Latchford Albion's 1952-53 Season
By 1952 Latchford Albion Rugby League Club had been in existence for six years. The Open Age League was then referred to as the Warrington Junior League with a senior division for the top clubs, which is where Latchford were at that time.
The 1952-53 season kicked off on Saturday, 30th August with a visit to Orr's Zinc White. The feature of this match was the excellent goal kicking of Geoff Kingham, the Latchford full-back, who landed seven goals in a 32-14 victory. The Albion try scorers were Bill 'Ginger' Darbyshire (3), Mickey Stockton (2) and Billy Collier.
On the 6th September Latchford travelled to Gorsey Lane to meet Rylands. Yet again the deciding factor was the sure foot of Kingham, who landed 3 goals and, with another Darbyshire try, Latchford won 9-3.
| The following week Latchford were at Victoria Park to play hosts to Runcorn Juniors. Tries were scored by Len Balshaw (3), Fellows (2), Jim Marsh, Stockton, Harry Jenkinson and Derek Brocklehurst, which kept up the Albion's 100% record winning 39-22. Kingham got just the one kick as Johnny Rothwell took over the duties to register 5 goals.
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Geoff Kingham |
| Before that Latchford had to travel to Sandy Lane to play Orford Tannery on 20th. Orford also boasted 3 wins out of 3 so something had to give. Sadly the spoils went to the home side in a close match 2-12, Rothwell scoring Latchford's points with a kick. Having played four games Latchford were fourth in the League. Next up was an away fixture against Lymm. It was Lymm who started on a bright note and scored first after 15 minutes. This, however, was to be their only score and Albion went on to win comfortably 36-3 thanks to 4 goals by Rothwell and tries from Mickey Stockton (4), Carter, Eric Briscoe, Len Belshaw, Freddie Barlow and Jim Marsh. Three Latchford Albion players were selected to play for the League team against the Manchester League in the Lancs inter-town cup at Hollins Green on October 4th. They were G. Kingham, G. Holt and H. Jenkinson with N. Chappell as reserve. Kingham kicked 4 goals as Lancs won 29-4. | |
Ernie Lynskey | Latchford were still required to play their league game at Lymm without Kingham, Holt, Jenkinson and Chappell.
As Geoff Kingham was kicking 4 goals for Lancashire, his deputy Rothwell kicked over on 3 occasions. |
The following week saw the commencement of the Rugby League Cup qualifying rounds. Latchford were drawn away at Crosfields' Hood Lane ground. Latchford won 26-4 with tries from Stockton, two, Briscoe, Collier, Barlow and Henshaw. Kingham returned to kick 4 goals. On 18th October Kingham played in the Lancashire County Amateur team who defeated Cumberland in the county Championship at Mayport, winning 12-7. This kept him out of the side that entertained Eagle Sports at Victoria Park. Jenkinson took over the kicking duties and scored 3 goals. Latchford were the better side as Briscoe claimed 4 tries. Other try scorers were Henshaw, Collier, Nathan and Lynskey. This 30-0 victory lifted Latchford to 3rd in the League behind St Maries and Orford Tannery having played 6, won 5 and lost 1. | |
The second qualifying round of the cup took place on 25th October. Latchford had an easy passage as they beat Lymm 60-5 at Victoria Park. Balshaw, Jones and Rothwell scored 3 tries each. Stockton and Lynskey both scored 2 tries, Henshaw and Jenkinson also scored tries. Again Kingham was absent so the kicking duties were shared between Rothwell, 3 goals, and Jenkinson, 4 .
On the 1st November 1952 Latchford Albion had an easy win over Crosfields at Victoria Park when 'Big Jim' Marsh ran in four tries. Other try scorers were Ernie Lynskey, Jones and Harry Jenkinson. With Johnny Rothwell adding 5 goals the scoreline ended up 33-2 as Clarke scored the consolation goal for 'Soap'. This victory, their sixth in seven games, put Latchford on the same points as Orford Tannery and Tower House with a better record than those two Latchford took top spot in the League.
Away from the League Latchford's next opponents were ICI from Widnes in the 3rd qualifying round of the Rugby League Cup. The game was played at ICI's Liverpool Road ground. Unfortunately ICI's bustling methods upset the Albion who fell to the Widnes outfit 15-10. Latchford started the game with some brilliant football and scored very early to lead by 5 points. ICI attacked strongly and reduced their arrears with a penalty goal before scoring a try to level matters.
November 1952 was not the best as far as the weather was concerned. On the 22nd Latchford had been due to play St Marie's at Victoria Park but it was called off. A hard ground put paid to the scheduled Lancashire Junior Cup game the week later when Latchford were due to entertain Crosfields Recs. The game was rearranged for 13th December and Latchford Albion were rather flattered by their eight point margin at Victoria Park. All the points scored were penalty goals with Kingham scoring five for Latchford and Armstrong getting one for Crosfields to make the score 10?2.
The next round was a week later, another home tie, this time Tower House were the opponents. Several matches in the Warrington Amateur Rugby League had been cancelled that day but this game went ahead. Latchford Albion were too clever in all departments for Tower House and a decisive victory by 26 points to nil took them a stage further in the Lancashire Junior Cup Competition. Having beaten Tower House Latchford Albion found themselves in the Warrington Area Final of the Lancashire Junior Cup. Their opponents -Rylands Recs. The game was due to be played at Victoria Park on 27th December 1952 but only one game started on that day and was abandoned due to thick fog. The game was rescheduled for Saturday, 10th January 1953. Albion won the Junior Cup Area Final although the match with Rylands lacked the finer points.
As a result of their 11 points to 9 victory over Rylands Recs, Latchford Albion would represent Warrington Amateur Rugby League in the Lancashire Junior Cup competition proper. It was a close game at Victoria Park and a number of penalty kicks were awarded to both sides. Near the end tempers became frayed and two players were ordered from the field. Barlow scored Latchford?s only try and Kingham kicked four goals. Rylands? try came from Whelan and Bryers kicked three goals.
The following Saturday Widnes St Marie's defeated Latchford at their Gossages Road ground, though the points margin did not reflect the true nature of the game. The final score was 29 points to 11. Latchford scored tries through Stockton, Chappell and Jackson with Rothwell kicking one goal. Unfortunately this defeat and Orr Zinc White's victory over Tower House meant Latchford slipped off the top spot. In fact other results that day meant the Albion found themselves in 5th having played 10 games, won 7 and lost 3.
Heavy grounds and a greasy ball handicapped the Warrington & District Rugby League programme on Saturday 24th January 1953, but some interesting games were seen. At Hollins Green there was a keenly contested game where Latchford Albion made the issue safe over Cadishead & Irlam very late in the game.
The score was 10 ?14 with Latchford's tries coming from Stockton, 2, Jackson and Boardman. Kingham kicked one goal.
Latchford Albion played Towers House at Victoria Park on 31st January 1953 and played better than they had in the previous few weeks. They defeated Towers House by 26 points to nil and this total still didn?t fully represent their superiority. Kingham scored two tries and kicked 4 goals. The other try scorers were Boardman, Balshaw, Jenkinson and Chappell.
This victory, their ninth in twelve games lifted Latchford to 3rd in the League ahead of Crosfields who also had 18 points but from 16 games and behind Orford Tannery who had 18 points from 11 games. Rylands Recs were top with 19 points.
Orford Tannery were having an historic season. They had beaten Llanelly (South Wales) in the last qualifying round of the Challenge Cup. This took them into the first round proper to meet Warrington. Orford Tannery were now the third amateur Warrington club to have reached this stage. Of course Latchford had been the first in 1951 when they took on Leigh.
Back to 1953 and, on the 7th February, Latchford travelled to Hood Lane to play Eagle Sports. It was the home side who took a while to settle down and Latchford found themselves leading 22 points to 5 at the interval. Eagle Sports improved in the second half but were unable to get through a good Albion defence. Try scorers for Latchford were Stockton (2), Jackson, Balshaw, Marsh, Fellows and Boardman. Kingham kicked 6 goals making the final score 33?6.
With Orford Tannery playing Warrington in the Challenge Cup Latchford took advantage to go above them into second place, one point behind Rylands who had a game in hand.
On Valentine's Day the Albion went to Runcorn Common to meet Runcorn Juniors who were hoping to avenge the early season defeat. The Runcorn side found they were unable to put a stop to Latchford from gaining yet another win. Despite the wintry conditions and a greasy ball both sides served up some excellent football. Latchford started well but on the counter Runcorn were awarded a penalty, which fell short. Then a first class Albion move was rounded off when Jackson dashed over by the right corner flag. Kingham, the visitors' captain, astounded all present by landing the touch-line conversion.
Runcorn came back hard but it was Latchford who stretched their lead. A misunderstanding between two Runcorn players allowed Briscoe to touch down a loose ball. Kingham made no mistake with the kick. He then followed this up with a penalty. Brocklehurst added another try making the half time score 0-15.
After the break the home side were cheered when their star player, Trevor Hughes kicked a penalty to take him to a century of points for the season. He was to kick two more goals and Runcorn registered a try before Latchford finished off the game with what seemed a disputed try from Jackson as most of those near claimed it was over the dead-ball line. Kingham failed to land the goal.
The 18-9 victory kept Latchford hard on the heels of Rylands in the league table as they maintained their second place.