SOS if already posted but couldn’t find owt . This looks a good watch imo . Sad how he ended up,one of our footballing greats and good all round bloke. Lived among us and fitted right in no problem .
I watched a piece on Jack on TV yesterday teatime. So very sad. His son looked devastated just talking about him. You could tell that he absolutely idolised his Dad. I found it rather poignant that big Jack was unable to recollect some past family events or his nearest and dearest, but when his son John took him fishing, he knew exactly what to do. I was also fascinated when showing him a piece on the Republic of Ireland's team on a lap top, a player walked into the shot and big Jack simply looked up and said " Paul McGrath." Absolutely amazing how he could remember such detail but not others. Rest in peace big feller.
Never knew that Kettlewell. He was a real hard man was Maurice. He would do literally anything to stop the opposition from threatening his goal and quite a lot of what he got up to would be Red Card offences if he had have been caught. After they stopped playing, both Jack and Maurice managed their own Sunday League teams. Jacks team played their home games at Soldiers Field in Leeds and for a time Maurice managed Tickhill Institute in Donny. My team Greenfield United had a titanic battle with them in the Semi Final of the Doncaster Sunday League Cup which we won 1-0. We then drew 0-0 under the lights at Rovers Belle Vue ground, before winning the Cup 2-0 in the replay on Carcroft Welfares Ground. Maurice was at that game and made a point of coming into our dressing room to congratulate us.
That's a fascinating story,as a boy I remember Maurice appearing in football annuals. They achieved so much together in International football. I never met either of them, my brother taught one of Jack's sons and said he was a nice down to earth man. Also, the people of Filey,where he had a small terraced house,spoke highly of him.
I got to know of Maurice's antics after talking to a lad who had played against him. The player in question, was a journeyman ( played for the Reds as well as York, Halifax, Bristol City etc). His attribute was he was that he was very fast and had the knickname pigeon. At a corner to his team, as he jumped up to head the ball, Maurice punched him full weight in his kidneys. Ashe did it, he muttered " try to get past me pigeon and I will break your legs." At the next dead ball free kick, out of sight of the officials, Maurice suddenly stepped in front of him and stamped really hard on his right instep. He couldn't run it off and had to signal to the bench, that he needed to go off.
