BRIGG FOOTBALLERS FROM THE ERA WHEN ENGLAND WERE WORLD CHAMPIONS

With the Euro 2020 England v Italy final coming up at Wembley tonight (Sunday) from 8pm, some people in Brigg who have long connections at local level with the Beautiful Game have been in nostalgic mood about teams and matches from the past.
Sir Alf Ramsey's 1966 England were still reigning champions of the world when this picture was taken in our town circa 1969.
It's a Brigg Grammar School team (thought to be the Under-14s) and has kindly been shared with us by local man Kye Brown, who features in the line-up. He has also provided all the boys' names. Some of them went on to play for local club teams, including Brigg Town, Ancholme Wanderers and Hibaldstow.
Back row, left to right: Marc Beckers, Kye Brown, Philip Spring, Trev Foreman, Mel Parker and Paul Sykes.
Front row, left to right: Stephen Hinge, Nige Ellis, Pete Bowler, Denis Ratcliffe and Don Ashworth.
Goalkeeper Trevor Foreman was the son of Brigg police's Sgt Ernie Foreman (based at the old station on Wrawby Street) while Peter Bowler's Dad (also Ernest) was a well-known doctor and GP who lived on Wrawby Road, later moving to Hibaldstow.
Nigel Ellis and Paul Sykes played club cricket for Scunthorpe Town, with Don Ashworth doing likewise for Hibaldstow.
Brigg Grammar School age group teams enjoyed matches against many similar schools at football and cricket in the period when this picture was taken, including Barton, De Aston (Market Rasen), Lincoln, Caistor, Clee and even Boston (quite a drive in a school bus!).
The U14 picture was taken on the edge of the Grammar School sports field (now Sir John Nelthorpe School) with the boarding house, where some of the pupils lived during term time, as a backdrop.
This tall late Victorian building it still present today but has a different use - boarding having been phased out many years ago.
Brigg Grammar supplemented its games against other schools with inter-house matches in which all the boys shown here featured.
The houses were Ancholme (for pupils who lived in Brigg), School House, Nelthorpe, Sheffield and Yarborough.
Three or so years after this picture was taken, the boundaries for the rural areas were redrawn to equate house numbers.
Certain settlements in the south of Brigg Grammar's catchment area were added to Ancholme House (then the smallest) with some of the school's best footballers becoming honorary Brigg residents. This resulted in Ancholme - previously one of the weakest houses - becoming senior football champions.
We can claim a small off-the-field part in this success, having suggested a shortlist of 'transfer' villages to Ancholme's housemaster, Harold Stinson, the maths master who lived on Redcombe Lane.
He put this forward successfully and we were pleasantly surprised to get a result, to use a modern football phrase.
Brigg Blog would welcome more sports team pictures from the past so we can feature them in future posts.
Sir Alf's England team lost their coveted champions' crown in June 1970 - being knocked out of the World Cup in Mexico by West Germany in the quarter-finals. England were two goals to the good but the Germans bounced back - Uwe Seeler scoring one of the greatest headed goals seen in a major international tournament. View it here...
Many Brigg households are now flying the flag for England or displaying England emblems ahead of tonight's big match.