Soccer Star May 1967

This is a very old thread. I’ve noticed the original image I posted has somehow disappeared. This is a fate which may have befallen several of us as we’ve tidied up various Imageshack and Photobucket accounts.

So, here again, is that May 1967 Soccer Star cover featuring Torquay United:



Since my original post I’ve rationalised my collection of old Soccer Star magazines. I now only have a run from September 1965 to August 1967 when the cover design was changed. For anyone who knows the publication, this means that my remaining copies have alternating orange and green covers. This is a suitable “hard core” period for me because it’s when I first really became interested in the game. It’s my final two years at primary school and, as I’ve hinted already, just before I started to show a proper and decent interest in regularly watching Torquay United.

Yet I was interested enough to always be awaiting the appearance of Torquay United on the front cover. And, if you look at the date carefully, you’ll see it comes a week after that game at Ayresome Park which has been discussed these past few days.

This means that details of that match, together with all the others played that Saturday, is contained within this edition: result, scorers, line-ups, attendance. This was a large part of the appeal of Soccer Star to me.

The 27,160 crowd (as quoted by the magazine) at Middlesbrough was remarkable. Rather bigger than Workington’s 1,311 in the same division. Larger too than the sub-15,000 Division One crowds at Burnley and Fulham as well as the 17,780 at Stoke City.

Dwarfed, however, by the astonishing 51,455 at Highfield Road for the Division Two fixture between Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It was also FA Cup semi-final day. Leeds played Chelsea at Aston Villa; Nottingham Forest faced Spurs at Hillsborough. It proved to be an all-London final which was quite a thing at the time.

They did a few team photos like that in those days, one went in the Football league review insert as well. A bench would appear from the old main stand and the press would gather round with their old fashioned flash cameras with the players being shepherded over for something they didn't seem to relish.

On the same topic, wasn't there an infamous team photo of Millwall in the same era published with one of the players (deliberately) showing more than might be expected?