More about the Pompey Boys of '48

I asked if any of the team were still with us.

Bill Albury’s wife Mary got in touch to say how pleased they were to read the article.

Bill loves thinking over old times and remembers the match clearly. He later played for the full adult side and went from Pompey to Gillingham then Yeovil before managing Waterlooville.

Mary tells me she has a season ticket and sits with Joan Philips (Len’s wife). Their son and granddaughter support Pompey as well.

They went down to Yeovil to watch the game and were disappointed that they only managed a draw.

Another who got in touch was George Warren, who is in the back row second from the left. George played centre forward that day and scored two goals.

Ralph Hunt went on to play for Oxford United and was tragically killed in a car crash while still on Oxford’s books. John Lennon went to live in Cyprus many years ago and George believes he is still there.

Edward Amey tells me that he remembers the team well. Ivan (Ginger) Green had a mop of red hair. John Davies signed for Pompey but went on to Doncaster Rovers.

Bill Albury Edward remembers he once hit him full in the face with a misplaced drive. Those old leather balls really hurt!

On another note about Pompey but about the professional side, Phyllis Sait of Gosport reminded me of Phil Gunter, who played in defence.

Phyllis tells me that Phil made local headlines when he refused to play on Good Friday, Christmas Day or a Sunday.

She has a record of him singing ‘I Get aKick Out of Life’.

Gunter was playing in the reserves and played so well he was picked for the first team in a match against Newcastle United on October 27, 1951.

The game was one of the cleanest and was called a ‘classic match’.

When Phil was a lay preacher he loved to speak to young people and tell them how to get a ‘kick out of life’. He certainly did Phyllis tells me.