THE DOUBLE DOUBLE!

The Swingin’ Sixties by Matt Ottey

Nortonthorpe have been a competitive club for many years, challenging all the other local teams. In the early 1900s the two senior sides regularly battled it out at the top of the Dearne Valley League, along with local rivals Denby Dale and Clayton West.

As the century progressed, Nortonthorpe were asked to join the then ailing Huddersfield Central League. In time, silverware started to arrive. In 1940, as conflict engulfed Europe, Nortonthorpe’s first eleven bagged the league title, just pipping local rivals Penistone to the honour.

Nortonthorpe scooped another title in 1950, beating league leaders Shelley on the final day of the season. This was to be the starting-point for the club’s ‘golden era’.

As the 50s became the 60s, Nortonthorpe’s glory years well and truly took off. In 1960 the second eleven won the Tinker Cup, before the firsts notched up their first Allsop Cup title a year later. The highpoint came in 1963 with trophies arriving in bulk. Not only did the first team seize the Central League title (assisted by an emphatic win over fellow title chasers Scholes) and Allsop Cup, but the seconds also got in on the act by storming to another Tinker Cup final victory.

Huddersfield Central League & Allsop Cup Winners, 1963

Nortonthorpe were experiencing the best period of cricket in their history, with silverware ever present and players at the peak of their game. Captained by Rowland Hardy, and with current Nortonthorpe umpires Norman Mosley and Roy England opening the batting, the team was as talented as it was successful.  

The club reaffirmed their Central League supremacy by clinching the title in 1964. The first half of the decade was almost over, and many would have been forgiven for thinking that their ‘honeymoon’ period in the competition would not, and could not, continue.

However, in 1965 Nortonthorpe firsts repeated their historic feat of 1963 by completing another league-and-cup ‘double’. To achieve this feat once was impressive; to do it twice was amazing and confirmed that the side was at the peak of its powers.

Thanks to the skill and determination of these players, for Nortonthorpe the 1960s were swingin’ in every sense of the word.

League Champions, 1965

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