1951/2-big money, big crowds

This is what would now be called a Press Day-in early August 1951, Ronnie Rooke (far left) and chairman William Hobkirk (third from right) show some of the new signings round the ground.  Left to right-John McInnes, Dougie Gardiner, Joe Campbell, Larry Gage, George Adams and Joe Simner. Were they being sponsored by a macintosh supplier?  

Hopes were high at the start, and after a morale-boosting 4-1 opening day win at Hastings the ground attendance record was beaten again the following midweek when 8,136 saw the return fixture, though they would have been disappointed with a 1-1 draw. By the end of September only three league matches out of ten had been won, and this was to remain the theme throughout-a talented- looking squad on paper didn’t quite perform consistently . There were only two runs of three successive victories, but the first of these, early in 1952, was followed by three successive defeats, and the second came too late to matter. The new recruits had forced regulars of previous seasons into the reserves and this may have caused trouble, for in February 1952 Pat Comerford and Freddie Hall were respectively suspended and severely reprimanded for unspecified breaches of discipline. Both departed at the season’s end. 

This was the team that drew 1-1 with Hastings at The Eyrie on 23 August 1951 in the first home match of 1951/2. The attendance record was beaten for the second time in a few months, with 8,136 turning up. 

Back row: Cyril Trailor, Billy Butler, Larry Gage, Ken Fisher, Louis Delaney. 

Front: Horace Wallbanks, Vivian Woodward, Ronnie Rooke (player-manager), Joe Campbell, Dougie Gardiner, Johnny Holland.

 Rooke had only been in charge since the previous February but Wallbanks is the only player shown here who was not one of his signings. By the end of September, he had been demoted to the reserves as well. Two of these players later made big contributions to the coaching staff- Gardiner became Tim Kelly’s right hand man in 1955, and Campbell returned to the staff in 1959 when Rooke started his second spell as manager, and stayed until his sadly premature death in 1967. 

There was trouble at this match, watched by 7,330 against Worcester at The Eyrie on 1 September 1951.. Worcester had been two goals up at half-time but just after the hour Ronnie Rooke had reduced the deficit, and here he is seen finishing off the move, as centre half Jones and the young goalkeeper, Ron Baynham-later a fixture between Luton’s posts for a decade-fail to clear. With ten minutes left Rooke equalized from the penalty spot, but in the dying seconds Worcester were given a penalty for an unknown infringement when the Bedford players thought there should have been a free kick the other way for handball. Goalkeeper Larry Gage protested to the point of being sent off, a very rare occurrence in those days, and Louis Delaney failed to save what proved to be the winning kick. The cutting below records what happened next. 

The team that went down 0-2 to Swindon at the County Ground in the first round proper of the FA Cup on 24 November 1951. 

Back: William T Hobkirk (chairman), Joe Millbank, Louis Delaney, Larry Gage, Bob Allen, Dougie Gardiner, Cyril Trailor. 

Front: Johnny Holland, Vivian Woodward, Ronnie Rooke (player-manager), Joe Simner, John McInnes. 

This was Bedford’s first encounter with League opposition and though not disgraced, they were never serious contenders to win as the full-timers’ superior fitness told in muddy conditions. The crowd of 15,899, the biggest to date for any match involving the club, helped to swell the coffers, and it included 32 busloads from Bedford.

 An early scare in the Eagles’ goalmouth at Swindon, as Dougie Gardiner (right) tries to assist keeper Larry Gage against marauding home forwards. 

Bedford’s left winger John McInnes, a talented player whose career was cut short by illness, is foiled by Swindon’s Northern Ireland international keeper Norman Uprichard.                                                                                                   

(Left) Ronnie Rooke threatens the Swindon goal.  (Right) Bedford captain Joe Millbank meets his opposite number, Joffre Gulliver (named, presumably, after the French Great War general, since he was born in 1915), and London referee H S Bearman-whose brother, the Rev Leslie Bearman,  a Bedford vicar who was also a senior referee,  triggered crowd trouble soon after the war by abandoning a match at The Eyrie in a snowstorm (see Commentary season by season, 1945-50).  

 This was the nearest that Bedford came to scoring at Swindon, in the early stages, when Joe Simner (left), playing against his old club, beat Uprichard only to be ruled offside. Simner was a much-travelled player who fell out with Rooke after the manager preferred to select himself at centre-forward. In November 1952 he asked to be released after being sent off in a reserve match, and soon afterwards moved to Dover. Later that season he was reported to be “considering moving to Bogota”, presumably to follow in the footsteps of Charlie Mitten and Neil Franklin, two well-known players of the period who briefly played in Colombia and were banned by the FA for their pains as Colombia was not affiliated to FIFA. Perhaps wisely, Simner settled for a move to Kidderminster Harriers….  

In the FA Cup the team progressed comfortably through the early rounds against junior opposition and also through the fourth qualifying round at Bromsgrove of the Birmingham League (watched by 1,500 travelling fans), which earned them a first tilt at Football League opposition at Swindon Town’s County Ground, but on a gluepot of a pitch they went down 0-2 before almost 16,000 people, the largest crowd to watch the club to date, from which Bedford earned £689. Delaney and Trailor, two of Rooke’s earliest signings, did not last the season but he found two successful newcomers in the Hampshire cricketer and full-back, Jimmy Gray, another recruit from Rooke’s Arsenal days, and a Scottish left winger, Johnny Summers, who was taken on after a trial. Gage proved a reliable goalkeeper although he created a brief sensation by being sent off, a rarity in those days, for dissent at home to Worcester in September, a match that ended with the chairman having to appeal for calm over the PA system after spectators threatened reprisals against the referee (see photos above) .

Strangely for a team with Rooke’s sharpshooting to call on, they were often short of goals. and between 1 December and 5 January they never managed more than a goal a game. Rooke hit 37 goals in 46 matches, maintaining the remarkable strike rate that had characterised his whole career, but must have been handicapped by playing for a month in early 1952 with an injured ankle, and Woodward scored 24, but the next highest scorer was Simner with only 13. At the season’s end this all added up to a mere 12th place finish, although that was easily the best since the club had joined the Southern League, and by beating Cambridge United (then in the Eastern Counties League) in the Hunts Cup, the club secured its first trophy since the war. 

The scene before the start of the home match against Cheltenham on 9 February 1952. The players and officials observe a minute’s silence in memory of King George VI, who had died the previous week; Bedford line up at the back in the quartered shirts, with (from right) Joe Campbell, Larry Gage, Ronnie Rooke and Ken Fisher visible. Local clergy had earlier presided at a short act of worship on the pitch, including the signing of Abide with me, and after the silence the national anthem was sung. Bedford went on to produce one of their best performances of the season with a 4-1 win, breaking a run of three defeats, before a crowd of 4,409. The houses in view are those in Nelson Street, visible because as yet there is no development at the Ford End Road end-dressing rooms would be built there the summer after this picture was taken and the terracing was covered in 1954.  By contrast when the King's daughter, Elizabeth II, died 70 years later no football was played at any level the following weekend, a decision many found strange.

Seven thousand supporters turned up for the customary end-of-season County Cup tie against Luton on 21 April 1952, but went home disappointed after Luton won 1-0 thanks to an 85th minute goal by Bernard Moore-who was to join Bedford four years later.  In this view Moore (right) has been outjumped by Ken Fisher, with Frank Boulton (left) and Dougie Gardiner in waiting.  

This picture was billed as the eleven that achieved some consolation a few days after the Luton defeat by winning the Hunts Premier Cup-the club’s first trophy since the war- with a 4-1 defeat of Cambridge United.

Back: Charlie Bicknell (trainer), Dougie Gardiner, Billy Butler, Joe Millbank, Larry Gage, Ken Fisher, Bob Allen, Joe Simner. 

Front: Johnny Holland, Freddie Hall, Ronnie Rooke (player-manager), Joe Campbell, Johnny Summers, W T Hobkirk (chairman) 

However, according to the match report which accompanied the picture, Hall didn’t play whereas Simner did-and scored one of the goals! It’s possible that substitutes were allowed and that Hall replaced Simner late in the game, explaining why Simner is already changed out of his kit. 

If he did get on to the field, this would be the last appearance for Hall, who became a fixture at Eynesbury Rovers, and it certainly was for Allen, who was forced to retire by illness. 

Crowds proved respectable by the standards of the time, averaging 5,118[3] for the first team, but never approached the 8,000 average of Rooke’s early exhortations. Inconsistent form was a factor in this but the club were also unlucky in having to play six successive away matches in September. At this period, also, the only significant cover was on the Long Shelter (Gasworks) touchline, so a wet day could result in a big drop in turnout. But some of the figures are still remarkable. The visit of Merthyr Tydfil on a Thursday afternoon in March, with a 4.30 start, attracted well over 3,000 even in continuous rain, which was reckoned to have cut the crowd by some 1,500. Even though neither side was in the running for the title, the ground record was broken yet again on Good Friday when 8,422 saw the derby with Kettering, and almost 7,000 saw the County Cup final with Luton at the season’s end. Even the reserves, who had returned to the United Counties League after some years in the London League, attracted 3,400 to a match in September 1951, and averaged almost 2,500 for the season; in March their opponents, Spalding, brought six busloads of supporters-who had a wasted journey as the match was snowed off. In February 1952 even the “A” team, playing in the South Midlands League, were watched by 900 people at Bromham Hospital.

Supporters were still inclined to grumble. Writing in the programme for the Weymouth match on 3 November, chairman Hobkirk complained about letters signed "A well-wisher" or "A supporter of thirty years", which tended to end with such things as "If you don't do so-and-so we'll go and watch the rugger or go to Luton". "There are other places such people could go to", wrote the chairman, "but I'll leave you to guess where they might try. I and the other directors will first look and see if the writer gives the name and address of the sender, if not it will be consigned to the waste-paper basket". He had also been getting letters suggesting that attendances were being under-reported. "These sort of people look at the attendance board and as soon as the figure goes up murmur "There's more than that here, I'll bet you what you like". Now just think what can happen if that were true-I and all the directors along with gateman and officials, could be summoned for evading tax".

Despite these moaners, contemporary comment shows that overall, people saw the season as a step in the right direction, much better than anything in recent memory, and 1952/3 was to prove better still.

To continue the story go to 1952/3 -the best yet

For full results and teams go to Results and teams, 1950-67

[1] See www.measuringworth.org/ukearncpi/

[2] Figures from the match programme v Bath on 30 April 1953. At that stage the club had 3,529 members.

[3] This figure, and the average quoted for later seasons (except where indicated) was that reported in the Bedfordshire Times in its end-of-season review each year. So many gates quoted in match reports were clearly estimates, especially in the early 50s, that these averages are impossible to check, but they are likely to have been those shown by the club’s own records, which have long since disappeared.

LEAGUE TABLE 1951-1952

  1. Merthyr Tydfil                    42  27   6   9  128   60   60

  2. Weymouth                          42  22  13   7   81   42   57

  3. Kidderminster Harriers     42  22  10  10   70   40   54

  4. Guildford City                     42  18  16   8   66   47   52

  5. Hereford United                 42  21   9  12   80   59   51

  6. Worcester City                    42  23   4  15   86   73   50

  7. Kettering Town                   42  18  10  14   83   56   46

  8. Lovells Athletic                   42  18  10  14   87   68   46

  9. Gloucester City                   42  19   8  15   68   55   46

 10. Bath City                             42  19   6  17   75   67   44

 11. Headington United           42  16  11  15   55   53   43

 12. Bedford Town                   42  16  10  16   75   64   42

 13. Barry Town                         42  18   6  18   84   89   42

 14. Chelmsford City                 42  15  10  17   67   80   40

 15. Dartford                              42  15   9  18   63   65   39

 16. Tonbridge                           42  15   6  21   63   84   36

 17. Yeovil Town                        42  12  11  19   56   76   35

 18. Cheltenham Town             42  15   4  23   59   85   34

 19. Exeter City Reserves          42  13   7  22   76  106   33

 20. Llanelly                                 42  13   6  23   70  111   32

 21. Gravesend & Northfle       42  12   7  23   66   88   31

 22. Hastings United                  42   3   5  34   41  131   11