09-05-2008, 01:18 PM
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 footballâ€Â). 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!
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 footballâ€Â). 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!