Warmest Of Tributes To Wath Founder
Gerry Farrell and Norman Bell (on the left of the row) join former Wath quartet Jimmy Seal (behind the seated Steve Daley), Bob Hatton and Paul Walker.
From Solihull, Leeds, York and, in particular, Wolverhampton, all roads led to Wath upon Dearne; to the small town in South Yorkshire that served as a springboard to Molineux and professional football for numerous youngsters.
Bob Hatton called this return journey a pilgrimage, Steve Daley reckoned he hadn’t been to those famous training pitches since he last played on them five and a half decades ago and, from two or three hours north, Paul Walker and Jimmy Seal were lapping up the waves of nostalgia, too.
To a man, they were delighted to be paying their respects yesterday to the late former Wolves winger Mark Crook, the Wath Wanderers overlord, on the day a blue plaque was unveiled in his honour.
This pioneering nursery club, operational and highly productive long before academies were ever thought of, have a remarkable roll of honour, with more than 100 of their lads having gone into League football.
Wolves, happily, benefitted from the cream of the crop, with Ron Flowers, Roy Swinbourne, Barry Stobart, Peter Knowles, Daley, Alan Sunderland, Hatton and Gerry Taylor among them.
But there were dozens of others who took the same route to the West Midlands and the stories continue to surface about how they decamped in unfamiliar surroundings to pursue a career.
Seal, a Pontefract-born forward who followed up a solitary Wolves first-team game (a 3-1 defeat at West Ham in March, 1969) by moving to Barnsley and then becoming a free-scoring loyal servant to York, had a slightly delayed career path.
Sharing memories….Paul Walker (left) and Jimmy Seal.
“I remember going down to Wolverhampton and finding there was a problem with my digs in Newhampton Road,” he said. “So Mark Crook suggested I came back up here for a month or so while things were sorted out and I scored a few goals in a few games for Wath.”
The 74-year-old married a Wolverhampton girl and, now in retirement as a painter and decorator, plays golf three times a week off a handicap of 14 and pays a couple of visits to the gym in between.
Despite still living in York, he doesn’t attend their games these days at what we used to call Bootham Crescent but was disappointed to see his local side lose out to Oldham in the Vanarama League play-offs.
He was delighted to meet up at yesterday’s event, though, with Gerry Farrell, who he recalled facing in a game between York and Morecambe in the 1970s. And the two clubs will be in opposition again next season in the fifth tier.
Farrell and Norman Bell, both resident in Northern Lancashire, have no direct Wath connections but were in attendance as part of a trans-Pennine excursion to meet up with their good pal, Walker, who had a dry run to the venue several weeks ago to ensure he could remember where it was.
Hatton was confronted with the observation that he must be in a very small group having played for three sets of Wanderers…..Wath, Wolverhampton and Bolton. “I never played for Wycombe,” he replied, “but have been there several times.”
Football is still played on the acres where he and hundreds of others trained and the Wolves contingent were delighted to see several bystanders in gold and black.
Among the turn-out were club historian Peter Crump, Molineux Museum colleague Dave Jones, Wolves Heroes’ David Instone, Express & Star fan contributor John Lalley and Elizabeth Robledo, daughter of one of the two Chilean stars, George and Ted Robledo, who achieved legendary status at Newcastle and Barnsley.
Also there from the playing ranks were Peter Wroe, a former Wolves junior who later played for Sheffield United Reserves, and Geoff Church, who overcame a serious eye injury to have a spell with Doncaster.
All had their own reason to be grateful for the labour of love Crook took on in sending a seemingly never-ending stream of teenage hopefuls to the club with whom he had played 81 senior games in the 1920s and 1930s and scored 16 goals.
The honour of unveiling what was described as a lasting legacy fell to his grand-daughter Jane Whitlam and Defence Secretary John Healy (an MP in the Wath area), the plaque being manufactured in Wolverhampton by Lumley Designs and being positioned on the wall of the Cortonwood Miners Welfare.
“When I was approached about the possibility of the plaque, I was a little non-plussed,” Jane told the gathering. “‘Pozzy’ was just my grandad who tormented the living daylights out of me and trailed me around playing fields, watching football matches every weekend when I was a child.
“He was a proper character and, judging by the people who are here today, he meant an awful lot to an awful lot of people, even ones not fortunate enough to have known him.
“One thing he always instilled was a sense of belonging, whether that’s your town, family or sports clubs. Fortunately for my little family, we’ve ticked all the boxes.”
How proud would Mark be nearly half a century on from his death that two of his great-grandchildren (Jane’s twin sons) have played roller hockey for Great Britain?
All proceeds from the forthcoming Feeding The Wolves book are being shared between the club’s Foundation and Brampton United Juniors FC, whose premises are next door to the miners welfare.
Former schoolteacher Chris Brook, project manager and researcher on the publication being written by Barnsley journalist Ashley Ball, welcomed the guests yesterday and said: “We believe we have a lasting legacy here, where junior football is still played. It will ensure Mark Crook continues to be talked about.
“His incredible achievements in football had been largely forgotten, so it has been an honour to recognise him in this way. Blue plaques are lasting legacies.”
Anyone wishing to pre-order a copy of Feeding The Wolves, at the reduced price of £12, can do so by clicking on https://dondearneschoolfootball.wordpress.com/mark-crooks-wath-wolves