Members Work

Articles and writing from Heritage Society members and contributors

Colin Green: The Brymbo Boy and Everton full-back – in conversation with Rob Sawyer

Colin Green: The Brymbo Boy and Everton full-back – in conversation with Rob Sawyer

In 2024, Rob Sawyer of EFCHS met with former Welsh international Colin Green in his Wrexham home. Signed by Everton as a schoolboy in 1957, Colin made his first team debut in September 1960, going on to play eighteen times for the Blues, before making 183 appearances for Birmingham. Now eighty-two years old, a fascinating time was spent in the company of Colin, learning about his life in football, most especially his time at Everton between 1957 and 1962. https://youtu.be/0ues-4XqkcE ............................................................................. Gallery Everton FC squad 1959/60 pictured on the Park End/Bullens Road training ground. Colin Green in on the back…
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The FA Youth Cup Campaign of 1976/77

The FA Youth Cup Campaign of 1976/77

Steve Zocek                                                       Prior to Everton reaching the FA Youth Cup Final in the season of 1976/77 the young Blues had made their bow in the final of 1960/61, where they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate over two legs by Chelsea. Four year later, the youth side again reached the peak of the competition, going one better than their previous encounter. Extra time prevailed in second leg at Goodison as the Blues edged their way to victory, with an aggregate score of 3-2 over Arsenal. In the season of 1976/77, Colin Harvey’s youngsters reached the final of the FA Youth Cup,…
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The Brief History of A.F.C Everton of Auckland, New Zealand 1907-1922

The Brief History of A.F.C Everton of Auckland, New Zealand 1907-1922

Part I: 1907-1908 Richie Gillham The first reports of a team in Auckland, New Zealand called Everton, appeared in the first decade of the twentieth century, but the club was only in existence for a short period before a second Everton team would be formed in Auckland in 1911. The Auckland Football Association was founded in 1887, following the formation of several football clubs, but it would not be into the next century before Everton Auckland would become part of the organisation. The roots of the club lay in church football, just as it did for Everton FC and St Domingo.…
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Ted and Alan Storey – Guardians of Goodison Park’s Pitch

Ted and Alan Storey – Guardians of Goodison Park’s Pitch

Rob Sawyer In an era before blended natural-synthetic surfaces and other technological advances, the responsibility for keeping the famous Goodison Park playing surface in top-top condition over many decades lay with Ted and Alan Storey, two of the Toffees’ unsung heroes. Ted Storey in the early 1960s Ulverston-born Ted Storey (christened Edward, but some articles refer to erroneously as Edwin) moved to Liverpool in childhood. By 1901, aged 13, he was living with his widowed mother and siblings at 78 Windermere Street, not far from Anfield. On leaving school at 14 years of age, in April 1902, he joined the…
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A Pickle Over Pickering

A Pickle Over Pickering

Jamie Yates The art of football research can be a complex one. There is so much information out there. Enthusiasts around the world continue to contribute to the ever-growing mass of football writing and gathering of statistics every day. The internet has opened access to numerous historical resources, but also served to further the duplication of inaccurate information which has been perpetuated in print over the past near-150 years since the earliest days of ‘the Association game’. Newspaper records are a treasure trove, but mistakes were also made way back when, and, in many instances, inadvertently become fact, reappearing in…
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‘Maestro’ – The Jack Southworth Story

‘Maestro’ – The Jack Southworth Story

By Rob Sawyer: EFC Heritage Society Evertonians laud the club’s lineage of talismanic goal scorers. The list includes Alex ‘Sandy’ Young, Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean, Tommy Lawton, Dave Hickson, Alex Young, Roy Vernon, Alex Young, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford, Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray. Some wonderful marksmen are somewhat overlooked, however, due to the passage of time; foremost amongst them are Fred Geary, Bert Freeman, Bobby Parker and Jack Southworth. The latter remains the only Everton player to achieve the feat of scoring a double hat-trick in a first team match. Yet there was much more to this polymath who excelled…
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The First Known Everton Skipper

The First Known Everton Skipper

Jamie Yates Can you name the player who made only three known appearances for Everton, started as an outfield player in two of them and played in goal in the other. Oh, and captained the team on all three occasions? If it helps, the individual in question was a 17-year-old trainee accountant from London who later went on to seek his fortune with the East India Company.  Need a few more clues? Sidney Albert Chalk may not be a name familiar to many, but he goes down in history as the first recorded captain of an Everton football team, for…
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Mike Higgins – the Original True Blue

Mike Higgins – the Original True Blue

by Tony Onslow / Jamie Yates [The original article was by Tony Onslow of EFCHS, now updated here, expanded and re-edited by Jamie Yates. Jamie has also added the entire section at the end, under 'Further Research by Society member etc.] No other player forged a tighter bond with the early development of Everton Football Club than 'good old' Mike Higgins who can surely lay claim to the title of ‘Original True Blue’. He can be found representing Everton at Stanley Park shortly after his 18th birthday in October 1880, scoring goals during the club’s one-year tenure at Priory Road and taking…
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Remember the name… Alex Provan

Remember the name… Alex Provan

Jamie Yates Alex is a name synonymous with greatness in Everton footballing folklore. ‘Dirty’ Alex Dick was a cult hero and early master of the dark arts of defending during the Anfield era; sharpshooting centre-forward Alex ‘Sandy’ Young scored the winner in the club’s first F.A. Cup triumph, over Newcastle United in 1906; quicksilver right-winger Alex ‘Chico’ Scott provided many an assist for the greatest of them all, ‘The Golden Vision’ himself, Alex Young, in the halcyon days of the 1960s. All happen to have been Scotsmen. All had nicknames fondly bestowed upon them, often a sign of the high…
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Son of My Father (Part 20): Billy and Graham Brindle

Son of My Father (Part 20): Billy and Graham Brindle

Steve Zocek Graham Brindle Graham Brindle first signed for Everton at the age of thirteen. He played for a Sunday league team called Bovis, managed by former Everton scout Sid Benson. Graham was a versatile a midfielder, comfortable playing either side of midfield. His versatility rewarded him as he went on to represent Liverpool schoolboys. He was recognised for his performance in the semi-final of the British Home Stores trophy, facing Essex boys at Anfield. It was the visitors that looked promising in the early stages of the game as Danny Maddix who years later had a career with QPR…
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