NORTONTHORPE’S GOLDEN AGE

by Matt Ottey

Nortonthorpe have been a competitive side for many years, fighting and challenging all opposition sides. 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 an ailing Huddersfield Central League, which provided the setting for the first of many pieces of silverware for the club. In 1940, as conflict engulfed Europe, Nortonthorpe’s first eleven bagged the Huddersfield Central League title, pipping Penistone to the championship.

As opening batsmen for that team, Norman Mosley knows more than most about how and why Nortonthorpe were so successful. ‘‘We didn’t expect to lose, we saw ourselves as the best team about, and our results backed us up,’’ says Norman. The remarkable belief within this team obviously paid dividends, with the team embarking on a two-year undefeated streak.

Huddersfield Central League & Allsop Cup Winners

Nortonthorpe scooped another title in 1950, beating league leaders Shelley on the final day of the season. This was to be the foundation on which Nortonthorpe’s golden era grew. “The track at Nortonthorpe was so good to bat on,” Norman recalls. “Frank (Exley), who was captain at the time, loved a bat; he was also groundsman so he’d tinker with it to make it a bit more batsman-friendly! For the bowlers, though, it was a nightmare - neither team could get anyone out!’’.

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. 1963 saw the highpoint of the golden age at Nortonthorpe with trophies arriving in bulk. Not only did the first team seize Huddersfield Central League (with an emphatic win over fellow title chasers Scholes helping) and Allsop Cup titles in that year, the seconds also got in on the act by storming to another Tinker Cup final victory.

Nortonthorpe were experiencing the best period of cricket in their history, with silverware ever present and players at the peak of their game. However, as Norman remembers, the players weren’t exactly angels. “We were a good side, teams didn’t want to come and play us; we were a bit naughty at times, not the most sporting bunch! It wasn’t like we were all cheating, we just played a gentlemanly game!”

Nortonthorpe reaffirmed their Central League supremacy by clinching the title in 1964. The first half of the decade was almost over, and many would be forgiven for thinking that Nortonthorpe’s ‘honeymoon’ period in the Central League 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 can be passed off as luck, but to replicate it confirms that there was more than just good fortune at work.

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

1965 Cutting

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