by Barry Smith
PART THREE - COUNTY LEAGUERS (1957-1984)
After so much success in the Stafford Amateur League the club looked for a new challenge by joining the Staffordshire County League (North) in time for the 1957-58 season, which marked the beginning of a 27-year association with that league.
A highly respectable third place was achieved in the first season, but the highlight was winning the May Bank Cup at the first attempt. Victories over Northwood Rangers, Knutton Rangers, Park Hall and Michelin paved the way to the final where Port Vale ‘A’ awaited. Vale had hammered Rocester 8-0 the week before the final and were the obvious favourites to win the cup, however a solitary goal by Eric Ault turned the form book upside-down and Rocester won the cup.
The May Bank Cup was retained in 1958-59 when Wolstanton United were beaten 1-0 in the final, and the Uttoxeter Cup was also added to the trophy cabinet following a 9-0 destruction of neighbours Uttoxeter Amateurs in the final, which was played at Oldfields.
A fine run in the Staffordshire Junior Cup almost provided a third piece of silverware for the season. Audley, Knutton Rangers and Fenton Amateurs were all well beaten as the team cruised through to the Northern Zone semi-final where they were drawn away to Leek Town.
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Possibly the best performances of the season resulted in a magnificent 5-1 win, and earned a trip to take on Wolstanton United under the floodlights of Stoke City's Victoria Ground in the Northern Final - the first time Rocester had played under lights.
It proved to be a memorable evening for the five bus loads of Rocester supporters who travelled up to the Potteries for the game. Tony Wain (2) and Brian Walker scored the goals in a fine 3-0 win which put Rocester through to the overall final against Stone St. Michaels.
Stoke City's legendary manager Tony Waddington came into the dressing room after the game to congratulate the team, and, in reference to Brian Walker's bullet-like shot for the last goal asked; "Where's the lad who scored that third goal? I've never seen a goal like that before!"
Despite a brave performance in the final at Stafford Rangers' Marston Road ground, the St. Michaels team deservedly took the cup with a 4-2 win. |
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1959: The Uttoxeter Challenge Cup is won at Oldfields - Rocester 9 Uttoxeter Amateurs 0 (click to enlarge) |
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Tony Croft was among Rocester's most prolific goal scorers in the 1960s.
During the course of the 1962-63 season Tony netted 44 goals, which included six scored against Bamfords in a Uttoxeter Cup tie, seven in a 12-1 league win at Newcastle Town, and another six against Stafford Colliery.
In addition, he hit four more hat-tricks that season. |
Although the semi-finals of both the Uttoxeter and May Bank Cups were reached in 1959-60 the club had its first barren season for eight years, and that set the trend for much of the 1960’s with only the odd cup success breaking up a series of mediocre seasons.
The most notable achievements were beating Milton United 3-1 in the 1961 County League Cup final (Ivan Ash, Ray Morley and Peter Walker scoring the goals), and thrashing Cheadle Town 8-0 in the 1962 Uttoxeter Cup final, Brian Walker netting four of them.
During the summer of 1969 the club's future was put into doubt when almost the entire team broke away to form a new club in the village called Springfield Old Boys. To the great credit of the small committee, the team was quickly rebuilt and Rocester managed to end the 1969-70 season in fourth place - one point and one place ahead of Springfield Old Boys! |
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Further improvements to the team soon followed and the 1970-71 campaign brought the first league championship trophy for fifteen years back to the village. Rocester topped Division One of the County League after taking 36 points from their 22 matches - finishing six points clear of nearest challengers Kidsgrove Athletic.
However, promotion to the Premier Division produced serious problems for the team, and the first season in the top flight saw Rocester finish firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with only nine points gained from the 22 matches played. Relegation was avoided thanks to the restructuring of the league, but interest in the club was at an all-time low and it was recorded in the club's minute book that just one spectator from the village attended the 3-1 home defeat against Rists United in November 1971.
Despite a poor season on the field the 1971-72 club accounts showed a turnover of £910.70p (which included just £15.27p from gate receipts) and a "healthy" balance of £176.44p in the National Westminster Bank.
The committee remained active behind the scenes and were trying to move the club forward with a number of plans. During the summer of 1972 club officials met with their counterparts from the two other football clubs based in the village - Springfield Youth Club and Springfield Old Boys - to discuss an amalgamation, with the aim being to create one successful community club. This went ahead fairly quickly and Rocester were able to field sides in both the Premier Division and Division Two of the County League along with an Under-18 team, which was entered into the Leek & Cheadle Youth League. |
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1970-71 - County League Division One Champions Back Row: Alan Smith; Keith Hibberd; Peter Swanwick; Barry Hulton; Marion Nawrot; David Tideswell. Front Row: David Evans; Mick Ratcliffe; Steve Brewster; Barry Thwaites; Leon Hibberd. Team captain Kenny Leese is missing from the photo. |
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Blood Brothers Several times during the early 1970s three brothers - Alf, George and Steve Blood - played alongside each other in County League fixtures. |
Running a junior team enabled the club to make use of the facilities at Springfield Secondary School with the proviso that training sessions were run under the tutorship of a qualified coach, and this was quickly arranged. Another result of the amalgamation was the appointment of Alf Blood in June 1972 as first team manager - Mr. Blood had been in charge of the Springfield Old Boys team.
Work also began on a bathroom extension to the pavilion after running water had been laid on for the first time, although the task had been undertaken by people from within the club and took many months to complete. |
One project that didn't come to fruition was the purchase of a new ground on land bounded by Mill Lane, the River Dove and 'the cut' which was owned by local butcher Mr. Holmes. The club offered to buy a piece of the land but Mr. Holmes was only interested in selling the whole 8½ acres at an asking price of £6000. Undeterred, the committee decided to pursue their interest and co-opted the village cricket club and bowling club in a bid to create a sports centre on the site. Grant applications were made but failed to produce the necessary funding after the Parish Council backed plans by the Rocester Playing Fields Committee to erect a general purpose building in the village rather than the Football Club's proposals. This setback soon proved to be irrelevant when the project was dropped as soon as it was discovered that the land was classified as "wash" land, and as such could not be re-surfaced or built upon.
Some fifteen years later the club returned to Mr. Holmes and purchased the same piece of land from him for £12,000, and during the summer of 1987 made it their new home. But more about that later.
Back on the field, following a slow start to the 1972-73 season results began to improve. The manager had brought in a couple of new players including England Schoolboy International John Webb from Mayfield, who made his debut in a 1-0 win over Burslem Albion in January 1973. The team eventually managed to lift themselves up into a tenth place finish, but were then given a setback when Alf Blood resigned from his position because he wanted to continue playing instead.
Little time was wasted in appointing Geoff Shenton as Manager in May 1973, who was offered a cash incentive of £10 for every trophy won by his team on top of his expenses.
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Over the next decade the club firmly established itself in the Premier Division, always finishing in the top half of the table but never mounting a really serious title challenge.
Cup football however, was a completely different matter as the team reached no less than eight cup finals between 1975 and 1980 - winning three of them.
The successes came in the 1976-77 and 1979-80 Premier League Cup competitions when Baddeley Green W.M.C. (3-1) and Clayton Park (2-1) were beaten, and in the 1978 Uttoxeter Challenge Cup when Uttoxeter Town were easily dispatched 4-0 at Oldfields.
Among the five final defeats was a humiliating 6-1 hiding by Clayton Park in the 1978 Bourne Sports Trophy. Rocester also reached the final of the Staffordshire Challenge Cup (formerly the Junior Cup) for only the second time ever in 1979 but narrowly lost 2-1 after extra time to a powerful Holden Lane side that had just finished runners-up in the league.
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