Rob Sawyer – Page 4 – Everton FC Heritage Society

17

Oct

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1890-1899, Articles, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Richard ‘Dickie’ Boyle

By Rob Sawyer [Above photo: Dickie Boyle of Everton c.1894(colourised by George Chilvers) ] Everton was awash with Sons of the Rock in the early years of the Football League: fellow Dumbarton-raised John Bell, and the long-serving Jack Taylor, the latter being the captain of Everton’s first victorious FA Cup side in 1906. No less vital and dedicated to the Toffees cause in the last years of the nineteenth century was Richard Hill Boyle. Commonly known as Dickie (or Dicky), he was one of those indomitable Everton servants, like Peter Farrell and Mike Lyons, who never earned the silverware he…

Tammy Burgess in conversation with Rob Sawyer

05

Oct

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, 2000-2009, Articles, Everton Women, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Tammy Burgess in conversation with Rob Sawyer

Tammy Byrne (now Burgess) was one of the emerging talents in the Everton Ladies squad which won, to date, the club’s only league title. Not a follower of a particular club, or football in general, as a child, the course of her life was changed by an encounter at Moss Farm in the mid-1990s. Here, Tammy describes the transformative impact on her of football and her Everton clubmates. I had older brothers and played football in my area, Croxteth, with the likes of Francis Jeffers. I hadn’t played football in a team, so I didn’t actually know how good I…

11

Sep

By Rob Sawyer

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1920-1929, Articles, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Bobby Irvine – The Prince of Dribblers

Bobby Irvine, the Everton forward whose threepenny-bit dribbles used to have the million-pound note look. (Ranger – Liverpool Echo, 1954) Rob Sawyer Bobby posing in a Belfast studio in the early 1920s Hard as it is to imagine, forty years before George Best was thrilling football supporters up and down the land, Northern Ireland possessed a forward of similar talents - who played for Everton, rather than Manchester United. Born on 29 April 1900, and raised on Low Road in Lisburn, Robert W. Irvine (always known as Bobby) made his name as a skilful and versatile forward, with a…

01

Sep

By Rob Sawyer

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1930-1939, Goodison, Latest, Rob Sawyer

The Story of The Bullens

Rob Sawyer Perhaps the key motif for Goodison Park is the Archibald Leitch-designed cross-braced panels - as seen at the front of the Bullens Road stand balcony. The oldest stand and the only extant one to bear witness to Dixie’s glorious 60th League goal in 1928. Now giving faithful service into its 97th year, it will be robbed of reaching its century by the impending move to Bramley Moore Dock. The new stadium will pay a respectful nod to its predecessor with the Leitch lattice pattern incorporated into brickwork. After moving to Goodison Park, Everton had a Bullens Road stand…

15

Aug

By Rob Sawyer

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1920-1929, 1930-1939, Articles, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Tommy White – A Player of Many Parts

by Rob Sawyer I have played in almost every forward and half-back position for Everton. That versatility helped me more than once to get a first team place. On the other hand, for a time I was regarded as nothing but a sub for other players. When they were ready for the first team again, I was out. That’s how it has been all through my football career. Shocks and pleasant surprises always round the corner. I never knew which I would meet. Tom White (June 1937) Born at Goulden Street, in Weaste, Salford, on 29 July 1908, Tom Angus…

19

Jul

By Rob Sawyer

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1910-1919, 1920-1929, Articles, Latest, Peter Jones, Rob Sawyer

There’s Only Two Tommy Fleetwoods…

by Rob Sawyer and Pete Jones A contemporary cigarette card of Tommy Fleetwood It’s always good to see fellow blues doing well. Have a look at Toffeeweb’s section on celebrity fans; it’s an informative and amusing mixture of the nailed on, the apocryphal, and the downright dodgy. We have amongst our number an Oscar winner in Dame Judi Dench, star of stage, screen and the Moneysupermarket ads. She owes her allegiance to her late husband Michael Williams, although she did appear in Z-Cars in 1963, when John Moores’ ‘Mersey Millionaires’ were reigning League Champions. Another showbiz multi-award winning blue is…

John Cuff – from Goodison Park to The Monte Carlo Rally

16

May

By Rob Sawyer

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1930-1939, 1940-1949, Articles, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

John Cuff – from Goodison Park to The Monte Carlo Rally

Rob Sawyer John Cuff in Everton colours in 1936 I was, for many years, puzzled by a photo in The Everton Story, a book by Derek Hodgson, showing a youthful player in the 1930s. It was captioned as being 'Will Cuff' - yet Cuff, the vulnerable Everton Chairman and former club Secretary, was well into his 60s, at this point. So, who was the mislabeled player featured in the book? With help from Everton historian, and custodian of the Blues Chronicles website, Billy Smith, he was identified as John Cuff - the shared surname explaining the confusion on the part…

Tom Fern – Everton’s Evergreen Goalkeeper

06

Apr

By Rob Sawyer

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1910-1919, 1920-1929, Articles, Everton Collection, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer, WW1

Tom Fern – Everton’s Evergreen Goalkeeper

By Rob Sawyer The 1914/15 season was played under the cloud of the First World War, with many criticising the football authorities for letting it run to its conclusion. An ostentatious celebration of the title win by Everton would not have been welcomed by the press or the nation at large. This muted response is something of a disservice to the likes of Bobby Parker, Harry Makepeace, Sam Chedgzoy, Jimmy Galt and Tom Fern. The latter was a custodian who amassed over two hundred outings for the Toffees - it would have been many more, were it not for the…

29

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, 2020-2029, Everton Women, Latest, Rob Sawyer

Emma Wright-Cates – Blueblood

by Rob Sawyer Emma with Everton Ladies in 1996 Amongst the former Everton Ladies players attending the March 2023 reunion to mark 25 years since the Toffees' only national women's league title so far, was Emma Wright-Cates. She jetted in from Texas to link up with her former teammates and receive an ovation from supporters when introduced on the Goodison turf before the kick-off of the women's derby. Her maiden name, Wright, gives a strong clue to her Everton credentials. Back in 2020, for the Toffee Soccer book, she told me about her life in football and her debt of…

A Night of Acclaim for Everton’s Pioneering Women

29

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, 2020-2029, Articles, Everton Women, Latest, Rob Sawyer

A Night of Acclaim for Everton’s Pioneering Women

by Rob Sawyer The Lap of Honour back in 1998 (photo: c/o Louise Ryde) Shortly before kick-off of the women's Merseyside derby on 24 March, a group of people stood in the centre circle of Goodison Park and received the acclaim of the 22,000-plus attendees. This was the culmination of intensive planning by Everton FC Heritage Society and Everton FC, to pay fitting tribute to the achievement of the Everton's women's team of 1997/98 in winning the National League title for the only time, so far, in the club’s history. The 1997/98 season was only the third in which the…