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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 7:13:25 GMT
this is the published line-up for one of those games from the time Matier was with us. I'm not going to give anymore away except to say there's a slight twist in the tale! My first thought was that this was "the Casley match" - but checking the other names, I don't think it can be. I noticed this the other week and wasn't sure what it was about. The home game against Walsall on 24 April 1948. We've no recognised goalkeeper available and are forced to play an outfield player - Jack Casley - in goal. It's his league debut, we win 3-2 but Casley (Torquay born) never plays for the first team again. He later joins Headington United (which became Oxford United) as their first professional and eventually works as Oxford's chief scout until retiring at the age of seventy-five. Maybe we have the programme or a press cutting? Perhaps the story was told in the next programme against Reading on 28 April 1948? And that Walsall victory? Without it we would have finished bottom of the league.... (Centenary history page 26) |
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timbo
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Post by timbo on Jan 18, 2010 8:32:58 GMT
The home game against Walsall on 24 April 1948. Maybe we have the programme or a press cutting? Perhaps the story was told in the next programme against Reading on 28 April 1948? (Centenary history page 26) Both programmes coming this week. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2010 10:26:52 GMT
Top man, Timbo!
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jan 20, 2010 23:38:26 GMT
I wonder who played in goal in the testimonial against Argyle? Casley did! He was the only player who played in both the Walsall and Argyle games as we fielded a reserve team in the latter. Casley also played in goal for the reserves against Gloucester in the Southern League on April 21 and kept a clean sheet. I'm not sure if these were his only games as a goalie. Talking of Gloucester, didn't the great Leroy play a full match in goal for them once? Surprised that a manager of his calibre would not have made sure he had a decent keeper!  I'm sure quite a few outfield players have started matches in goal. I remember Dave Webb doing so for Chelsea in the early 70s. What possibly makes Casley unique is that this was his only ever Football League appearance. Do we record his a position as a goalkeeper, which he was for his entire league career, or an inside forward where he played regularly in the Southern League? If it weren't for that goalkeeping crisis, he would go down on the long list of local boys who were professionals at TUFC and saw plenty of Southern or Western League action but are not recorded in the record books as they never got a chance in the first team. Casley can actually lay claim to having saved TUFC's league status some 59 years before we finally lost it. As Barton points out, if you knock off the two points from the Walsall game, we would have finished bottom of the league. You might think that the old pals act would have saved us anyway, but don't count on it. The post-war years were very austere with money tight and travel difficult. Northampton Town, in particular, had been railing against Torquay being in the league. Part of the problem was our remote location and the added costs of travel and accommodation. The other factor was our pitifully poor crowds in comparison to other teams in 3 South. Remember that in those days, net gate receipts were divided two thirds to the home team and a third to the away team. Of course, we benefited massively from this, but it meant that our visitors took far less money from visiting us than we took from visiting them. Their share very rarely covered their costs. In happier times, teams enjoyed a trip to the seaside and victimised remote teams in less hospitable places like Gateshead or Barrow instead. In those days, luxuries were unaffordable and who is to say that Northampton would not have had their way if we had given them the chance? |
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Post by Budleigh on Jan 21, 2010 9:42:56 GMT
How about the other way round, goalkeepers become forwards?
For starters, one of our own.
After being sacked as manager of Dover Athletic, Neville Southall passed the time by earning a living as goalkeeping coach for Ryman League outfit Canvey Island and playing centre forward for The Bull Fossils in the Dover & District Sunday League, earning the nickname Nev 'The Strike' Southall for his surprising prowess up front. But how many did he score?
Or how about...
On the 18th of November 1967, injury-hit Hartlepool United were forced to field goalkeeper Ken Simpkins as a forward. He scored the winning goal in a 3-2 victory at Port Vale.
And one I recall with fondness as I thought it was such a great story involves Hull City's Alan Fettis.
Firstly, during a home game against Oxford United on December the 17th 1994, manager Terry Dolan named second-choice goalkeeper Fettis as one of his outfield substitutes. With Hull leading 2-1, he came off the bench and within minutes had extended Hull's lead and secured all three points.
But as for Alan Fettis actually starting a match, and the one I remember hearing about? That was in the season's final match when Dolan handed him the No. 8 shirt for an away trip to Blackpool. With the match poised at 1-1 and entering its final minute, up popped Fettis to net the winner. Magic stuff!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2010 20:38:49 GMT
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jan 23, 2010 9:58:28 GMT
Well I never knew that Casley played in goal for Headington / Oxford! What a fantastic website by the way! |
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2010 19:53:44 GMT
A picture of the man from Mike Holgate's book:  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2010 21:48:40 GMT
Well I never knew that Casley played in goal for Headington / Oxford! What a fantastic website by the way! The business about Jack Casley becoming one of Headington (Oxford) United's first professionals came to mind when reading the chapter about the club in Football Nation by Andrew Ward and John Williams. This argues that the post-war growth of the motor industry in Oxford was a major factor in the club's rise from the amateur leagues to the Football League. Firstly, the industry provided an industrialised working-class - drawn from all over the country - which added to the core of existing supporters. Secondly, many semi-pro footballers were given well-paid jobs in local vehicle plants which meant they could earn more money than playing in the lower divisions of the Football League. And, if you're interested in the social history of the game in England, I'd recommend Football Nation. It's really a series of free-standing chapters (some telling familiar stories, others less so) rather than a flowing, comprehensive narrative. In this way it serves as a hugely readable reminder of the links between football, people and the places, times and societies we inhabit. All of which makes the sport more fascinating in my opinion. |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 5, 2014 23:07:40 GMT
From Easter Monday's Oxford United v Torquay United programme:   |
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Jon
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Post by Jon on Jun 5, 2014 23:09:37 GMT
The Herald Express reports that Jack Casley passed away last week aged 88.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2014 8:56:56 GMT
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