Last updated: 31 July 09
Old Wodens 1953/54
Back row, L-R: ?, ?, ?, Don ?, ? Gough, ?, Jim Ellis, ?
Front row, L-R: John Tyler, Don Peacock, Charlie Hale, ?, ?, Brian Amos.
The trophies on display are The West Bromwich Charity Shield, The Blackhall Cup and I think the Wednesbury & District League Championship.
Fred Horne played for England Schoolboys (U15 age group)and went on to sign professional forms for West Bromwich Albion.
Thanks to Don Peacock for this excellent photograph – can anyone (especially Brian Amos!) identify the others, please?
1953/54 First XI
Back row, L to R: David O’Neil, Fred Horne, Richard Taylor, Don Peacock, Roy Thomas, Tommy Groves, Mr Fred Coatham
Front row L to R: Keith Dent, Ken Fisher, Geoff Taylor (captain) David Osbourne, Tom Griffiths
The Trophy is the Caddick Cup played for annually between the School, Brewood G.S. and Wolverhampton M.G.S.
The photograph was taken in front of the original school building, between the building and the tennis courts.
Photograph kindly supplied by Don Peacock (1947-1953) – middle of back row
1948/49 First XI
Back row from left: 3rd is Geoff Fisher, George Churms, Alan Lester, John Barnard
Front row From the left: 2nd is Geoff Meredith, Joe Amos(Capt), Bellingham, John Tyler
1943/44 First XI
Back row, L to R: Mr Charles Taylor, H C Jones, L W Appleby, R Fitton, J Carter, R Read, Mr Alan Carter
Front row, L to R: R Whitehouse, Dickie Dyke, Den Beddows, J K Kendrick, ?, Harold Rich
1933-34 First XI
Staff football 1966
Left to right: Goodwin, Burhouse, Rimmer, Bradley, Clifford, Watkins, Dearne, Ladkin, Grieb, Baptist-Smith, Basten, Lees
Pen-pictures of the staff football team from Woden, Autumn 1966 
CLIFFORD, J.: Tall, elegant, superbly-fit goalkeeper. His handling is safe and sure, especially with a pint glass. A treat to watch his amazing reflexes when picking the ball from out of the back of the net.
LADKIN, J.: Tough-tackling full-back with a style similar to an orang-outang. Known as “Splatt” to his team-mates and noted for his rump-slapping marksmanship. Can always be recognised by the studded club he carries with him on the field.
BURHOUSE, K.: Terrier-like tackier, and speedy. Shows great anticipation in kicking opposing wingers’ shins. His karate-training comes in useful when the defence is under pressure.
BAPTIST-SMITH, H.: Stylish wing-half, whose enthusiasm for the game sometimes leads to tendencies of paranoia on the field. A superb gum-chewer, is top scorer with seventeen goals, in his own net.
GREIB, N.: German nationality, brings a Continental flavour of football and foul tactics into his play. Strikes terror into the hearts of opposing centre-forwards when he screams threats, in German, at them.
WATKINS, A.: Lovingly dubbed by his fans as ‘ ‘Sonny with the fringe on top.” Has been sent off three times in one match, for inciting his side to riot. Uses a blowpipe and poisoned darts to great advantage when playing.
GOODWIN, G.: Fast and tricky winger, labelled “Ivory-Knuckles” by the Press on account of his fighting on and off the field. Mesmerises opposing full-backs with ritualistic-like chants.
BASTEN, J.: Scheming inside-forward with a lethal shot in either foot. Always urging on his team-mates with the aid of a large pin. Has a habit of quietly setting man-traps on the pitch: Hence his tag, “Joker.”
BRADLEY, I.: Bulldozing centre-iforward, recently acquitted after attempted strangulation of several spectators during a pre-match kick-about.
DEARNE, D.: “Stonewall” Dearne, a will-o’-the-wisp inside-forward. Has perfected the art of shirt-tugging and ankle-tapping. Sent off only once for biting a referee.
LEES,T .: Another speedy, accurate winger. With a wiggle of the hips and a sharp clout to the full-back’s jaw, he is unstoppable when haring for goal, but often forgets the ball.
An account of the 1966 staff v school football match
Before a capacity gate, the Staff-looking supreme in their all-colours strip-defended the St. Paul’s end. The game started at a cracking pace, with the School playing defensively and relying on quick breakaways. The Staff were attacking like tiny tornadoes and the first threat came from centre-half Greib who fired a 25 yarder which skimmed the bar.
The initiative began to sway from one side to the other. In the Staff defence, Ladkin and Watkins were putting in some stout work, while in goal, Clifford, “the leaping spider,” pulled off a string of 1st-class saves which had the crowd roaring. But just before the half-time whistle, the deadlock was broken School centre-forward Burns fired in a hot-shot which Clifford could only parry, and Scott was on hand to hammer the ball home. The pace was beginning to tell on both sides, and we had the sight of Staff full-back Burhouse “propping up” the goal post. But the Staff began to hit back, led by centre-forward Bradley who often sent School half-back Anderson sprawling.
HALF-TIME: STAFF 0, SCHOOL 1.
At the start of the second half the Staff tore into the attack, and were rewarded with an equalising goal scored with a cross-shot by Bradley. The Staff now had their tails up and, thanks to slipshod work by the School defence, two more quick goals were added through Lees and a terrific shot by Grieb which School goalkeeper Greenwood never saw.
Baptist-Smith was a human dynamo in the Staff team, and, indeed, every man was giving every ounce of effort. But gradually the School began to get back into the game. The Staff began to waver under pressure, and the defence finally cracked completely and let in three quick goals. The School was now dictating play, but still the Staff tried to hit back, although the forwards were not receiving the earlier kind of support from their half-backs and did not add further to their goal tally.
Stars of the match were Grieb and Basten, and goalkeeper Clifford who proved a magnificent last line of defence.
Result: Staff 3, School 4.
Cup Final Success for High School, April 1964
Back row, L-R: Andy Fowkes, Bob Astbury, Dave Madeley, John Heaven, Keith Whitehouse, Alan Taylor.
Front row, L-R: John Southall, David (Danny) Griffiths, Bob Fellows, Mike Darby, Paul Dawson.
Wednesbury Boys High School retained the Birmingham and District Grammar Schools Football Association Cup for a second year on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Bilston Grammar School.
The final was played at the Hawthorns, West Bromwich Albion FC’s ground, and Wednesbury kicked-off attacking the Birmingham end. They maintained a steady pressure, and Bilston’s attacks were mostly confined to breakaways.
After 25 minutes centre-forward Fellows put Wednesbury in the lead. They attacked strongly after this and by the interval were three goals ahead. Outside-left Dawson scored the second and Fellows added another.
Bilston failed to recover from this harsh setback and during the second half most of the play was confined near the Bilston goal area, but Wednesbury missed as many chances as they took.
David Griffiths, Wednesbury’s inside-right and captain, scored, and Darby headed the ball home direct from a corner.
Towards the end of the match Fellows added two more goals, bringing his total to 50 for the season, which is a school record.
Bilston, smaller and less powerful than their opponents, were never really in the game with a chance, and their forwards were easily held by the Wednesbury defence, which was well-marshalled by right-half Whitehouse.
Winger Southall was the only Wednesbury forward who failed to score, but he was a constant menace to the opposing defenders with his speed and accurate crossing.
Mr E C Witcombe, headmaster, attributed this year’s success to the fact that the team was virtually the same as that of last season. It was a strong team whereas Bilston’s team was comprised of younger an less experienced players.
The standard of play was very high, and he congratulated Bilston for playing well, although “they were fairly trounced”.
In the various rounds of the cup Wednesbury met and defeated T P Riley, Kings Norton, Holly Lodge and Sheldon Heath in the semi-final. They scored 22 goals, and had only one recorded against them.
1969 First XI
The First XI, 1968-69 – photograph printed in the Scope vol 1 no 1 magazine
(the first issue from the new Wood Green High School).
WBHS 