Doherty signs for Rovers
DONCASTER Rovers signed Peter Doherty, the Irish international footballer, as player manager in the summer of 1949 delighting the regular supporters – especially the Irish – as well as the thousands who rarely set foot in Belle Vue, because Doherty's prowess on the field was known among sportsmen everywhere.
If soccer was the chief interest then cricket was not far behind. The Doncaster and District Cricket League, one of the largest in the world, comprised 87 teams.
Alan Berry summarises those exciting times as his service with the Royal Navy draws to a close.
HMS Mull of Galloway, June 1949: I have slowly recovered from too many friendly lunchtime “sippers” on my 20th birthday. It is customary for tots of grog to be shared this way but the problem is the recipients are supposed to drink up all the rum at lunchtime, and there’s nowhere to hide and sleep in the afternoon!
I can now expect to be demobbed soon, having completed two years of National Service, but I have been told by the skipper’s secretary they won’t let me go until a replacement writer arrives from Portsmouth. That could be weeks!
Meanwhile, the Doncaster newspapers continue to reach me. The latest recounts what everyone already knows from the Daily Mirror et al – that Peter Doherty, the famous Irish international footballer is to be player-manager of Doncaster Rovers. It is a bold step.
Rovers have paid 8,000 for him and most people think they have a bargain. Two for the price of one. There has been keen competition for him from several clubs.
Now Rovers can begin to build their team for second division football. The man himself is very pleased he has been allowed to remain with his old club, Huddersfield, until their season is ended.
Mr Doherty was born in County Derry in 1914 and first played for Glentoran. He has also played for Blackpool, was transferred to Manchester City (for 10,000) helping them to become league champions, and he was at Derby County where he won a cup medal.
Rovers had a terrible Easter, with only one point after three games, but are in third place behind Hull and Rotherham United. Fans can expect some exciting football when the new man takes charge at Belle Vue.
WORLD champion runner Holden won the annual marathon race from Doncaster to Sheffield in two hours, four minutes and 55 seconds, against 74 others from all over Britain. The route was Waterdale, Cantley, back to Waterdale, on to Warmsworth, Conisbrough, Rotherham, finishing in Furnival Road, Sheffield. This is said to be about 25 miles – not an exact marathon distance.
GEORGE Adam, the secretary of the Doncaster Plant Works Athletic Club, told members at the annual dinner they would continue their policy of promoting all branches of athletics.
“We shall play our part in making Britain once again a first-rate athletic nation. We currently hold 39 championships and have won over 250 prizes in the last season,” he said.
The London Olympic games had created a boom in athletics and the future, in Doncaster at least, looked bright.
“We enter our 29th year with record membership... Brian Shenton, winner of two Yorkshire championships, could on the basis of recent form be claimed as Doncaster’s first even-timer over the hundred yards. Les Pinder, winner of six railway and two Yorkshire championships and the Northern Counties champion, could be ranked as Britain's number one decathlete.
LARGE numbers of people who live outside the borough are now coming into it for medical treatment, particularly for ophthalmic and dental treatments. Tens of thousands want sight tests, spectacles and false teeth. The services of the new National Health Service will soon be overloaded.
A BABY only a few weeks old was put into a mustard bath by its desperate mother in an effort to revive it, though it was apparently already dead. When Mr Carlile the Doncaster coroner asked the mother why she did not call the doctor when she realised there was something wrong with her child, she said she could not use a telephone.
“I tried to wake the neighbours, so they could phone for me, but could get no answer. I returned home and with the help of a neighbour I tried to revive the child in a mustard bath.”
Death was due to aspiration of stomach contents. Verdict: Accidental death by misadventure.
CANON Davies, the vicar of St George's, Doncaster, is alarmed at the prospect of a power station being built at Crimpsall half a mile away. He told his Church Council: “People have not yet woken up to the fact that the fumes will not only damage the stonework of the church and other buildings, but our health as well.”
The Civic Trust opposes the scheme, but all warnings are likely to be ignored.
“ASPECTS of crime peculiar to Doncaster” are to be studied by a committee headed by the mayor as our contribution to the national campaign against juvenile delinquency. Juvenile crime is increasing gradually in Doncaster and district as seen by the figures.
Doncaster and Thorne Juvenile Courts last year dealt with 907 young offenders who had committed 1,236 offences. In 1947 the figures were 727 young offenders and 980 offences. They should be talking about detection and employing more policemen rather than the “peculiar aspects” of crime.
MRS AMBATIELOS is back home in Rossington after a long and anxious time in Greece, still determined to carry on her fight to save the life of her husband Toni, the merchant seaman and trade unionist who was sentenced to death 15 months ago.
The execution has been postponed for a reconsideration of the sentence by a body known as the Council of Greece. Mrs Ambatielos says she has no new ideas as to how she might win her husband's release apart from talking to those who might help her and writing to as many people as possible.
She has had strong support from the trade union movement in this country. Our government does not appear to want to be involved. What an ordeal for Mrs Ambatielos.
A DONCASTER man has pleaded guilty to possessing a forged petrol coupon and unlawfully acquiring one-and-a-half gallons of petrol. He was fined 45 and 10 in costs. Some people believe there is enough petrol available in this country for all who want it, and the law on rationing it should be relaxed.
MR JOSEPH Barber, the oldest member of the Roman Catholic community in Doncaster, has presented Father Charles Flynn, parish priest at St Peter’s Chains, Princes Street, with a cheque for 555 on the occasion of the silver jubilee of his ordination. Fr Flynn’s two brothers, also priests, his two sisters, and four former curates at Doncaster, attended a grand re-union ceremony in a packed Corn Exchange.
THE father of Mr Edwards, chairman of the Doncaster firm of Edwards Motors, and the man who planned and developed the Wheatley Estate in Doncaster, has created a luxurious seaside resort near Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Florida. In an area of 220 acres are four golf courses, two harbours for up to 80 large yachts, and fine wide avenues to attract the builders of holiday homes.
Mr Edwards senior is a youthful 73 and has a reputation worldwide as an entrepreneur. He built 200 miles of railway through jungles in India, reconstructed parts of war-devasted France, and developed an area of Cape Town at the foot of Table Mountain.
A BOY of 13 has appeared before the Juvenile Court accused of grievous bodily harm after throwing a stone which blinded a girl aged 12 in one eye. He has been sent to a remand home for three weeks, after which time magistrates must decide what to do with him.
EXCITEMENT mounts in Doncaster as Bruce prepares for the fight of his life. If he beats the fearsome Freddie Mills who is world light heavyweight champ, a tilt at the world title and riches beyond all his dreaming await him. People who have watched him sparring note a new, steelier, more determined Woodcock, though some say he has overtrained. The betting is on Mills.
A FIVE foot model of a Gresley Pacific Locomotive was placed on the altar of Hexthorpe St Jude’s Church when the parish celebrated Industrial Sunday. Other items representing industries in the area included a wire basket, a sledge hammer and chromium plated bathroom taps probably made in Peglers' foundry.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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