Friends flock for Pickering

It was a Monday morning in1958. John, later Middlesbrough's much respected first team coach, was captain of the Under-13s at Arthur Head school in Thornaby.

Stan, playing football at the time for Redcar Albion, was the games master.

Two days previously, Albion had lost 3-2 to York City Reserves in the North Riding Senior Cup semi-final, Barry Stewart hitting a hat-trick. Barry Jackson, a first team man on his way to a record 482 League appearances for City, played in the middle of defence.

Doubtless with the innocence of youth, young Pickering enquired of his sports master if the opposing centre-half had been a big, ginger haired feller - "my uncle Barry," he said proudly and received what Stan terms a "fatherly" reminder of his temerity.

"It was a Monday morning and he was rubbing it in," pleads the splendid Stan, LibDem candidate for Redcar in Thursday's election.

"Mind," he adds, "you'd never get away with it today."

Barney Frewin, we suggested on Friday, is the most prolific one club wicket taker in North-East cricket history. Tom Hartness, his colleague at Normanby Parklands in the Cleveland League, now pitches up with chapter and verse.

In 1961 Barney bowled just two overs for the club, then known as Smith's Dock.

Since then - until the end of last season - he'd sent down 10,209.4 overs, taking exactly 2,300 wickets for 23,065 runs at an astonishing average of just 10.03. Three more, at 9.33, on Saturday.

His best season was 1971, 108 victims at 6.34, his most expensive 1994, when 58 wickets cost 17.81 apiece.

Almost all have been for the first team - "he's not very keen on playing for the seconds," says Tom coyly, which may help explain the modest 15 wicket haul last season.

Tom's fax is headed "The Barney Frewin Story 1961-2000" and - beneath it - "to be continued."

The most successful club bowler ever is probably Albert Elsdon, around 3,500 wickets - said Friday's column - bowling leg breaks for Medomsley, Langley Park, Ryton, Consett and as professional for Tynemouth.

It prompted another story from Stan Wilson.

It was around 1950, the young Wilson promoted to the Redcar first team for a friendly against Tynemouth. ("All sorts of people came to Redcar for friendlies in those days".)

"Maybe Albert bowled me a few friendly ones because I was only 17 or 18 but before I knew it I was hitting him all over the place and had scored a century."

Though it was club custom to reward century makers with a bat, the elders hesitated. It wasn't a league or cup match, after all.

"A committee member called Les Bainbridge spoke up for me, said I was only a poor young lad and couldn't afford a bat of my own, all that sot of thing."

Stan finally got his bat - and in another 40 years playing cricket for Redcar, he never again scored a century.

Herbert Trenholm was also mentioned in that column on record breakers - over 19,000 runs for Stockton, 1,223 first team wickets. Off the field he was yet more remarkable.

Awarded the MBE in 1984, Herbert was secretary/treasurer of the NYSD League for 48 years until his death, aged 79, in 1987.

He was good enough to play for Durham, took five wickets for Yarm on his 60th birthday, was for 17 years a Football League referee and linesman, secretary for 32 years of Stockton Referees' Society and treasurer for 22 years of Stockton NALGO.

Friday's column may have suggested, however, that Herbert's dedication to record keeping was simply of his own achievements - in truth he was a meticulous statistician of all the league's records, and of Middlesbrough FC.

"He had a note of every team Boro fielded from his being a young man until his death," recalls Arnold Alton, "though I think this later became a bit of a bind when teams moved away simply from being goalkeeper to outside left."

Arnold, now in Heighington and in his day an outstanding Northern League centre half, describes himself simply as a "relative" - though, in truth, he gave his mother away when she married Herbert in 1979.

Particularly, he would look forward to the old man's reminiscences - not least the tales he told against himself.

After refereeing a Northern League game at Cockfield, Herbert had time to spare before his bus - "which was fortunate because he'd incurred the wrath of the crowd, biggish in those days" - and was walking slowly round the field in the twilight when he came across a chap who'd lost his glasses.

Herbert joined the search, finally found them, and was thanked profusely. "Mind," added the myopic gentleman, "if only I could get my hands on that ******* referee."

Herbert agreed, and disappeared quickly into the darkness.

After Mad Frankie Fraser last year, Spennymoor Boxing Academy has turned the other cheek and invited Ray Mallon to make the annual presentations on Saturday.

Ringing to confirm the column's attendance, club secretary Paul Hodgson reveals that, only yesterday morning, the ever-persevering dole had offered him a job in Darlington. Unfortunately, he felt obliged to decline.

"Our lass," he told them, "doesn't want me working in the south."

Belatedly we turn to the general election, and to an unfortunate incident involving Mr Chic Brodie, the Liberal Democrat in Greenock and Inverclyde. His name may be familiar.

A Scotsman, Chic Brodie was Brentford's goalkeeper for eight years from 1963. We wrote of him in November 1997.

In 1966-66 he had been obliged rather swiftly to evacuate the penalty area when a spectator lobbed a hand grenade, in 1970 he snapped the crossbar whilst swinging on it - injuring himself and two other players - and on November 28 1970 was again injured on the field after being in collision (as they say in the magistrates courts) with a dog.

Chic Brodie of Greenock and Inverclyde was hit by airgun pellets whilst out canvassing - "like a scene from Beirut," he told the Sunday papers.

Though the jinxed goalkeeper is now 64, not quite the prime of Mr Chic Brodie, we have been unable to ascertain if it is the same gentleman.- but the reports, as they might say of gunfire in Beirut, sound awfully familiar.

Still in Scotland, John Dawson will clock up his 250th football match of a rain affected season at Haddington on Wednesday.

The Hartlepool postman plans at least four more trips over the border - where things take a little longer - before season's end a week on Saturday, at the Inter-Toto Cup in Dundee. "It's this season's Inter-Toto for next season's UEFA," he insists.

The Albany Northern League's season ended, happily, with Saturday's annual meeting at South Shields - and a one-to-watch tip from Shields chairman John Rundle.

His son Adam, still just 16, has been given a squad number by Darlington - the decision perhaps influenced by four goals for the Under-19s against Hartlepool.

"He'll be a first team regular before the end of next season," insists John. "The season after that, they'll be in the second division."

The clubbable cricketers of Coxhoe plan another reunion - the last was tremendous.

"We've lost a couple of our older players recently, so we thought we'd best get together again while there's time," says Ron Taylor, one of the organisers.

The do's at the Cricketers, formerly the Victoria, on Saturday July 28 from 7.30pm. Ron Taylor's on 01740 620708.

the last English football club to be relegated from the top flight for the first time in its history (Backtrack, June 1) was Wimbledon.

Sunderland had six managers before the appointment of Allan Brown in 1957. In what surprising sense, asks Brian Shaw, was Brown a first? Another Brown study on Friday

Published: Tuesday, June 4, 2001