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SPORT<br />
Brian Thompson<br />
1961 final<br />
Parkgate Welfare v Ford<br />
United<br />
Brian is another veteran Montagu<br />
Cup finalist who still remembers<br />
what it was like to be in the finals<br />
sixty years ago. He will be 90 in<br />
<strong>March</strong> and was a 29-year-old joiner<br />
when he played for the winning side<br />
in 1961.<br />
“I started playing football at 16<br />
and lived for football at one time.<br />
Being tall, I was the goalkeeper for<br />
Parkgate in 1961 and we won 4-3.<br />
There are only three players from<br />
the final still alive sadly: me, Walter<br />
Taylor, and Terry Staniforth who<br />
scored two of the goals.”<br />
Brian’s Parkgate were the<br />
underdogs that day but went on to<br />
beat favourites Ford United after they<br />
went down to ten men after just 25<br />
minutes, destroying their hopes of<br />
winning two Montagu Cup finals on<br />
the bounce.<br />
Mally Whitehouse<br />
1968 & 1972 finals<br />
Swinton Athletic<br />
The nature of grassroots football<br />
means Montagu Cup medals were<br />
often held by family members<br />
spanning various generations. But<br />
the 1968 final is unique in that seven<br />
members of the Whitehouse family<br />
played a part in that game that has<br />
since been dubbed The Whitehouse<br />
Final.<br />
In the 1960s and ‘70s, the<br />
Whitehouses were a well-known<br />
footballing family in the Dearne.<br />
Mally’s Grandad Jack was the<br />
secretary of High Terrace when<br />
they won the Montagu Cup in 1966<br />
and ’67. He had eight children,<br />
with all four boys playing football –<br />
and all four taking part in the 1968<br />
Montagu Cup final, as well as two<br />
grandchildren.<br />
But family pride and bragging<br />
rights were at stake as the<br />
Whitehouses were split over the two<br />
rival teams<br />
Twins Keith and Ken played<br />
for their dad’s team High Terrace.<br />
While their brother Colin was a<br />
coach at Swinton Athletic, with his<br />
two sons Colin Jr and Mally playing<br />
alongside their uncle John ‘Shona’.<br />
But a penalty from Mally and a<br />
last-minute goal from Colin Jr saw<br />
Swinton defeat the two-time reigning<br />
champions, snatching a third<br />
‘‘Swinton Athletic<br />
remain the club<br />
with the most wins,<br />
currently standing<br />
at eight cup final<br />
victories. Mally,<br />
now 72, says he’s had<br />
a life-long affinity<br />
with the club’’<br />
consecutive win from their Grandad<br />
Jack’s beloved High Terrace.<br />
“We played in front of about<br />
4,000 spectators and in the second<br />
half play had to be stopped because<br />
the wooden perimeter fence broke<br />
due to the huge crowd.”<br />
Mally played for Swinton in<br />
another final in 1972 where they won<br />
6-0 and he scored two of the goals.<br />
Swinton Athletic remain the club with<br />
the most wins, currently standing at<br />
eight cup final victories. Mally, now<br />
72, says he’s had a life-long affinity<br />
with the club from being 14 and still<br />
goes to watch them on a Saturday.<br />
“I turned semi-professional in the<br />
‘70s so I didn’t play in the Montagu<br />
Cup again, but I have fonder<br />
memories of the cup than winning<br />
the Yorkshire or Midland Leagues. I<br />
remember going to watch the final<br />
at six or seven with thousands of<br />
others. That lads still want to play in<br />
it 125 years on is just brilliant and the<br />
money it’s raised over the years is<br />
unbelievable.”<br />
Coincidentally, Mally went on<br />
to work at Mexborough Montagu<br />
Hospital, which the tournament has<br />
raised over £70,000 for during it’s<br />
long history.<br />
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk 35
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