Boys Will Be Boys

[kushiro]

This started out as a post on the 'On This Day' thread - but to tell the story properly required a very long post -  and it really deserves its own thread.

 

It's about two events from this day - separated by 40 years.

 

1) May 11th 1906

 

Nine youths from Leicester were charged with causing a nuisance by 'kicking articles about in the street'.

 

Like the founders of Leicester Fosse in the 1880s, these footy-lovers were all from the Fosse Road area - more specifically, the parallel terraced streets whose names spelled out I HARRISON - the name of the man who'd bought the land in the 1830s:

The streets not labeled are called Ingle Street (left) and Newport Street (right).

 

The nine youths were 'bound over to keep the peace for the sum of five pounds'.

 

Nine is an interesting number for a kick about, isn't it? I like to imagine they'd been playing a five-a-side game with some random object, and one lad scarpered when the cops arrived.

 

2) May 11th 1946. 

 

Forty years and two World Wars later, it's possible that some of those lads were present in the chaos in another set of Leicester streets with distinctive names. The 'Nutteries' were thronged that day with nearly 40,000 people desperate to see Leicester play Stockton at Filbert Street.

 

It was the final of the English Schools Shield - a bit like the FA Cup for boys. Leicester had made their way to the Final, and after seven years with no Football League games to watch, people were desperate to support the local lads. Hundreds more had made the journey from the North East, and parties of school kids had traveled from London, Liverpool and Manchester. Thousands would be locked out. It was the biggest crowd ever to watch an English Schools game.

 

These were the Stockton boys:

 

And these are the captains at the start:

 

The Leicester player on the left is Maurice Hallam - who we'll come back to.

 

Leicester won the game 4-1 - here's the second goal, with fans avoiding the crush and watching from along the goal line:

 

A week later Leicester traveled to Ayresome Park for the second leg. Stockton players had wanted to stage the match in their own town, and parents were so angry at the switch that there was talk of pulling their boys out of the match. But coming just two months after the Burnden Park disaster, where 33 died in a crush at the FA Cup Quarter-Final between Bolton and Stoke, it was eventually accepted that it was unwise to stage such a huge game at a tiny ground. These were the Leicester Boys on the way to the game:

 

 

At the station, the boys just happened to meet the Leicestershire cricket team, on their way to Derby for the last day of a three day match in the county championship (you can see some of the cricketers in the photo above). Leics were set a tough target of almost 300 to win the match but, as though inspired by the Boys' feats, they cruised home, finishing on 296 for 3, with Les Berry hitting an unbeaten 121. Berry is the highest run scorer in the county's history - and in second place on the list is Maurice Hallam - yes - the captain of the Boys team in 1946. He joined Leicestershire after leaving school. made his first team debut in 1950, and played for them until 1970.

 

25,000 were there at Ayresome Park - with an atmosphere described as 'like the FA Cup tie between Middlesbrough and Leicester City before the war' (a fifth round tie that City lost 2-1).

 

The Leicester Boys put on another fine show and won 3-1 - with an Alan Slynn hattrick. 

 

Here's the team with the trophy:

Edited 11 May 2022 by kushiro

[davieG]

I remember Hallam being mentioned in the Merc for the cricket reports but I only ever saw one match at Grace Road a Sunday limited over one with Illingworth as the Captain.

 

 

[Ross 'LCFC' Turner]

I seen the title of this thread and thought there had been another youth team scandal or something  

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

I remember Hallam being mentioned in the Merc for the cricket reports but I only ever saw one match at Grace Road a Sunday limited over one with Illingworth as the Captain.

 

 

....good times for the County...great captain!!!

[KingsX]

1 hour ago, Ross 'LCFC' Turner said:

I seen the title of this thread and thought there had been another youth team scandal or something  

 

Totally thought the dateline would be Thailand 2015.  Instead we get Fosse Road 1906

[kushiro]

More on those Cup winners of 1946. Here's some pictures of the parade when they returned from Middlesbrough:

 

 

Here's a close up - Maurice Hallam holding the trophy with the Mayor and hattrick hero Alan Slynn looking over the left shoulder of the Mayoress:

 

 

This was the team and their schools:

 

 

 

19 years later Leicester reached the final again. They played Swansea, and both games were 1-1 draws so they each held the trophy for six months. A few future stars in the Leicester team - including Showaddywaddy's drummer!

 

 

 

 

[kushiro]

Here's Romeo with Showaddywaddy in 1976.

 

 

It's a bit like that photo from 2016 - each player with his BMW. One puzzling thing about this picture though - there are eight band members and only seven motors. Romeo seems to be sharing a car with Dave Bartram. Can anyone shed more light?