I was in my 2nd year of apprenticeship before my association ended with the Boys Brigade in 1967, as did my captainship of the 3rd Sutton Coldfield "A" football team. I was always on the short side but in the BB team age range of 11-17 it didn't matter but I soon found out size does matter when you are playing works football.
The style of play was genteel and friendly (for the most part) in the BB, although still competitive, but works football was positively brutal, I didn't have the bodyweight to play my normal midfield position and was put on the wing, The Salisbury Transmission Team was pretty mediocre at the time and I remember little of the matches, their home ground was on playing fields a Barrows Lane, Sheldon (which was difficult for me to get to from Erdington on a Sunday until I got my motorbike), one match in particular I remember for the wrong reason - I found myself in a good position to make an attempt at goal but just as I was about to shoot the opposing team's animal of a leftback lunged at me making no attempt to go for the ball, he landed on my leg and I went down like a sack of potatoes, unfortunately in those days vanity prevailed over commonsense as I was not wearing shin guards, if I had my injury would have been far less - 50 years on I still have the stud mark on my left shin.
He should have been sent off and a penalty awarded, but somehow he escaped.
Peg.