Frank Lord - Cape Town City

[TheDuck]

:beg: orry: Bro

how could I ever forget the

I'm still standing Plettenberg Bay transport manager



mcamp .. did Malcolm Macdonald not also play in SA on a few guest appearances?

[Hugh Davidse]

Thanks for this great site!
I remember following Cape Town City almost from the start and certainly from 1966 onwards when I went to Hartleyvale on Friday evenings – quite difficult as there were always clashes with Woodstock Methodist Guild meetings. Actually, I first went to Hartleyvale in 1963 when Spurs came and played a SA XI - my father’s friend Mr Stevens was one of the gatekeepers and he let us in for free to see Spurs play (talk about “fantasy football”). Sadly, both my father and Mr Stevens are long gone now so Hartleyvale cannot take up any retrospective legal proceedings against them!
I have great memories of CTC – especially during Frank Lord’s time. After the good old “kick and rush” days Frank Lord introduced “total football” to us, although we never knew it as that. I remember especially those wonderful overlapping full backs which included Tony Brinicombe; link up play between the defence, inside forwards and centre forward; also the roving centre forward ploy using George Mulhall as well as other tactics unheard of and unseen at the time.
Favourite players included “H-Bomb” Alex Harvey (favourite?), Leon Cubic, Billy O’Grady, Hilton Grainger, “Vootjies” Taylor, Roger Coetze, Kevin Lewis, Andy Milne, Ken Scott, George Mulhall, Tony Brinicombe, etc, etc and not forgetting that great flamboyant showman Vic Lovell – who once sold me a tie at Markham’s. But my favourite player really had to be Richard Allen – a great player and a true gent. I remember a great goal he once scored against Powerlines - absolutely unstoppable.
This column has brought back some great memories of Friday nights which included the night Kevin Lewis led City out at Hellenic – quite a surprise as he had been injured for a while – and a Cup Final against East London Celtic. Sadly, we lost both of those games. Also I remember Frank Lord himself turning out for CTC. But then I remember the away hoodoo finally being broken up in Jo'burg when we beat Highlands Park (4 -3 with Andy Milne getting the winner).
As for Hellenic – we usually got into Green Point Stadium for free after half time when they opened the gates! This usually involved a mad dash from Woodstock after Guild had finished. The great thing about Hellenic was to go down to Mike’s Sports Shop in Woodstock on the Saturday morning after their game to listen to them all talking about it, especially if local boy Melvyn Teubes had a good game!
I left for England in January 1970 and have been fortunate to see many games involving Spurs as well as many First Division (now Premiership) Teams. I saw CTC a few more times when I came home in July/August1974 (once against Highlands Park when Alan Gilzean played for them) but that was about it. We’ve come a long way since those days and it has all been for the good but I still have many fond memories of my involvement as a CTC supporter.

Thanks once again.

Hugh.

P.S. Who was the reporter who did the broadcasts (at 6.00 p.m.) on the Sunday games from Durban on Radio Lourenco Marques? The SA government would not allow the reporting of any sport on SA radio stations on Sundays in those days – how things have changed – so we had to tune in to “LM Radio"! Anyway, I can always remember vividly one of his reports – the one after Durban City thrashed us … typical!

[mcamp999]

Vootjies Taylor as you call him, was one of the marist boys that formed the core of Cape Town City. He returned to Marist afterwards and regularly trained with us till the late 80's before going for a beer or three at the vasco da gama (Portuguese embassy). Others included Melvyn Beyer and Kenny O'Lynn, all of whom came back and trained Marist juniors who were quite a force in those days.

Footjies Taylor still plays bowls on a regular basis (or did when I last knew him)

[mcamp999]

:beg: orry: Bro

how could I ever forget the

I'm still standing Plettenberg Bay transport manager



mcamp .. did Malcolm Macdonald not also play in SA on a few guest appearances?

Yes he did, as did quite few others.

[Cambo]

Thanks Hugh for clarifying exactly when Tottenham Hotspur played at Hartleyvale. I was there that night and if not for SA goalkeeper Trevor Gething, Spurs would have scored far more than 5 goals. Ever since then I've supported Spurs and attended a few of their games in North London in the 70s and 80s. Unfortunately unless you're a season ticket holder, it's virtually impossible to get a ticket to White Hart Lane these days.
With regard to the radio broadcaster from LM on Sundays, I can still hear him saying: "This is Reg Wright calling from Kingsmead." Incredibly the NFL games could be played in Durban on Sundays, but the SABC could not broadcast the result on the sabbath.
Keegan did play for City and the late Bryan Grieve, soccer writer on the Argus, flew to Johannesburg to cover his first match. His first paragraph went something like this: I flew one thousand miles to watch England superstar Kevin Keegan play his first match for Cape Town City here last night. I would now happily walk home, buoyed by the lasting memories of seeing a genius at work."

[TheDuck]

My first superstar status goalkeeper, The Black Cat of Arcadia Shepherds

Trevor Gething

If memory serves me correctly he got his nickname because he was always dressed in black?

I am a Hellenic supporter through and through and the only good thing Durban City did for us was bring Budgie Byrne to South Africa, so he could come down to our little paradise on the common




ps.. my friend's father was a goalkeeper with the surname Wrensch, do any of you recall such a name?

[bro]

:beg: orry: Bro

how could I ever forget the

I'm still standing Plettenberg Bay transport manager



mcamp .. did Malcolm Macdonald not also play in SA on a few guest appearances?

Forgiven...yep most of the common will make way for the new golf club. Swiss club will be torn down. Good memories of many late Sunday nights .....

[rlsuth]

I wonder if any film of CTC matches still survives today. I would love to see it, although maybe it's not good to remember too much of the past. No idea where film would reside now though.

[Weymike]

Is this book still available ?

[Weymike]

I watched both Hellenic and Cape Town City every week when I worked in Cape Town from 1970-73 (For ICI/South African Nylon Spinners in Bellville) and lived in Camps Bay. Happy Days. (before television !!) Numerous UK legends playing for both clubs(and BBC World Service) helped me avoid home sickness !!!

60's London to Cape Town where the entertainement was Max Bygraves (once a year) was a big change !!! You have no idea how exciting it was when Percy Sledge became the first "black" to be allowed to stay in the Mount Nelson Hotel and play a concert for we whites !!! (almost as exciting as my all time hero George Eastham coming to the Cape !!)

Mind you my multi-racial parties in Camps Bay and formation of SANS FC (playing such mighty opposition as Woolworths aka M&S SA) didn't make me popular in some quarters.

I still have most of the programmes from both clubs.

Luckily , one of my best friends here in Weymouth, Dorset is the ex Southampton (Weymouth, Gillingham, Carslisle etc) star John "Buster" Crabbe who played for Hellenic around 1975 ? (The year TV first came to SA he said)