports teacher Charlie Kluk was a very amiable pleasant spoken fellow. Nice guy and fondly remembered by everyone who came across him. Word had it that Charlie was a Polish international athlete, a Pole Vaulter, who had appeared in the Olympic Games. Indeed, Larry Wealthall recalls Charlie demonstrating his pole vaulting skills 'in the new sandpit, which impressed us all'. So, a few years down the line, whether we all thought it was bullshit, or not, think everyone did believe it but whatever, Charlie was a keen sports master. Used to call me in his pidgin English, ‘Smeez’. I also remember another lad in the street, David Marrs, claiming that Charlie’s surname was Klukiawowski or something like that. “He abbreviated it to Kluk because it was easier to say” David said with conviction. You believe anything at that age!

During the 1950s the Boys school had produced many a fine football team, had a great reputation and a good few went on to play league football, including Len Chalmers, Jim Fotheringham, Andy McCabe, Dennis Martin.

Corby Boys School 1962.
Charlie Kluk back row, far right, Dennis Martin seated with ball.

The summer months were spent with great anticipation by Steelmen supporters wondering who was going to be appointed the next Corby manager. Johnny Morris had formally left on June 1st, and signed for Kettering to team up with his old Leicester pal Jack Froggatt and the Corby directors started their search for his successor. They obviously couldn’t decide or agree on who it should be as with the season just around the corner, the seat was still vacant. So it was for the opening game at Hinckley on August 19th they picked the team themselves. And afterwards must have thought ‘what was all the fuss about?’ ‘Managing football teams is a doddle!’. Corby humped Hinckley 6-2!

Who it was who signed the new players that turned up I couldn’t say but they made a good job of it. Irishman Jimmy Fisher arrived from Linfield, given digs in James Watt Avenue and a job in the ‘Works’. Gas Board worker John Harris came from Worcester City. Winger Danny Liddell came down from Scotland, he didn’t last long, don’t think he was too enamoured with the ‘job in the Works’ which was a pity. Painting gas holders for contractors Pearce’s or ‘knocking bricks out of the Blast Furnaces’ for Shank & McEwan - which was the final straw for me after an absolute shite week doing all the crappiest jobs going in the Rolling Mills, BOS Plant in 1970, but I digress - wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea! No doubt Danny thought likewise and said ‘bollocks to this’. He’d had a fantastic start to his brief Steelmen career before he went home but there you go. It’s believed he signed for Stenhousemuir in exchange for 800 notes. Peter Kearns, a diminutive inside forward described as ‘a prodigious worker’ arrived from Plymouth and as far as I know, didn’t end up in the steelworks. Peter was a carpenter who became a massive favourite. If you wanted a door fitted or a rabbit hutch built or something, Peter was your man. Centre forward Jim Kelly also arrived, from Yeovil. No idea what Jim did, maybe he was on the dole. The directors had been busy and their endeavours were rewarded with a 13 game unbeaten run, the best start to a season for many a year and the joy felt around the Occupation Road ground was tangible. Encapsulating the mood of the supporters was ‘Walkin’ Back To Happiness’ by Helen Shapiro, a huge hit at the time. Another favourite receiving plenty of airplay from the resident DJ was Jimmy Dean’s ‘Steelmen’, 

resurrected in the 2000s by match day commentator and all round good egg, Gerry Lucas.

Dean’s ‘country’ classic blasted out of the speakers attached to the floodlights  when captain Barry Parsons emerged into the daylight from the depths of the grandstand, like a gladiator, complete with cigarette out of the side of his mouth. Yes, I’m kidding there, everyone knows of Barry’s partiality to a Woodbine but I’m sure he left them behind in the dressing room before the kick off. However, it wasn’t unknown for goalkeepers to have a packet of fags in the back of the goals. Keeper Jackie Elder was famous for this back in the post war years of the 40s, lighting up and having a quick ‘drag’ when Corby were attacking at the other end of the field. It’s a true story folks. Came from the horse’s mouth. So to speak. I worked with Jackie, who was a Burner, and a right case, in the tube works in the late 60s.

Back; Smith, Rodgers, Parsons, Williams, Harris, Fisher.
Front; Liddell, Kearns, Kelly, Rennie, McCorkindale

After the blistering start at Hinckley you’d have thought the directors would have been well pleased and quite smug with their team selection but whether it was a ploy to bring the players back down to earth, or not, in the programme for the first home game against Barry Town the following week, whilst admitting it was ‘a grand start at Hinckley’, they ventured that they could do better!! 

One interesting addition to the Occupation Road ground at the start of the 61/62 season was a brand new club flag, unfurled in ceremonial fashion before the kick-off for the Barry game. ‘Presented as a gift from Mrs Bell and her lady friends’ it said in the programme. Over 1500 fans turned up for the unveiling. Quaint. Things were looking up. A week later it was announced that ‘Mr Goodall and a group of his regulars in the Corby Hotel, (The Raven)’, had presented a cheque of 100 guineas towards the Steelmen cause. 

With all this gratification and good will going around it was no wonder the vibes were escalating, mirrored by the boys on the pitch. And all with no manager! 

Goalscoring legend Peter McKay announced his retirement in October after losing his battle to return from the serious injury he had endured the season before at Poole. In a gratuitous move, the directors offered him a job in the ‘Boot Room’ as trainer to work alongside Tommy Hadden and Don Johnson. Some of his methods in training, garnered from his Dundee United and Burnley days, was recalled ruefully by goalkeeper Larry Wealthall, then a youngster waiting to get his chance in the first team; “Peter McKay used to get the wingers to cross the ball into the area, and the forwards would batter into me. It was his way of toughening you up!”

It obviously worked as by December, Larry had taken over from Les Williams to become the number one keeper!

The team that was doing so well in the first half of the season was usually; Williams; Fisher Harris; Rodgers Parsons Smith; Liddell Kearns Kelly Rennie and McCorkindale. A good run in the F.A.Cup saw the Steelmen defeat St Neots, Stamford and Bourne Town before they fell in the 4th qualifier after a replay at Worksop. Progress in the Southern League Cup included a great victory away at the so-called ‘glamour’ side Cambridge City. City were one of the top non league clubs and boasted a team put together for around £45,000! That’s what it said in the papers. Unbelievable. They included one time Everton and Liverpool centre forward Dave Hickson who had cost them 9K himself! Didn’t impress the Steelmen though, we beat them 1-0!

The reporter on duty was ecstatic; ‘Was the best performance of the season’, he wrote, ’Whilst Cityprovided the dainty football and short passed themselves to nowhere, Corby Town dished out the good old fashioned stuff. Stop em’, hold em’, and attack! Kearns scored a cracker of a goal that even the bias City supporters applauded’. Sounds like a good night. Buoyed up with this result the Steelmen looked forward to a clash with Poole Town on the Saturday, a game that was packed with incident and controversy. Jimmy Fisher was sent off in an ill tempered match for starters. Remembered by John Crawley who was a witness on the touchline; “The Poole winger had been giving Fisher stick all game and then after another clash, Jimmy Fisher picked himself up, and belted the guy right in the face! It was a cracker!”

John Crawley

My memory is of a highly charged game full of emotion, a twice taken penalty, goals disallowed, the referee having a nightmare. A Corby supporter running onto the pitch to confront the ref, we thought he was going to stiffen him. The ref did too. The supporter was escorted off, as was the ref at the final whistle by two policemen. Everyone thought he was being arrested, he should have been! The game ended 3-3, a crescendo of abuse hailing out from the terraces. Eventful to say the least.

In October, the directors relinquished their selection duties, probably bored with it once the novelty had worn off and trainer Tommy Hadden was duly promoted. ‘Tough talking Tommy’ the Press dubbed him following his opening gambit, “I will demand 100% effort from everyone, all of the time!’ said Tom.

Over the next few years Tommy, who worked as foreman in the Steelworks Engineering Shop, would create some of the finest sides in Steelmen history. 

The Youth team were echoing the first team, beating everyone in sight, they won their first two games of the season 20-1 and 7-0. When they were drawn away to Derby County Youth in the Youth Cup, hopes were high that they could create an upset. Ultimately the young Rams were too strong and won 3-1, Corby’s goal described as ‘a penalty by Corby’s dashing winger Gordon Anderson’. Larry Wealthall’s main memory of the encounter? “We were treated to fish and chips after the game.” 

Both had been impressing this season and they earned a call up to the first team when Tommy Hadden’s patience with a dip in form grew ever more thin. Liddell had now departed. He was replaced by another Irish signing, Harry Robinson from Portadown. And like his predecessor from a year before, Robin Trainer, Harry too was a member of the Ireland World Cup squad of 22 in 1958 which earned him a transfer to Fulham where he rubbed shoulders and chin with Jimmy Hill and players of the calibre of Johnny Haynes and Bobby Robson. He must have picked up a few cracks from the chairman, show biz personality Tommy Trinder too. Maybe not.

Early season optimism about sustaining a promotion push was dissipating by the week as the Christmas period approached. Willie Armour and John Tomlinson were recalled to the first team, Big ‘Corky’ was running out of steam, Williams was dropped. The hoped for run in the League Cup was ended by the Poppies in January after a replay. To quell the tide Hadden signed veteran striker Andy Easton from Bedford. The balding inside forward scored on his debut against Dover, managed a couple of more goals in ten appearances before injury and lack of pace saw him left out and released at the end of the season. Could have ran past Andy myself. Obviously the ‘quick fix’ Hadden had been hoping for failed to materialise. Kearns and Kelly were still getting their share of goals though, 60 between them come the end of the season. 

Andy Easton v Dartford

On February 17th I was on the team bus when they travelled down to Margate, my first away game, courtesy of one of our friends in the street, Keith White, and his dad who was a friend of one of the directors. Apparently. Memorable it was. Andy Easton actually scored that day, along with Kearns and Gordon Anderson to cheer us all up on the journey home with a 3-2 win. My lasting memory of the day though was the bus breaking down on the M1 somewhere near Newport Pagnell and being stuck there for an hour or two as the driver tried to figure out what had gone wrong with the crate. Might well have been a Flanagan’s job, old Murt’s busses had a great reputation you could say. It was the early hours when we finally got home, cold and knackered. 

Two home defeats virtually sealed Corby’s fate as promotion contenders. Wisbech who would be crowned the champions won 2-1 and then Dartford arrived the following week to put the tin lid on our hopes of going up. Another defeat by the same score brought another scathing report from the disappointed E.T. reporter. Full back Jimmy Fisher was the chief culprit according to ET. His own goal giving the Darts, themselves fighting for promotion, an undeserved equaliser after Andy Easton had put the Steelmen ahead. Early pressure gave the impression the Steelmen would win at a canter too. Well done Jim! Even managed to send our goalkeeper Wealthall the wrong way to boot! Larry was excelling in goals despite Fisher’s efforts, and had the reporter drooling with one save, ‘brilliantly tipping a shot onto the bar and as the keeper was lying prostate, the ball landing back into his arms’. Sounds hoachy to me to be honest. But ET finished off by saying ‘Corby’s atrocious passing - the ball invariably went to an opponent - and lack of ideas, were almost as bad as the disastrous Wisbech game!’ He wasn’t happy. Bet he gave his wife a miserable night that Saturday too. Assuming he was married that is.

Peter Kearns shoots for goal against Ramsgate

With Andy Easton failing to live up to the hype, Tommy Hadden made one of the most significant signings of his managerial career, the maybe, you could call him unconventional, clumsy, awkward, unorthodox forward, Tommy Crawley. This guy scored goals for fun, off his backside, shin, ear, head, rocket shots, mis-cues, what a character. 105 goals in three and a bit seasons testimony to his prowess in front of goal. Legend! Signed from Hinckley, he kicked off with a hat-trick away at Gloucester when the Steelmen won 4-0. Witnessed by another one of the lads from our street, Dougie Wilson who has lived up north for a number of years and still gets the occasional game in. Dougie had walked down to the ground and asked if he could get on the team bus. Tommy and the staff looked after him, and even got him a seat in the dug-out!

Two other boys who were mad keen supporters were brothers Lawrence and Syd Smith who spotted themselves in the photo of the Sittingbourne game at the head of the page. "That's me just to the left of the left hand post in my customary position behind the goal," said Lawrence, "I'm in the white jumper with the dark band across it. Syd is standing behind me. We were ever presents behind the goal that Corby attacked, changing ends at half time. We used to cycle to the away games that were in reach. Hinckley, Nuneaton and Cambridge were about the furthest we got to. We got a write up in the Corby Leader as Corby's best fans, or daftest!"

The season petered out in disappointing fashion after what had been a most promising start. Ten players were released on free transfers, including Les Williams, Andy Easton and John McCorkindale. 

For those who welcomed the cricket season after nine months of soccer, and I for one did, Pakistan were over here for a five match Test Series. And best of all, they played a warm-up match against Northants in which our teacher at the Boys School, Chad Furniss, organised a trip to the game. Brilliant day it was watching the likes of Hanif and Mushtaq Mohammed, Saeed Ahmed, Intikhab Alam, Nasim -U-Ghani and the rest, funny how you can recall names like that but can’t remember what you were doing last week aint it! Age thing. For those who didn’t like the sound of leather on willow, the 1962 World Cup was taking place in Chile. England were there, the team of Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves, Peter Swan, Ron Springett and co. Brazil with the wee guy with the funny legs, Garrincha, ‘Little Bird’ they called him, knocked us out. Nobody over here saw it though. TV coverage was zero back then. Took a bit longer to catch on. Only four years previously when Wales were the outstanding team in the Sweden World Cup, such was the interest in Wales, when they returned home fairly well chuffed with themselves, forward Mel Charles of Arsenal was greeted by a ticket collector at Swansea…’been on holiday Mel?’

Nobody in Wales knew or were interested in the World Cup, or football come to that…bit like at home in our house!

Rocky Road Juniors with stars and lifelong Steelmen supporters goalkeeper John McKensie, and Dougie Wilson second from left at the back.