50 Years Ago Today: Barrow Ruled the Third

[Jim]

Jim - that was brilliant to read of your account of the trek you made over to Hartlepools. Given that it is 50 years ago, and given the terrible weather conditions (and, as you mentioned, the strong possibility that the match might not have gone ahead), could it be that you might be the only Barrow fan alive who actually witnessed that performance that took us to the top of the 3rd Division?????

No, from what I remember I went with another Barrow lad called I think John Wills, who was working at a bank in Preston, and I believe I might even have taken a girl friend who was at college in Darlington at the time.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

One of the many "What if?"s from Barrow's history. Player Manager Colin Appleton had built on Don McEvoy's promotion winning side and, despite the aforementioned departure of Jimmy Mulholland, had produced what is arguably the best ever team to grace a Barrow shirt.

What if he hadn't been taken ill and forced to step down - What could that team have achieved? Something we'll never know.

Agree with you 100%!

What could that team have achieved? Probably promotion to Div 2.
Yes; that's right young 'uns - our club could have been playing in the Championship!

[The Tomahawk Kid]

Dodger . . . you say "not quite Banksy" . . . don't put yourself down, your daubing from 1968 is far more meaningful and relevant than anything Banksy ever did. It's just regrettable that your masterpiece finally faded away, though the last remnants of it could still be made out until about 10 years ago I reckon. It's forever in the Hall of Fame. It's good to know that you have responded and are still around and still clearly following things at Barrow. What became of your co-conspirators who were busy with their paint-pots and brushes under the cover of darkness late that November night in 1968? Were any of you aware of just how famous (if anonymous) you were to become in the story of Barrow AFC?

Gary . . . you asked about Fulham . . . it was 1969-70, the third and final season of our three year stay in Division Three. It was on 30th August 1969 that we beat the Cottagers 3-1 at Holker Street in front of a crowd of 5665. Ellison, Garbett and Morrin got our goals. That match was highly notable because Fulham included the legend that was Johnny Haynes, former England captain, playing for them in what must have been the twilight of his career. The name "Haynes" was daubed on that same wall as "Barrow Rule the 3rd" and could still be made out until not many years ago, right next to where the wall ends and the turning into Asda opens up. Although we beat Fulham that day it was a rare good day as our decline was very much in evidence and we ended up relegated in 23rd position.

I was at that game

As well as the wall graffiti mentioned above I seem to remember the slogan: 'Putney Boot Boys' being daubed somewhere in the same vincinity by the visiting Fulham fans.

[SayitagainSam]

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[dodger]

Unfortunately we lost one of the lads about 10 years ago but 3 of us are still here, 2 still regulars and the other a fair weather supporter. Just to take you back a few years further we used to go to the ground through the Griffin Estate (White Elephant) and get into the railway coaches in the sidings, relieve them of the toilet rolls which were then thrown from behind the goals whenever we scored ( used to look quite impressive at the time) Harmless fun at the time (Not sure British Rail would have agreed though)!

[Wintergreen]

Unfortunately we lost one of the lads about 10 years ago but 3 of us are still here, 2 still regulars and the other a fair weather supporter. Just to take you back a few years further we used to go to the ground through the Griffin Estate (White Elephant) and get into the railway coaches in the sidings, relieve them of the toilet rolls which were then thrown from behind the goals whenever we scored ( used to look quite impressive at the time) Harmless fun at the time (Not sure British Rail would have agreed though)!

But who sprayed the catty post script 'year infants' after dodger's dodgy daubings?

[swbluebird]

Didnt Fulham spray Hammersmith end and Putney Boot Boys as well?

[The Tomahawk Kid]

Didnt Fulham spray Hammersmith end and Putney Boot Boys as well?

I've already mentioned the 'Putney Boot Boys' graffiti - keep up!

[ade]

Magic memories PJ Daly.Mick Hartland was a truely gifted player,a real fans favourite.But i expect a complete nightmare to manage,especially when Mr Ron Mcgarry hit town.How we could now do with Brian Arrowsmith and hard as nails Eric Harrison in our team today.A truely special team and very special memories.

Watford are mentioned in this thread.
Can anyone remember our home game against them?
I'm quite sure it was the season we finished 8th from top of Div 3.
They had a winger named Stuart Scullion who played for England U21s.

They beat us 4-1 on a rain soaked pitch. And to rub salt into the wound their support 'took' The Holker End with ease.
I was only a boy at the time and remember wondering what had happened to the Barrow Boot Boys?

That game has always stuck in my mind - it seemed, to me - that after that defeat the team went on a downward spiral which eventually led to the departure of Colin Appleton and the appointment of the infamous Norman Bodell

hawks fan here who thoroughly enjoyed my visit to barrow, first game of this season. love reading all this barrow history.

Please tell me: what sort of crowds did barrow get when they were relegated to NPL? did the barrow bootboys still go?

were the mindless few sons of aforementioned bootboys?

[Suffolk Blue]

Watford are mentioned in this thread.
Can anyone remember our home game against them?
I'm quite sure it was the season we finished 8th from top of Div 3.
They had a winger named Stuart Scullion who played for England U21s.

They beat us 4-1 on a rain soaked pitch. And to rub salt into the wound their support 'took' The Holker End with ease.
I was only a boy at the time and remember wondering what had happened to the Barrow Boot Boys?

That game has always stuck in my mind - it seemed, to me - that after that defeat the team went on a downward spiral which eventually led to the departure of Colin Appleton and the appointment of the infamous Norman Bodell

hawks fan here who thoroughly enjoyed my visit to barrow, first game of this season. love reading all this barrow history.

Please tell me: what sort of crowds did barrow get when they were relegated to NPL? did the barrow bootboys still go?

were the mindless few sons of aforementioned bootboys?

Can remember the game in 1967 (23rd September) versus Watford the season after we were promoted primarily because I think Keith Eddy played in the Watford side that day. Keith was a Barrow boy and was class when playing for us in 65 and 66. I think Dixie Hale played for Watford that day who also played for us at some point. I remember it was a bore draw (0-0) and the records show the attendance was 7442. I was an 8 year old boy and thought we'd arrived when we played Watford. We then went on to beat Swindon away (0-1) the following Tuesday which at the time was a truly stunning result and then Bristol Rovers at home (1-0) on the saturday. A week or so later we gave Sheffield Wednesday a real game in the League Cup before losing 3-1 and later on that season of course took on Leicester in the FA Cup. This was Colin Appleton at his very best and I dont think there's ever been a better time to have been a BAFC supporter.

To answer ade's question , I would contrast the above with a home game versus Darwen in 1972 not long after the start of the first season in the Northern Prem when we lost (I think 2-0) with a crowd of no more than 200. There haven't been many worse times to be a BAFC supporter. Sums up being a BAFC supporter. Our peaks are sharp but brief but our troughs are deep and long.

[russell_anderson]

hawks fan here who thoroughly enjoyed my visit to barrow, first game of this season. love reading all this barrow history.

Please tell me: what sort of crowds did barrow get when they were relegated to NPL? did the barrow bootboys still go?

were the mindless few sons of aforementioned bootboys?

Can remember the game in 1967 (23rd September) versus Watford the season after we were promoted primarily because I think Keith Eddy played in the Watford side that day. Keith was a Barrow boy and was class when playing for us in 65 and 66. I think Dixie Hale played for Watford that day who also played for us at some point. I remember it was a bore draw (0-0) and the records show the attendance was 7442. I was an 8 year old boy and thought we'd arrived when we played Watford. We then went on to beat Swindon away (0-1) the following Tuesday which at the time was a truly stunning result and then Bristol Rovers at home (1-0) on the saturday. A week or so later we gave Sheffield Wednesday a real game in the League Cup before losing 3-1 and later on that season of course took on Leicester in the FA Cup. This was Colin Appleton at his very best and I dont think there's ever been a better time to have been a BAFC supporter.

To answer ade's question , I would contrast the above with a home game versus Darwen in 1972 not long after the start of the first season in the Northern Prem when we lost (I think 2-0) with a crowd of no more than 200. There haven't been many worse times to be a BAFC supporter. Sums up being a BAFC supporter. Our peaks are sharp but brief but our troughs are deep and long.

Keith Eddy was indeed a Barrow boy (Walney, in fact) and both he and Dixie Hale were signed by Ken Furphy following his appointment as manager of Watford after previously managing Workington. Keith, very probably, achieved the highest level of football managed by a Barrow local in recent times other than Emlyn Hughes. I think he played for Watford in the 1970 FA Cup semi-final. I have a feeling he was captain and they were promoted to the old Division 2 during his time there. When Ken Furphy moved to Blackburn and then on to Sheffield United who were in the old Division 1 and he then signed Keith again. Keith signed for New York Cosmos in 1976 and was captain of a team which included Pele, Beckenbauer and Chinaglia plus ex-Barrow player Tony Field! He retired at the end of 1977 and managed Toronto for a time before setting up a soccer school in Tulsa, Oklahoma which became quite an enterprise. As far as I know he's still out there. I lived a couple of streets from Keith on Walney and played in the same South Walney Junior School, Walney Rovers U16 and Barrow Grammar School teams as Keith and he stood out a mile from a very early age. We had a lot of good players in the Barrow Grammer team but he was the best by a distance. Strangely, he never got into the full Lancashire Schools team although we had another good player - Ray Buchanan - who did. I remember when we were playing in the Walney Rovers U16 team that Keith was also good enough to play in the U18 team which he usually did following the U16 match as the U16 match was usually earlier.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

Watford are mentioned in this thread.
Can anyone remember our home game against them?
I'm quite sure it was the season we finished 8th from top of Div 3.
They had a winger named Stuart Scullion who played for England U21s.

They beat us 4-1 on a rain soaked pitch. And to rub salt into the wound their support 'took' The Holker End with ease.
I was only a boy at the time and remember wondering what had happened to the Barrow Boot Boys?

That game has always stuck in my mind - it seemed, to me - that after that defeat the team went on a downward spiral which eventually led to the departure of Colin Appleton and the appointment of the infamous Norman Bodell

hawks fan here who thoroughly enjoyed my visit to barrow, first game of this season. love reading all this barrow history.

Please tell me: what sort of crowds did barrow get when they were relegated to NPL? did the barrow bootboys still go?

were the mindless few sons of aforementioned bootboys?

Not wishing to be disrespectful - who are the Hawks?

Regarding your question: our attendances dropped considerably after our 'relegation' from the FL. After regularly standing on the Holker End among 900/1000 others in our FL days it was sad to see barely that number in the whole ground.

The Barrow Boot Boys would occasionally appear for big games...ie FA Cup fixtures etc etc...
The concluding line of your quote, I think, alludes to TMF.
Not sure if any were the sons of the Barrow Boot Boys.

The actual term TMF was invented by the Evening Mail to describe the activities of a group of traveling Barrow AFC fans - just a group of lads who knew each other from the Barrow Pub/Club scene of the 80s. They never, intentionally, caused any trouble - but they didn't take any s**t, either

[russell_anderson]

hawks fan here who thoroughly enjoyed my visit to barrow, first game of this season. love reading all this barrow history.

Please tell me: what sort of crowds did barrow get when they were relegated to NPL? did the barrow bootboys still go?

were the mindless few sons of aforementioned bootboys?

Not wishing to be disrespectful - who are the Hawks?

Regarding your question: our attendances dropped considerably after our 'relegation' from the FL. After regularly standing on the Holker End among 900/1000 others in our FL days it was sad to see barely that number in the whole ground.

The Barrow Boot Boys would occasionally appear for big games...ie FA Cup fixtures etc etc...
The concluding line of your quote, I think, alludes to TMF.
Not sure if any were the sons of the Barrow Boot Boys.

The actual term TMF was invented by the Evening Mail to describe the activities of a group of traveling Barrow AFC fans - just a group of lads who knew each other from the Barrow Pub/Club scene of the 80s. They never, intentionally, caused any trouble - but they didn't take any s**t, either

The Hawks is the nickname for Havant & Waterlooville, TTK.

[The Tomahawk Kid]

Right! Thanks for that.

[ade]

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl= ... mrc&uact=8

hope this works? are these the barrow bootboys? let's get together again, all ya need is boots and braces....