Dear WSC
The article on the FA Cup’s longest tie (Draw to a close, WSC 298) reminded me of what I believe is still officially the longest single match between two English sides – the second leg of a Division Three cup tie between Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers on March 30, 1946. After extra time, the score stood at 2-2 – which was also the score following the first leg. Having checked with the local authorities, the referee let the game carry on until one team scored, the original Golden Goal. After 203 minutes and with darkness setting in, the match was finally brought to an end. The story goes that fans left the match to go home for their tea and returned later to carry on watching. The replay at Doncaster was won by the home team 4-0. This might not be quite as impressive as the longest football match ever, which I believe currently standards at 57 hours. This epic encounter between Leeds Badgers and Warwickshire Wolves in 2010 was played to raise money for charity.
Alan Bredee, Enfield
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Stories
Hayes and Yeading’s controversial merge has yet to have the desired affect off the pitch with fresh doubts over the financial future of the club. John van Laer looks at where it all went wrong in West London
The official statement to announce the formation of Hayes & Yeading United FC in 2007 asserted that the two major clubs in the west London suburb of Hayes would “join forces, integrate resources and bring together a community, creating a new super-club on the non-League scene”. A key part of this ambitious plan was to sell Hayes FC’s stadium and land on Church Road, and use the funds raised to redevelop Yeading’s council-owned ground to create a multi-purpose facility that meets Conference grading regulations, while also generating extra income from renting out all-weather, floodlit pitches to the local community.
Jon Spurling goes back to Boxing Day 1963, when 66 goals were scored in the First Division
As Christmas 1963 approached, weathermen warned a shivering nation to expect a recurrence of what had happened 12 months previously. The winter of 1962 was the worst since the big freeze of 1946, when the snow began on Boxing Day and wiped out football for virtually the next two and a half months. The occasional game was played here and there, but most were played out in the minds of the newly created Pools Panel, who met each weekend in a secret London location and guessed what each result might have been.
Fans are raising funds for their clubs through a variety of means, writes Rich Middleton
You would be hard pressed to work out what a gnome dressed in a Mansfield Town home kit has to do with former Stoke and Swansea striker Paul Connor. Saying that, the link between Oxford United’s Jake Wright and a crested mug could be considered to be equally confusing. But both footballers have been direct recipients of creative financing as fans turn to new and increasingly innovative methods to fund players’ salaries.
An important game at the top of League Two, watched by Piers Pennington, sees the homeless side from South Yorkshire lose a fifth consecutive away game, while forward-thinking hosts keep their play-off hopes alive
A few days before the game a familiar name which I couldn’t quite place for the moment popped up in my email inbox; an old friend who hadn’t been in touch for a while I assumed. Ah yes, old Harry Worley, what’s he up to these days I wondered for a second or two before the penny dropped.