Rob Haworth: Falcons 1970-1974
To have any chance of playing university football in 1970 you had to attend trials – recommended by the college captain to the powers that be of CUAFC. The students were in complete charge of all arrangements and selection. I was the only player from Corpus put forward – it seemed Corpus was not expected to have anyone who could kick a ball and it transpired that in my 4 years at Corpus no known player in the years before me had played for a university team and none were to follow. At that time Queens, Cats, Johns and Christ's tended to be well represented.
I played my first game for the Falcons (note there were no Kestrels at that time) in November 1970 against The Friends’ School at Saffron Walden; they put out a ‘club’ side against us which included a couple of members of staff. At that time the Falcons played a good number of fixtures against school sides...there seemed to be some missionary zeal involved (spreading the game to the masses) and I remember playing against Soham Grammar School and King Edward VII School, King’s Lynn amongst others. Following this accidental selection – I was on a list of possibles to be drafted in for the less prestigious matches – I was asked to attend Falcons training under the guise of the then Falcons captain – Ian Hatton (Peterhouse) at Christ’s College Sports Ground... then some way out on Huntingdon Road I think. I recall some of the training took place at the same time as, but not with, the ‘Blues’, save for occasional end of training practice match. At the time the ‘Blues’ were trained by Keith Blunt; his view was that the students were a bunch of softies and needed hardening up. His training sessions consisted of 3 hours of shuttle runs followed by 2 hours of shuttle runs. The Blues did as told; it was the path to the precious blue (interestingly, Keith Blunt was an Old Hull Grammarian – a school where I was to serve my first headship from 1991-2005). Fortunately Keith Blunt soon moved to pastures new and was replaced by Ken Burton (aka "knock off son"), a gentleman, a great coach and mentor, a football man through and through; I believe these were FA appointments.
Ken Burton’s playing career was ended prematurely through injury; he managed Corby Town and the England Youth Team which won the European Youth Championship in 1975 – including the likes of Ray Wilkins, Glen Hoddle, Bryan Robson & Alan Curbishley.
From January 1971 until the second term of my PGCE/fourth year I played as many Falcons matches as were physically possible. For much of that time I was in the happy position of selecting myself...without consultation or interference from the Blues squad – which operated as an almost separate entity. The outreach games diminished and we played more university 2nd teams as time went on. In addition we played in the Argonaut Trophy - at the time a knockout competition for amateur sides which took us all around the south of England. I remember a successful trip to Cirencester Agricultural College and a rather less successful one to play Lloyd's Insurance in London; it was accepted that we would do OK in the competition until we came across one of the London Financial Institutions who played on luxurious turf in the capital’s suburbs with umpteen to chose from.
I never knew how any fixtures came about...and I only knew where to deposit the shirts for laundering and where to pick them up in time for the next match; we had just 10 shirts... light blue short sleeves, green body all of which were robust (made of rugby shirt material) but heavily faded... for the whole time I played. No reserve kit, no track suits, no ‘merch’. We had to buy Falcons’ socks or wear college ones and provide our own white shorts. I have a team photo – in black & white of course – which I’ll send to you.
I played in umpteen Blues matches but I was never quite good enough to make the XI to play the old enemy at Wembley. I was a member of the CUAFC squad that took part in 2 BUSF (British Universities Sports Federation) tournaments in Oxford in March 1972 at Oxford University and in March 1973 at Southampton University (for which we were awarded a CUAFC tracksuit... which I still have). At the former I played a whole match for the Blues against Oxford University (we won 2-1) in the preliminary rounds. I also played in 3 of the annual fixtures against the Centaurs.
CUAFC Falcons 1971-72: A. Clennett, G. Smith, I. Walker, K. Moriarty, H. Gross, P. Butler, K. Hodge, R. Baker, H. Paver, R. Haworth (C), G. Graveson, E. Robinson
For the most part the Falcons played on college grounds; better, I feel, than Grange Road which in the early ‘70s the Blues had to suffer (the grass was always much too long and the ground underneath very bumpy). In ’72 a number of CUAFC home fixtures were played on Fenners; I remember one particularly wet and cold winter we played Cambridge United a couple of times; since they had had so many matches cancelled they came to us for a practice match on a near perfect surface.
I think I have now bored myself into submission. It’s a long time ago but some of the memories are as clear as a bell. I remember with great pleasure playing a lot of matches alongside Howard Paver (Clare) in defence who went on to get a Blue – deservedly. And I remember the Blues captain Malcolm Bailey, one of the very best players of his generation at the university: an immense talent. I was lucky to have been given the opportunity; I continued to play for a pretty ordinary Corpus team on every possible occasion. Football (and excellent college cricket in the summer) provided a fantastic relief from the many hours of academic study and some lifelong friends.
If you would like to share your story of your CUAFC experience, please get in touch with Ben Adam at alumni.cuafc@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!
