GERRY MULLAN-WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING – Steve Zocek

GERRY MULLAN-WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING – Steve Zocek

by Steve Zocek Comment Closed
Gerry Mullan signed for Everton from Ballymena United in October 1980. To date he was the most expensive Irish league player at £30,000. Gerry failed to make a first team appearance for the Toffees but gained 4 caps for his country-Norther Ireland. Gerry is quite a private man, but was very helpful in assisting me with an insight to his time at Everton.  Gerry Middle row 2nd from the left SIGNING FOR EVERTON "After 4 reasonably good seasons at Ballymena, I trained really hard in my fifth season, trying to push myself to the limit. As well as Everton, a few clubs watching me, such as Celtic, Sunderland and Brighton. Ballymena played at Seaview against Crusaders and I managed to score two goals whilst Harry Cooke (Chief Scout at Everton) was watching. I think that game sealed the deal as I signed for Everton soon after." KNOWLEDGE OF EVERTON/FIRST IMPRESSIONS "Obviously with Everton being a very big club I was delighted to sign for them....
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Lewis the Fireman – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
When the Liverpool & District FA was formed in 1882, they turned for guidance to their more knowledgeable counterparts in North Waleswhose organisation had been formed some 4 years earlier. The members of the Everton executive, thereafter, would make incursions into the Principality in search of experienced players they hoped wouldimprove the standard of play at Anfield. One such man who caught their attention was William Lewis. Born 1864 in Bangor he was the 3rd Son of Edward, a Stonemason, and his Wife Margaret. The family home was at 72 Hill Street. According to the 1881 census, Billy has followed the male members of the family intothe Stonemason Trade and has begun playing the association gamewith his local side Bangor. On the 4th of February 1884, Willie Lewisrepresented the North Wales FA against their counterparts from Liverpool on what was the recently opened Bootle Cricket enclosure onHawthorne Road. He scored one of the goals as the game ended in a 2-2 draw. On the 14th of March 1885, he made his International debutagainst England on the home of Blackburn Rovers at Leamington Roadand scored a late equaliser as the game ended 1-1. Lewis had made another several appearances for Wales when he signed articles with Everton in August 1888. The Welshman was first seen at Anfield when Everton beat Halliwell 2-1before taking part in the clubs inaugural Football League match against Accrington where he took up position at centre forward. The day was a...
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Only Once a Blue, William Rowley – Tony Onslow

Only Once a Blue, William Rowley – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
When Everton began their first season at Goodison Park they neededcover in the position of Goalkeeper due to the tragic loss of John Angusfollowing their Championship success at Anfield. Overtures were made to the currant Scottish International Jim Wilson, but he could not be lured away from his position at Vale of Leven, so Everton invited Stoke player William Rowley to join them on a visit to Scotland. Born November 1865 in the Potteries town of Hanley, he was the child of Charles, a Clarke, and his Wife Sarah. However, by 1871, Sarah is no longer living and William, along with his Father, is living at the home of his Grandparents in Hanley. By 1881he is living with his Auntie and his cousins and has begun to work as a Potter. Around 1884 he joined Burslam Port Vale and was quickly chosen to play representative matches for Staffordshire. Next season he took part in the clubs inaugural FA Cup campaign which saw them having to withdraw when faced with an expensive replayed game against Essex based Brentwood. Rowley then caused a controversy when, unbeknown to the Burslam side, he joined neighbours Stoke which resulted in court case and in his new club having pay a fine which amounted to £5. Both sidesnext applied for membership of the Football League, but it...
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Edward Turner, the Carpenter from Lancaster – Tony Onslow

Edward Turner, the Carpenter from Lancaster – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
Renowned for its Mint Cake and Grey Limestone buildings, the former Westmorland County Town of Kendal – now Part of Cumbria – was the location at which an Everton talent scout discovered a defender with the name of Edward Turner. Born the 24th of February 1874 in Lancaster, he was the 2nd child of John, a Cotton Spinner, and his wife Mary. The 1881 census finds the family living on Rigg Lane but by 1891 they had moved to Penfold Lane where Edward has begun to learn the Carpentry trade. Around this time his name briefly appears playing for the local Skerton club but by 1896 he is reported to be representing Kendal in the Lancashire Junior Cup against Whiston. This club are also members of the Westmorland FA and play their home matches on a small enclosure known as Maud’s Meadow. On the 19th of January 1898 Edward Turner accepted a trial period of one month with Everton, which proved...
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RICHARD DUCKENFIELD – GET OFF THE PITCH – Steve Zocek

RICHARD DUCKENFIELD – GET OFF THE PITCH – Steve Zocek

by Steve Zocek Comment Closed
 October 28th 1978 is a date etched in many an Evertonians mind.  John Motson commentating that day for the evening football show ‘Match of the Day’ cries out, “The ball falls to Andy King, oh yes he’s got it, Andy King has scored” When the final whistle sounded at 4.45 Richard Duckenfield a BBC reporter waits on the pitch side to grab a few words with the hero of the afternoon.  Before the conversation could commence, a Police Superintendent rudely pushes Duckenfield and King away from the pitch with an order “Get off the pitch”  42 years on I caught up with Richard to find out about the moment which has been shown many a time on the hilarious “It’ll be Alright on the Night”, which shows clips of funny and embarrassing television moments.  Richard takes up the story; I was working for ‘Grandstand’, the BBC Saturday afternoon sports programme and covered the North West teams. They used to get us to go to various games and I reported on both Manchester and Liverpool clubs, Bolton Wanderers and other local clubs. We were allocated 90 seconds for a match report. If there was an outside broadcast team there, we...
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Everton Tigers – a Brief Encounter with Basketball by Richard Gillham

Everton Tigers – a Brief Encounter with Basketball by Richard Gillham

by Richie Gillham Comment Closed
Everton Football Club is well known in the game of Association Football, or ‘Soccer’ as it is known outside of the UK. England has had a fleeting romance with both the American version of Baseball and historically the area has with had links to both the English and American rules of Baseball. But did you know Everton had a short Love affair with the game of Basketball? Well it all started with the collaboration of Everton Football Club and a community youth programme which started in the late 1990’s in an area of Liverpool called Toxteth. The collaboration started with football coaching, but it developed into much more, embracing race and diversity issues. Everton Tigers chairman Gary Townsend In 2007 the then Everton in the Community trustee and Everton Tigers chairman Gary Townsend collaborated with the local community basketball club Toxteth Tigers and the club targeted youth development as one of their main goals, while the senior team was to be managed by Henry...
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Only Once a Blue, Humphrey Jones – Tony Onslow

Only Once a Blue, Humphrey Jones – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
Once a major force in Scottish football, the Vale of Leven club are basedin the small Dunbartonshire town of Alexandria. Originally formed in 1872, there were the first team to take away the SFA Cup from the famous Queens Park club of Glasgow when they won the trophy threetimes on the run between 1877-78 -79. In 1890, now founder members of the Scottish League, the Scots made their first visit to Liverpool where a certain Humphrey Jones made his only appearance for Everton. He had been born, 17th of December 1863, at Summerhill Terrace in the North Wales town of Bangor and was the 5th child born to Humphrey, a successfulBuilder, and his Wife Jane.Privately educated, he first attended the local Friars School before moving to Christ College in Brecon from where he won a place at Cambridge University.Humphrey played association football for Peterhouse College but owing to his style of play, failed to gain a Blue. When his studies permitted, hewould be seen in the half back line, for Bangor City on their homeground, (here featured) at Maes-y-Dref. The club were members of the North Welsh Football Association and regularly won their local knockoutcompetition. The dominant style of play shown by Jones soon caught the eye of the Welsh selectors and, on the 23rd of March 1885, he won his first...
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BARRY REES A Blue from Rhyl – Steve Zocek

BARRY REES A Blue from Rhyl – Steve Zocek

by Steve Zocek Comment Closed
Barry Rees was a bright young lad who originated from Rhyl in North Wales. An excellent footballer from an early age, he caught the eye of an Everton scout. Having represented his county of Flintshire, he eventually made the grade as a professional footballer.  Barry impressed his manager sufficiently to feature in four first team games, netting twice, before being sold to Brighton and Hove Albion. Barry died in tragic circumstances at the age of 21 and I am indebted to Barry’s brother Geraint for sharing Barry’s all too short career with me.  Barry was a bit of a home boy and he was forever coming back to Rhyl and staying at home, which manager Harry Catterick didn’t like, preferring his players to stay local around the Liverpool area. That may be what brought things to a head between Barry and Mr. Catterick. I don’t think they really saw eye to eye.  Barry was discovered by Everton’s North Wales region scout, Fred Bennett, in Flint. Barry played representative schoolfootball and went on to play for Wales schoolboys. He was playing for Rhyl in the Cheshire League, before joining Everton at the age of 17 and serving an apprenticeship as a plumber, as many did...
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Jack Earp – The Gentleman Amateur By Rob Sawyer

Jack Earp – The Gentleman Amateur By Rob Sawyer

by Rob Sawyer Comment Closed
Martin John “Jack” Earp’s Everton appearances only just made it into double-figures yet his tale is worth telling. Born into a Nottingham printing family on 6 September 1872; his early footballing experience was with small teams in England’s lace capital. He went on to represent  Nottingham Forest as a “gentleman amateur”, signing on in September 1889 and debuting in January 1890 in an East Midlands derby against, naturally, Derby. He was also selected for the famous Corinthians when only 17 years-old. Jack’s elder brother Fred would also represent Forest and later become the club’s secretary manager (1909-1912). In January 1891 Jack Earp was in the Forest XI which hit 14 goals without reply in a FA Cup tie against Clapham Orient, a record that stood for over one hundred years.  Having appeared in his habitual right full-back position for Forest against Sheffield Wednesday on 7 November 1891 he swapped the Midlands for Merseyside, the curious arrangement was explained in the Birmingham...
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Albert Chadwick, the Brother of Edgar – Tony Onslow

Albert Chadwick, the Brother of Edgar – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
When Thomas Chadwick married Susanna Pilkington, in 1865, at St Peters church in Blackburn both their families had a firm foundation in the Grocery Trade which enabled them to “set up” their own local outlet at 66 Darwen Street. It was here that their first child Albert Llewelyn was born on the 1st of August 1867. The family then moved to a terraced house on New Park Street - while the business was expanded elsewhere - and it was here that a second child, Edgar Wallace, was born on the 14th of June 1869. He was destined to become an early legend at Everton Football Club. The 1881 census finds the family business now operating at 115 King William Street were Albert is already learning to bake bread and serve behind the Grocery Counter. Three years later his name begins to appear on the team sheet of the 1883 FA Cup winners Blackburn Olympic on their home at Hole-in-the Wall. He...
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PAT JENNINGS – THE BOYS OF ‘86 – Steve Zocek

PAT JENNINGS – THE BOYS OF ‘86 – Steve Zocek

by Steve ZocekNo Comments
There is a question that arises in many football trivia quizzes which is; ‘Name Everton’s most capped player’? Answers are being thrown back to the question master with all sorts of names which are all announced incorrect. Okay, I give in. The correct answer infuriates the most knowledgeable of contestants when Pat Jennings becomes the answer. Okay, I suppose it’s a bit of a trick question but the fact is, Pat was actually registered with Everton for the FA Cup semi-final and final of 1986. I don’t think I have ever seen any evidence of anything related to Pat’s association with Everton. Maybe there was nothing much to say, but I have a fascination with anything Everton related, so I had to dig deep to find the man with shovel-like hands, to get his version of events. One Sunday morning I received a call from Tottenham manager Peter Shreeves to ask if I would help them as cover for Ray Clemence because...
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Walter Brown, the Kirkcudbrightshire Blue – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
Most of the Scotsman who played for Everton during their inaugural Football League season made their way to Liverpool having been recommended by agents who acted for the Anfield club North of the Border. Walter Brown, however, appears to have arrived in the Mersey Seaport with no knowledge whatsoever of the association game. He was born, 11th of June 1870, in the remote Kirkcudbrightshire community of Colvend and was one of several children born to Thomas, a Tinsmith, and his partner Agnus. The 1881 census finds the family still living in Kirkcudbrightshire before Agnus, on becoming a Widow, moved – along with her 3 sons – to live with her married daughter Jane at 6 Parkinson Road in Walton on the Hill. She did not however, remain at this address for very long and soon took up residence at 9 Imrie Street off Breeze Hill. The association game did not reach the South West of Scotland till 1892 so Wally Brown must...
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Stevenson of Kilmarnock – Tony Onslow

Stevenson of Kilmarnock – Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
The Final Journey of an Everton Blue Signed during the pre-Football league era, Robert Stevenson - eventually - returned to live in his native Scotland but spent the last days of his life in Liverpool. He was born, January 1861, at 34 Ardeer Square in the Ayrshire coastal town of Stevenson and was the 7th child of George, a Coal Miner, and his Wife Margaret. The 1881 census finds the family now living, in Kilmarnock, at 52 Low Glencairn Street, and Robert is employed as a Grocery Assistant. It is around this time that he began serving an apprenticeship as an Engine Fitter and play football for Kilmarnock Athletic One of several teams in the Ayrshire Railway town, they had originally been formed as Kilmarnock Cricket and Football Club but obtained their own identity in 1879. They did, however, continue to play their home matches on the cricket ground at Holm Quarry.  John Goodall – the future England International - was then...
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Son of My father (Part Three) -Jeremy Charles by Steve Zocek

Son of My father (Part Three) -Jeremy Charles by Steve Zocek

by Steve Zocek Comment Closed
This is part three of Son of my Father. John Charles and brother Mel in 1955 - the men who founded a football dynastyCopyright REX FEATURES  Mel Charles was a famous Welsh international who played his club football mostly at Swansea Town, as the club was then called. Mel had a son called Jeremy, who, like his father, went on to play for the same club and country. As a youngster, Jeremy was invited to Bellefield where he spent a week on trial. This Is Jeremy’s version of events. I was playing for the local schoolboys in Swansea, and in those days, Everton’s scouting network extended to South Wales. The scout must have been following me around, as one day he asked my dad if I would be interested in going up to Liverpool for trials with Everton.  I was 14 or 15 years of age and was invited up during the school summer holidays, accompanied by another lad from Swansea called Jonathan Clark, who...
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The Andrew Watson Story by Tony Onslow

The Andrew Watson Story by Tony Onslow

by Tony Onslow Comment Closed
Now accepted as the world’s first black football player, Guyana-born Andrew Watson was to have a career that would bind him tightly to both Glasgow and Liverpool. He would also make a guest appearance in the colours of Everton. His father, Peter Miller Watson, was born on 16 June 1805, in the Orkney Islands and was the fourth son of James Watson who acted as factor for a Scottish nobleman. His mother was Scottish, neé Christina Robertson, whose family were sugar plantation owners in the colony of British Guyana. When Peter was just 3 years old his father died and his mother was married for a second time to Orkney-born Dr Thomas Traill who had a practice in Liverpool. She moved to the Mersey seaport with her sons and gave birth to another six children. Peter later trained to be a lawyer in London before joining his elder brothers in British Guyana where he administered legal affairs at the family sugar plantation....
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