‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 10 Schools coaching – London Cup

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 10

Schools coaching – London Cup

I finished my degree and went on to get a PGCE teaching qualification in History and a Games qualification that allowed me to coach most sports, including Football, Rugby Union Volleyball and Basketball. Armed with this I returned to London and taught for a year at George Green School on the Isle of Dogs. Immediately I got engaged in school football and had the pleasure of working alongside West Ham scout Jimmy Firrell. Fortunately, after a year of working as a Supply Teacher I picked a permanent job at St Bernard’s in Bethnal Green. This was a split site school with one building on Old Bethnal Green Road and the other on Valance Road, familial home of the Kray twins. A lot of people believe that facilities make a school. Untrue. Comparing George Green and St Bernard’s the former had way superior modern buildings but less than half the school spirit of the latter. Our buildings in Valance Road were set in a small space with no grass in sight. Games were played in a restricted playground but the kids made the most of what they had. It was a surprise that when I offered to take the U17 Football side, everyone in the administration got very interested. They wanted to know how often I would take them after school and for how long. To my further surprise they actually said I’d be getting paid a decent amount for doing it. The school was on ILEA’s register of underprivileged schools and there was funding available to promote extra-curricular activity. I later found out that they would have paid me to take any group after school be it tiddlywinks or chess, as long as I’d put in the necessary paperwork. Little did I realise but I was about to embark on one of the greatest coaching experiences of my life.

 In the London School area in the eighties, there were various age group versions of the ‘London Cup’ ranging from U11 –U17. We were entered into the senior age group, the Lipton Shield. Here began a crazy ‘under the radar’ campaign where we won six matches in extraordinary circumstances. On at least three occasions we came back from two goals down to win. We played all our games ‘away’ because we had no pitch of our own. Some of the school’s we played were real heavyweights on the school scene. Probably most surprising of all, the St Bernard’s school management were seemingly unaware of our exploits, only a select few parents and supporters came along but here we were beating the best sides in London! On the way we played Hackney Free & Parochial at the Marshes, St Bonaventure's at Newham, Sir George Monoux out at Walthamstow, went west to Carshalton, east to play Dagenham Priory and a City School in Central Foundation, before taking on Lambeth heavy-weights Sir Henry Thornton, when, against all the odds we reached the final. The Cup organisers contacted me and said they were unsure who should host the final. My response was to say we had had six away games so we should host the game, which admittedly, was difficult with no home ground! Fortunately, I had a contact on Tower Hamlets Council and with a bit of persuasion managed to get East London Stadium to host the game for us, we were after all an East London side.

 In the Lipton Shield, London Cup Final we would meet Sir Henry Thornton of Lambeth. They were previous Champions in the competition, a tall side and boasted several players who would eventually go to play professionally, the most famous being big striker Kevin Campbell of Arsenal and Everton. On the day we were under extreme pressure. After 20 minutes we had a chance of our own only to see the Lambeth side break away and get the first goal. Going in at half time 0-1 would have been manageable but right on the whistle we conceded from a corner. In the second half St Bernard’s boys really stepped up and with ten to go we managed to pull a goal back to make it, 1-2. Then as we pressed for an equaliser they broke away to score a third and seal the win. What an effort, runners up in a London wide competition of over 120 schools. The boys collected their Runners-up medals in front of the East London Stadium crowd. Most of our support had bunked off school to come along! This wonderful effort unfortunately hardly registered on the airwaves of our own School, only a full match report in the Local newspaper awoke people to our achievement. That was a salutary lesson for me as a coach. You can only set your own standards and goals. Don’t rely on others sharing your passion but make share you are your own side’s best and biggest advocate.

Round Opponent Score

1 Hackney Free & Parochial 3-2

2 Central Foundation 4-2

3 St Bonaventure’s 5-3

4 Dagenham Priory 4-0

5 Carshalton School 2-1

Semi George Monoux 3-2

Final Sir Henry Thornton 1-3