MEMORIES OF A NATIONAL SERVICEMAN

                                                            Gibraltar  1953/54

                                                                TREVOR SIDAWAY
                              ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

                                                           

                                        FOOTBALL IN GIBRALTAR( part one)

This part deals mainly with the series of games played between the Combined Services

Select eleven and the GFA Select eleven

 

                                                    Military Football                                         

                                              The Combined Services Team

With compulsory National Service in place, the British Armed forces numbered more than half a million

with the majority as conscripts between the ages of eighteen and twenty one.

Amongst the many thousands of servicemen on the Rock were a number of National Servicemen who had

played at a professional level so that, potentially, a very potent team was available for selection from the

Army, Navy and Air force Garrison

Following a couple of games for the REME first eleven and a trial game played at Victoria Stadium I was

selected for the Combined Services team and held my place for all the matches played against a number of

professional teams visiting the Rock and the series of five matches played annually against the GFA select

eleven

                       Every regiment and unit had at least one team, the REME fielded two teams
      

  REME first eleven, played in the Eastern Military League      Pictured at the Europa Sports ground 

                                                                                                                                                              I’m front row, far right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                                                                 Civilian Football

                              The Gibraltar Football Association

The Gibraltarians were passionate about their football and the GFA, the Gibraltar Football Association,

has many senior and junior affiliated teams in its population of more than 30,000, the more senior teams

were effectively semi-professional
It had a well established and professionally coached "National" representative side whose players, in the

50’s, were beginning to exhibit ball skills and patterns of play that were to typify European, particularly

Spanish, and South American teams and had a number of players with outstanding skills
The period 1949 to 1955 is generally regarded, by the GFA, as being the golden era of Gibraltarian

Football

 It was during this period that teams such as Real Madrid FC, Atletico Madrid FC, Real Valladolid FC,

Hadjuk-Split, Jonkopings Beogradski FC, Wacker FC, Admira FC and others came to Gibraltar to play

against them.

During this period, the GFA acquitted themselves admirably against senior professionals, the 2-2 draw

against Real Madrid FC in 1949 being perhaps a good example.

The senior games were played on the town stadium—the Victoria Stadium—and spectators were

charged a modest entrance fee

                                                       

 

                                               

 

 

 

 

                                                        

             

The Gibraltar Football Association,

the GFA, is one of the worlds

oldest dating back to 1895 and

has its roots in "kick about" games

with the British Military in the early

part of the nineteenth century

                                                                                    Gibraltar FC, pictured in 1895

 

                                       The Gibraltar Cup

 The Rocks senior competition, the Gibraltar Cup, was a series of five matches between Gibraltar's

"National" side, the GFA, and the Combined Services select eleven
Dating back many years, there was intense rivalry between the two camps and the Services, with many

thousands of young servicemen to pick from, including UK professional players, should have dominated

the series.
We didn't, I played in all the games in the 1953/54 season and we won only two
There were a number of reasons for this, including the advantage to the GFA of playing on their own

artificial pitch at Victoria stadium whose clay surface took some getting used to but, in truth, they were

the better side.

The Stadium held several thousand spectators with a good percentage of Military personnel and the rivalry

in the stands was as fierce as that on the pitch especially as Gibraltarian referees were always used

 

                     GFA versus the Combined Services                                                                                  Victoria Stadium 1953

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                   

                   
                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


     This was the best Services team in the series

      The team was strengthened by the addition of centre forward Gemmell, REME, and Chamberlain,

     1st Duke of Wellington Regiment--they were "resting" in Gib after two years war service in Korea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The forward line;

                                       McMahon    Twissell    Gemmell    Chamberlain    Sidaway

was as good as any I've played in, including my spell with Aston Villa, and were always good for a

number of goals.

 

            McMahon

                                          A Gibraltarian, who had joined the British forces

                                          He was known as Mac, and  was one of three footballing brothers

                                          I think that he was the middle brother, Claudio, and although his older

                                          brother, Alberto, was regarded as the most talented Mac was good enough

                                          to have made it in the professional ranks

                                         After his spell in Gibraltar--I think three years for Gibraltarians who joined

                                         the British Forces--he wou;ld have been posted back to the UK and I lost track

                                         of him but I think that he settled in the UK

               Twissel

                                         He was the only Naval member of the team and he went on to get six English

caps for the                      amateur caps and represented  Great Britain in the 1956 Olympics

                                         He signed professional forms for Plymouth Argyle and was a regular in their

                                         first eleven, he had a terrific shot and had the distinction of being the only

                                         league player to smash a set of floodlights with a miscued shot!

                                         He was eventually transferred to York City and played there for a number

                                         of years

   

            Gemmel

                                          He was Scottish and played at a senior level in Scotland

                                          He was typical of centre forwards of the day, powerful and physical, he caused

                                          a great deal of consternation amongst the relatively lightweight Gibraltarian

                                          defence

                                          He was a regular goalscorer

 

 

 

 

        Chamberlain

                                         He was with the 1st Duke of Wellington Regiment and had seen war service

                                         in Korea before the Gibraltar posting

                                         I only played two representative games with him before I was demobbed but

                                         we immediately formed a good left wing partnership

                                         I understand that he went on to play league football in the UK

 

 

 

            Sidaway

                                         I was an amateur on Aston Villas books and played regularly in their youth

                                         teams

                                         Playing for an Army eleven against one of the Gibraltarian civilian teams

                                         I was  badly injured, spending 10 days in the Naval Hospital

                                         This effectively finished my serious footballing days

 

 

 

So the Military forward line was always good for a number of goals unfortunately, the defence had

difficulty coping with the lively GFA forwards and we always conceded a number of goals so that the

result was that the games were usually high scoring affairs and  good to watch

 

 

                                                                     Lightweight boots
Claudio McMahon (Mac to all of us) introduced me to a cobbler who tailor made me a pair of football

 boots to replace the Army issue boots that were more suitable to the heavy UK grounds of the time
The lightweight boots were ideal for the artificial surface of Victoria Stadium and made a difference to

my game

 

 

                                                                GFA WIN THE SERIES

          The GFA win the third game in the series and go on to win the five match

                                       competition and the Gibraltar Cup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


      For some reason both the Gibraltar Chronicle and Gibraltar Post insisted in mis-spelling my name as Siddaway

 

                                       A SETTLED GFA SELECT ELEVEN

Unlike the Combined Services the GFA, with their team drawn from the permanent Civilian population whose

players played with or against one another week in week out and with a ongoing coaching system in place

had a decided advantage over the more transient Military teams

 

                                                            The settled GFA Select eleven

 

                                                              Marin

                                             Gonzales              Avelano

                                 Gavilano               Byrne              Ramos                    

                  Cooper          Riendo          Fabre           Rodrigues         Bieso

The regular GFA left back (number 2) was Gonzales, I’m pleased to recall that I usually gave him a

difficult time

 

 


                                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                                               Unsettled military team

As Military players got demobbed or posted to other stations it was inevitable that the team changed

from one match to the next—unlike the Civilian team which remained more or less the same and the

success that the Military had in the opening game was never repeated 

 

 The much changed Combined Services team that lost the third of the five match series

 


              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


     

 

 

                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                Blazer badge awarded after three representative games


                                              My Football in earlier years

My early teenage years were war years, with no organised amateur football and only makeshift

professional football and I kicked  my first real football at the age of twelve at Wrights Lane School

( Rowley Grammar) and played my first real game for Dudley & Staffordshire Technical College at the

age of fourteen, then a street team—Sandford Park—playing in the Smethwick Junior League

                                    DUDLEY & STAFFORDSHIRE TECHNICAL COLLEGE—aged 14          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                        

 

 

 

                                               

                                                                                 SANDFORD PARK  F C--aged 15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Then as an engineering apprentice with the British Thomson Houston Co., I was a regular in their first

eleven from the age of sixteen.
I was also selected for junior (under 18) and senior Birmingham Works FA representative teams and had

a season as an amateur with Aston Villa
I was lightly built, left footed, quick and a natural for the left wing spot    

 

                                                           BRITISH THOMSON HOUSTON CO LTD—aged 16          

                                                                        Front row second right

                                                                                                                                      I’m on the right

 

                                                                                                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    

                                                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


                                                          AN ASTON VILLA AMATUER--Aged 18

 

 

 

 

 

 


                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                          A very formal invitation to play by Mr Smith, club secretary

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  This badly faded letter was addressed to my father, inviting him to meet with the club

  secretary, Mr Smith, to discuss my future with them, including the possibility of professional terms.
  My employment contract with the BTH would have made such a move difficult and my father, a local

  Bookmaker, having seen many ex professionals finish up in dead end jobs was unenthusiastic so

  nothing came of it
  The letter was written by a Bob Iverson who together with George Cummings were coaches to the

  reserve and junior Villa teams.
  Both had recently retired from the Villa playing ranks after many years with them.
  Bob was a cultured wing half and George a less cultured but very effective full back 

                                                                                       

 

 

                                                           Better than the Bahamas

 

          Playing trains with Prince Charles & Princess Anne                  More about the models      

       

                                                 "Resting" in Tangiers--at the EL Farhar
                          

                                                      Football in Gibraltar (Part two))         
                                                                                                                                               

                                                            Keeping the Laundry going and other Sports

 

                                                                The REME Badge

 

                                                                          Home

 
             email me   trevor_sidaway@hotmail.com                        Link to "Black Country Stories"