'Awd Times' remembered

From the Holderness Gazette 6th October... 
Saturday 1st October
A trip down Memory Lane

It is hoped that a piece of local football history can be restored to its former glory some 57 years after it was last played for.

The South Holderness League Championship Shield was the third of three trophies originally competed for back in the days of the post-War competition, which ran from 1946 to 1954.  It has been reunited with its former stable mates following its unearthing in a store room at Withernsea High School.

Two current employees at the school (and members of Easington United football club) Craig Foster and Phil Page came across the Shield but it was only on closer inspection that Craig realised he’d stumbled upon a piece of his own club’s history, a fact later confirmed by Richard Lusmore.

Richard, who is General Manager at Easington United as well as a member of the present South Holderness Cup Committee, already knew of the Shield from previous research into local football.

Donated by Robert Metcalfe (described in surviving Committee records as a local businessman and a director of Hull City AFC) it was originally awarded in 1949/50 to the new South Holderness League Division 2 champions.  Patrington United ‘B’ were the inaugural winners.

When the League reverted to one division two years later, the trophy was renamed the Junior Shield and was competed for by the bottom six teams in the table.  In this new format it was won by Easington in 1951/52 (when they shared it with Withernsea United) and then outright in 1953/54. 

The 1954 final proved to be the last game ever played under the jurisdiction of the League, with the competition being dissolved the following summer as clubs opted to join the Hull-based Amateur, County and Church leagues.

Fittingly the Shield, which is in urgent need of repair, was on display at Easington’s Low Farm ground on Saturday, where two of the 1954 winning side - Arthur Piggott and Tom Robinson - took the opportunity to be pictured with it. 

While neither man can remember much about the game itself, Arthur does recall the post-match celebrations: “We had a dance in the Church Hall the night we received our commemorative shields.  I remember that because I was outside ‘legless’!”

For the record the final was played at Patrington and saw Easington beat Ottringham 2-1 in extra-time with goals from Bill Beadle and Brian Bromby.  A match report appeared in the old Hull & East Yorkshire Times of 8 May, 1954: 

“Easington last-minute goal wins shield”

Easington United snatched a dramatic goal with almost the last kick of extra-time in their match with Ottringham to win the South Holderness Junior Shield played at Patrington last Saturday.  The rivals had been drawing 1-1 but Bromby, coming up from defence, kicked the ball hard and true to see it flash past the Ottringham defenders to land safely in the back of the net.  Heavy rain during the course of the game made conditions difficult and the game, as a whole, never reached high standards.

Ottringham had the better of early exchanges and Robinson missed a chance of giving them the lead when he sliced his shot with only Cuthbert to beat.

Easington, however, were determined in their efforts and gradually wore down the opposition.  Close on half-time Attenborough, the Ottringham centre-half, saved a certain goal when he headed off the line after the goalkeeper had been beaten.

Soon after the restart Easington had the ball in the back of the net but were given offside.  Full time came with the score at 0-0.

In the 14th minute of extra-time, Dunn gave Ottringham the lead but Beadle put Easington on equal terms on the turn around.

Then Bromby scored the winning goal when a draw seemed certain.  There was little to choose between the two sides but Easington got the goals.

The two other pieces of former South Holderness silverware are still in use and both are currently held by Easington.  They are the South Holderness Challenge Cup, which has been competed for on an annual basis since 1956, and the old South Holderness League Championship Trophy (now the Holderness Cup Winners Cup) which is played for yearly between the winners of the aforementioned South Holderness Cup and its North Holderness Tanton Cup equivalent.

Long-time South Holderness Cup Committee member Arthur Brummitt has no idea how the Shield first came to be in possession of the school.  However, he too is delighted that it has been saved from the scrapheap.  With the School having kindly granted permission for the Shield to be handed back, the decision will now have to be made as to what the future holds for this magnificent artefact.

Photographs courtesy of Colin Brammer