In the beginning...

My earliest recollection of kicking a football is against the wall of The Hobmoor, the pub opposite my Gran and Granddad's home in Fast Pits Road, Birmingham. I must have been about 7 or 8 and Dad and Granddad were usually "propping up the bar" inside!

Granddad (George Cockerill) was a scout for Birmingham City Football Club and in his day had been a pretty mean footballer himself. He had great dreams for me, possibly arising from his own thwarted career. In 1913 he had been offered a place at Preston Football Club however he was a young married man with his first child (my mother) on the way and Gran refused to move the 100 or so miles away from her family. One can only speculate on the path his life might have taken had Gran been a little more flexible.

I didn't play organised football until attending Bierton Road School at the age of 11. Until then games were slap-dash affairs with assorted kids from the neighbourhood. However, Granddad had spent many years of one-on-one coaching and I was consequently picked for the school team almost immediately. During my early days football for kids was very different from today. World War II was in full swing and resources were scarce. One resource which was non-existent was rubber bladders for the heavy leather footballs. We learnt to be quite resourceful during the war and soon found that pigs bladders worked nearly as well...with a little tinkering here and there!

On 2 January 1946 I played in a schoolboys match, Surrey vs Birmingham & District, at Selhurst Park. We drew 1 all. Members of the Birmingham & District team included Derek Pace who went on to play for Aston Villa and A. Sneddon who went on to play for Coventry City. Part of a newspaper review of the match, headlined Good Football in County Game, reads

Smith put Birmingham level before half time. The visitor's other winger, Nutt, took everybody's fancy. His ball control was quite in the [Stanley] Matthews manner.

Bullet Smith played with me at at Bierton Road School.

On 11 May 1946 Bierton Road School played in the final of the Birmingham Schools Cup at Villa Park against Handsworth Technical School. Bierton Road won 3-2. Captain of the Bierton Road team was George Allen who went on to play for Birmingham City. Bullet Smith was also part of this winning team.

Winners of the Birmingham Schools Cup 1946
I'm seated front row far right and the captain, George Allen is centre front

On 24 May 1947 I captained Birmingham Boys in a schoolboys inter city match against London Boys at Dulwich Hamlet FC Ground. Birmingham won 4-2 and I kicked the last of our 4 goals. Excerpts from the 2 newspaper reviews I've kept read...

Birmingham took command due largely to the inspiration of Gordon Nutt who initiated some good movement among the forwards.

Birmingham was outplayed towards the end but Nutt made a great solo run and placed the ball wide of Broadhurst, London Boys' goalkeeper.

Among the boys playing that day were Tony Marchi (London) who played for Tottenham Hotspur for many years, Ray Loveitt and John Quinney (Birmingham) both of whom played for Coventry City and Crowshaw (also Birmingham) who played for Aston Villa.