The Little Village: Long Melford vs. Thetford Town

Photo journalist David Bauckham of Centre Circle Publishing visited Stoneylands on 16 November 2019 and produced two wonderful features on our great club.

Initially his ‘Thru The Lens’ photo article featured as a double-page spread in the Non-League Paper, and on 27 December 2019 he followed that up be a more in-depth feature on his own website.

The piece, which starts by focusing on the current team, also looked at the club’s history as well as The Villagers’ impact on the local community since its first ever game in 1868.

You can read the full article below, or see it on David’s website with a huge gallery of photos he took from his day in ‘The Little Village’…

“This time last year we were in the middle of a two month run without actually winning a game, and we got ourselves into a relegation battle because of it. So we’re just trying to enjoy winning football matches as much as possible.”

Long Melford manager Jamie Bradbury is refusing to get carried away, despite an eight match unbeaten run that has propelled the ‘Little Villagers’ to second in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League (ECL).

He is right not to get too carried away though; after all it is unusual to find a club occupying such a lofty position in a league table whilst also having a negative goal difference.

He laughs. “Yes, Stanway Rovers, who put nine past us have a lot to answer for”. “They battered us, and we had as good a side as we could have put out that night. It was just one of those nights when nothing went our way. But they were on fire and just cruising. It was one of those games that thankfully we’ve put behind us.”

“We are only a small club and to even be in this division is quite big for us really. It was a great achievement to get into the Premier Division and to stay here is one of the main aims. To compete as we are, is brilliant. We’ve got the points in the bag and other teams have got to chase us, but we’ll just see how we go.”

Long Melford have not actually lost a league game since 21 September, and most at the club would freely admit they have been punching above their weight since winning promotion in 2015. A recent ground grading visit identified a few minor issues, including an errant chair next to home dugout. “It was actually put there for an FA Cup game because we needed a fourth official, but it has been there for about a season now” explains Jamie. Grading however, would be the least of the issues to be faced if it came to it.

“I think our current squad would be able to compete on any given day, but it would be tough over the course of a season. So we’d need to improve, and we just don’t have the finances to do it.” “We’re lucky that we’ve got lads who are all local and have been here for a long time. Last week we averaged 117 appearances across the squad, so we’ve got a loyal bunch and I’d love to be in a position where we could give them some money. We just don’t have it to give unfortunately, and we would need that stepping up.”

One has only to walk through Suffolk village of Long Melford, past Georgian houses and windows of numerous small art galleries and boutiques, to realise that it remains as affluent a village as it was during the nineteenth century. Melford’s prosperity was first founded on the wool trade, and it boasts not one but two stately homes: Kentwell Hall and Melford Hall, the latter now in the hands of the National Trust. Both were visited by Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century, and built from the proceeds of wool.

During the 1950s when the club dominated the Essex & Suffolk Border League, crowds of several hundred were not at all unusual. Now however, the average attendance at the club’s Stoneylands ground struggles to reach three figures.

“There is no point chucking loads of money in and stepping up” says Jamie, “because then you need more money and so it goes on. You’ve got to know where you are in the pecking order. You eventually reach a plateau and if that money was suddenly to dry up you’re scuppered. So I’d rather help the club grow organically; get crowds up to 100 on a regular basis; and use any money that would generate to reward the players that we’ve got, and strengthen the squad.”

In the clubhouse are the three wise men of Melford. Last year Secretary Richard Powell received a long service award from the Suffolk FA. He has only been at the club for a mere fourteen years but was a founder member of Cornard United back in 1964. Around the same time President Richard Kemp, and Chairman Colin ‘Alf’ Woodhouse were playing alongside one another for Long Melford, and have never left. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Debra Rowe is preparing a post-match curry for the players and getting ‘Deb’s Diner’ ready for hungry spectators later. They will no doubt be pleased to find Bovril on offer. A school dinner lady during the week, Deb clearly enjoys her work.

Long Melford Football Club is said to have been in existence since at least 1868, with the first recorded match, against Ipswich Rangers, reported to have taken place on The Green, at the northern end of the village. This would make it amongst the oldest clubs in England, founded just five years after the Football Association itself. Relatively little is known of the club in these very early years, although England international William Neville Cobbold who was born in the village in 1863, is thought to have played for Melford during the late 1870s, presumably before going off to study at Charterhouse School.

As well as turning out for the Old Carthusians and Cambridge University, Cobbold made 46 appearances for the Corinthian club, scoring 40 goals – a remarkable record. He scored twice on his international debut against Ireland on 24 February 1883, and went on to win eight more caps. When he died in 1922 his obituary described him as “one of the greatest players of Association Football ever known. He was a superb dribbler, very fast, clever and accurate in passing, and a grand shot at goal.”

It was not until 1883, around the same time that the twenty year-old Cobbold was making his debut for England, that reports of the club began to appear with any regularity in the local press. On 13 January for example, Melford enjoyed a comfortable win over neighbouring Cavendish by “six goals, and one disputed to nil”. The match report was quite disparaging of Cavendish: “their efforts were futile, owing in a very great measure to the fact that their play lacked that indispensable requisite to success in the game as played under Association rules, namely good passing.”

Later that month there was a goalless draw at Clare, where the home side had a goal disallowed as the ball was ruled to have passed just over the tape – highlighting that although the FA had made the crossbar compulsory the previous year, there evidently wasn’t one in this particular match. In February Melford won “a most pleasant and well-contested game” against Mr. Troughton’s Team of Sudbury by two goals to one. A report from 3 November 1883 gives the venue of a match against Sudbury as the Rectory Meadow, where “a large concourse of spectators assembled to witness the game”, which ended in a one-all draw. Other opponents that year included Bury and Haverhill, but all were friendlies at this time.

The Suffolk FA was formed in 1885, and raised interest in football across the county. The prestigious Suffolk Senior Cup was also introduced. Although Long Melford did not join the new Association until the following year, several of their rivals including Stowmarket, Sudbury, and Bury were amongst the eleven founder clubs. Another, Ipswich Association, would merge with Ipswich Rugby Club in 1888 to become Ipswich Town FC.

By 1887 the Long Melford club was reasonably well-established, albeit slightly in debt, and held its annual tea at the Bull Hotel on 12 May, with some forty or so members and others sitting down to a “cold repast” laid on the new landlord Mr. J. A. Brown, no doubt keen to impress.

Thanks were given to the President of the club, the Rev. C. J. Martyn who allowed the club to play on his ground, and apparently often placed his wagonette at their disposal. The club captain was Bernard H. Hurst (b. 1860), a music teacher and organist at Holy Trinity Church, who wore spectacles when playing as a back for the Football Club. After several toasts and communal songs, Hurst: “spoke in high terms of his men, who had never shown the slightest jealousy in regard to the selection of the teams during the season, and had in consequence made his position as captain an easy one. The men had shown themselves sportsmen in every sense of the word.” Further toasts and songs followed.

Although he had joined Long Melford in 1878, Hurst played for Sudbury in the first Senior Cup competition. By this time he had acquired a reputation for hip charging, as a former Ipswich player would later recall: “The first distinct recollection I have of meeting Hurst on the field of play was in a match on the Broom Hill ground at Ipswich, between Ipswich and Sudbury. I was about to shoot a goal when a sturdy back in long white flannel trousers sent me a terrific ‘pearler’ with a heavy charge from the thigh; that back was Bernard Hurst, and I shall remember his knack of charging as being most scientific to the on-looker, most painful to the recipient, and most effective for his own side.”

Long Melford, captained by Hurst, entered the Senior Cup for the first time in 1886-87, reaching the 2nd Round before losing to the eventual winners Ipswich Association. The following season, on 17 December 1887, they met again at the same stage of the competition. This time Melford won by three goals to one in front of a “good company of spectators”. It was evidently an incident-packed match, with two of the Melford goals being “accidentally scored by Ipswich men”, and the visitors themselves having two goals ruled out for offside.

Melford had been drawn at home in every round, and in the semi-final, they were once again. Around 500 spectators each paid 3d to see them beat a “formidable” Beccles College side 3-1. Looking ahead to the final against Woodbridge, the winners in 1886, one correspondent noted that: “Unlike other teams – gathered from far and near – Melford plays with Melfordians alone, and victory would, in consequence, be all the more honourable to them.”

The final was played at Portman Road, then home of the Ipswich Rugby Club, on 10 March 1888. The match was immediately followed by a rugby match and watched by almost 1,000 spectators, “amongst whom there were several ladies”, despite heavy showers throughout the afternoon. The match report commented on the spirit in which it was played, despite the soft ground and high wind: “heavy charges and big kicks were given and taken alike with the greatest politeness.” Further comment was made about the umpires and referee. Instead of wearing the usual umpire’s long coats and wraps, they were dressed in more suitable football “togs”. Having gone two goals down, Melford had pulled a goal back but were still trailing when one the Woodbridge players had to retire “lame”. With seconds remaining Melford equalized following a “scrimmage” to force a replay.

Bury Cricket Club was approached to stage the replay but refused, so the two sides returned to Portman Road on 24 March. Unlike the previous match, the weather was fine with a light breeze, and this encouraged a large crowd. “Judging by the amount of Melford cheering or groaning, the little town must have denuded of at least half its male population for the occasion” wrote the report. In another close game, Melford emerged victorious by a goal to nil.

The annual dinner, held at the Bull Hotel the following month, was attended by almost 100 people of “all classes”, including the Hon. Secretary of the Suffolk FA, Mr. S.A. Notcutt. In his speech, he referred to an “unfortunate paragraph” that had appeared in an Ipswich paper following the earlier tie against Ipswich Association, which he said might lead Melford people to suppose that they were no sportsmen in Ipswich. He added that he felt it was his responsibility to say that the Ipswich club was in no way responsible for it. Bernard Hurst replied that the character of the Melford team had been amply retrieved in the eyes of all who had witnessed their play, and as true sportsmen they entertained the kindliest feelings towards the Ipswich club.

Melford again met Ipswich (now Ipswich Town) in the final at Portman Road on 29 March 1890, in front of around 3,000 spectators. Ipswich had regained the trophy from Melford the previous season, and were 4-1 winners on this occasion. Melford however, had to play for over an hour with ten men, after one of their players injured his collar bone. As the Melford team had to catch the 4.30 train home the trophy was hurriedly presented to the winners immediately after the match by the Rev. Martyn.

The following day a column appeared in the Bury & Norwich Post, penned by ‘Centre Forward’, unhappy that the final had been played at Ipswich. He considered Melford unfortunate, and singled out the “rough play” of some of the Ipswich players and “optical inefficiency” of the umpires, claiming that at least two of the Ipswich goals were offside. He added: “had the Melford captain withdrawn his men when two-thirds of the game was over, I think it would have been the most dignified course to pursue.” It is doubtful that Bernard Hurst would have agreed.

At the club’s annual general meeting in the summer of 1894, the desirability of a new Football League for West Suffolk was discussed. Later, on Tuesday 25 September a meeting took place in the Perserverence Hotel in Long Melford to discuss the proposition further. As well as Bernard Hurst and his brother Alec (Hon. Secretary) from the Melford club, representatives from Sudbury, Haverhill Town, Bury Alexandra, Lavenham, and Glemsford were in attendance.

The proposal was unanimously accepted, and it was resolved to also invite Bury Town, Bury Grammar School, Haverhill Rovers, and Clare. Discussion then ensued as to whether it might be possible to have the new League ready for the for the coming season, with those friendly matches already arranged, becoming League fixtures instead. Thus the first West Suffolk League season was 1894-95, with Bury Alexandra the inaugural champions, and Long Melford runners-up.

That season Long Melford again reached the final of the Senior Cup, and faced Saxmundham at Portman Road. Melford had made to the final by virtue of their opponents in the 1st Round, Bury Alexandra scratching; and defeats of Haverhill Town, and Ipswich Middle School Past & Present. Saxmundham had sprung a surprise by beating Ipswich Town in the semi-final, but it was Melford who lifted the trophy for the second time, winning by two goals to one.

As the train from Ipswich steamed into to Long Melford at 9.30 that evening, the team was greeted at the railway station by between 1,600-1,700 people. “No time was lost in moving forward to the club’s headquarters”, stated the newspaper report. “The brake [carriage] conveying the team was drawn by willing hands, and preceded by the dense crowd and the Melford Brass Band; the latter playing ‘See the Conquering Hero Comes’.” It must have been quite a sight, with numerous torch-bearers and well-wishers waving handkerchiefs and small flags from their windows, as the procession made its way to the Bull Hotel.

When Long Melford next reached the final of the Suffolk Senior Cup in 1909, they were competing in Bury & District Senior League, and faced league leaders Bury United on Monday 12 April. Despite heavy rain the final attracted a good crowd to Portman Road, with both teams well supported. The match finished in a 2-2 draw, necessitating a replay the following Saturday, followed by a Southern Amateur League fixture between Ipswich Town and Civil Service. A smaller crowd of around 800 turned up for the replay, where a solitary goal was enough to take the trophy back to Long Melford for a third time.

Just as war was being declared at the end of July 1914, the club AGM reported a serious financial position at the club, with outstanding debts amounting to £20 17s 9d; and the club having just £1 14s cash in hand. It was decided to apply to enter the Essex & Suffolk Border League, and consider whether to remain in the Haverhill & District League. As things transpired they would have to wait a further five years.

As the 1919-20 season approached there was great optimism around the club. Thanks to the generosity of supporters, the debt had been wiped out and the account was £25 in credit. The club was also fortunate that the majority of its old players would be available to play again in both the Bury and Haverhill Leagues. They won the latter. The following season Melford announced that they had every Saturday booked, having joined Division One of the Essex & Suffolk Border in addition to the other two Leagues.

They won the Suffolk Senior Cup again in 1920-21, beating Bury Town 1-0 at Portman Road. Over a thousand traveled from Bury, and hundreds from Melford according to the match report, with 8,095 paying on the gate in addition to many who already had tickets. The Melford defence was singled out for special praise: “They never broke down, and for tackling and spoiling were unsurpassed.” … “Bury play the prettier football, but Melford are more of the bustling type, mainly composed of veterans who know all there is going in football.” At the end of the match the Long Melford players were carried to the grand stand with much enthusiasm, and the cup and medals were presented by Sir John Ganzoni, M.P.

The scenes on the triumphant return home were reminiscent of those of 1895: “A van had been requisitioned, and in this the team clambered and, drawn by a score or so of hefty supporters, they were taken to the club’s headquarters, the Bull Hotel. Here the cup was filled and the healths of the players were heartily drunk.”

Long Melford entered the FA Amateur Cup for the first time in 1931-32, and created something of an upset by beating Norwich YMCA 5-1 in the Preliminary Round. In the next round they not surprisingly lost by six goals to two at Ipswich Town, by then one of the top clubs in the Southern Amateur League. They entered twice more before the Second World War, but never won another match: losing to Newmarket Town after extra-time in 1933-34; and being on the wrong end of a nine goal thrashing at Bungay Town in 1935-36.

On 22 December 1939 it was reported that Bernard Hurst had passed away, aged 79. As his obituary noted, he had excelled in two spheres: music and football. In the world of football his name was described as being “a household word”. He had been elected Captain of Long Melford in 1881, and with the exception of the 1892-93 season, had captained them for sixteen years before becoming first Chairman, and then President of the club. He was also later a Referee, and President of the Suffolk FA from 1897-1902; and if all that wasn’t enough, he was a member of the Parish Council for forty-three years. A truly remarkable man.

After the war Long Melford initially played in the Sudbury League, and Division One of the Bury & District League, with home matches played at Stoneylands. In September 1946 a letter from a disgruntled ‘Melford Supporter’ was published in the local press, blaming team selection and tactics for a poor start to the season. “If only the selectors would put aside personal favours and pick a team in the interests of the club, Melford men would show that football is not dead in the village”, he wrote.

The letter brought a stern rebuttal from Mr. A. Thorpe, the team coach; and a further response from a correspondent signing himself as ‘Observer’, pointing out that club volunteers and players merited encouragement, not criticism. He also highlighted what he referred to as “ungentlemanly conduct” of a small section of spectators. An eleven-nil win in a friendly vs. Lavenham Reserves a couple of weeks later, was certainly an appropriate response on the pitch.

The issue of the poor behaviour from the touchline came to the fore again in a column by ‘Wayfarer’ in the Suffolk & Essex Free Press later that season, referring to a letter he had received from a local football follower, complaining that he had heard Melford supporters urging their players to “kick opponents in the guts” during a match. For his part, Wayfarer noted: “I am sure the majority of Melfordians (isn’t “The Little Village” renowned for good football?) deprecate such conduct, which is unsportsmanlike, to say the least.”

On 20 October 1947 a meeting was held in the Cock & Bell Hotel (which became the club’s HQ after the war) with a view to forming a Supporters’ Club; and the following May it was decided to seek senior football again. Accordingly the club entered the Suffolk Senior Cup, and rejoined the Border League for the 1948-49 season; with the Reserves playing in the Bury League. A team was also fielded in the Ipswich & District League. It was also around this time that the club was able to purchase the freehold of Stoneylands. Club President Richard Kemp recalls that every shop in the village had a cocoa tin with a slot in the top, and that was how the money was collected.

The 1950s was unquestionably the golden decade for Long Melford. They won the Border League four times, including in successive years between 1955-57; and were twice runners-up. In 1952-53 the FA Amateur Cup was entered for the last time. In the Prelimlinary Round, Melford won 4-0 at Eastern Coachworks (Lowestoft). They followed this with thumping 6-1 win at Woodbridge Athletic, before going out at Lakenheath in the 2nd Qualifying Round by two goals to one.

HALF-TIME

In 1952-53 Suffolk Senior Cup however was won again after a gap of thirty-two years. Melford met old rivals Sudbury Town in the final in front of a large crowd at Portman Road on Easter Monday 1953, and led with five minutes remaining, only for Sudbury to equalize and force a replay. Melford had missed a penalty earlier in the match. In the replay on 9 May, they beat Sudbury 1-0, with Les Elms scoring the only goal of the match. Melford retained the Senior Cup in 1954 and ’55 with wins over Sudbury Town and Ipswich Town Reserves respectively; but after a hat-trick of victories were beaten by Lowestoft Town in the 1956 final. The following season, the Border League Knock-Out Cup was won for the first time, beating Bury Town Reserves over two legs.

Amongst those in the Melford side during this period was Bert Barlow, scorer of two goals for Portsmouth against Wolves in the 1939 FA Cup Final, before joining Leicester City in 1949. After injury forced him out of the professional game in 1954, he ended his playing career at Long Melford, where he also coached. Another former professional to find his way to Stoneylands was Ted Philips, who made 269 appearances for Ipswich Town between 1953-64.

Colin Woodhouse shows me a photograph of the victory parade through the village following the 1953 triumph, with him as a small boy just hidden behind his father at the front of the procession. He later joined the first team at the age of seventeen, and apart from a few years in the latter part of the 1960s, has been continuously involved with the club. “I didn’t play football because I was singing in a band. We were professional for a while, so I was driving around the country. We were an eleven piece band, called the Village Groove Roadshow and did tours with The Drifters and people like that. They would come over for something like a three week tour. We would spend a couple of days rehearsing their numbers with them, and then we’d go on tour with them.”

In stark contrast to the 1950s, and a solitary Senior Cup final appearance in 1960-70 when they lost to Waterside Works, the next twenty-five years brought little success to Long Melford, and they even lost their Premier Division status for a period before being promoted back to the top flight as Border League Division One runners-up in 1971. Fortunes dipped and another relegation followed in the early 1980s, before promotion as Division One champions in 1985, with two further Knock-Out Cup successes in 1986 and 1990.

The 1992 Senior Cup final saw Melford lose to Whitton United by two goals to one, and they had to until 2003 to record their eighth victory, beating Stanton 5-0 in front of a four figure crowd. At this point they were competing in Division One of the ECL having been promoted as runners-up to AFC Sudbury Reserves at the end of the previous season.

The 2004-05 season was marked by the club’s best runs in both the FA Vase and FA cup. In the former they negotiated three rounds before losing at Brook House in a 3rd Round replay; and in the FA Cup they made it through to the 2nd Qualifying Round before going out at Yeading by two goals to nil. When one considers that Yeading went on to play Newcastle United in the 3rd Round proper that season, and also won the Isthmian Premier Division, it was a highly creditable performance. The 2011-12 season saw Melford achieve their highest league finish in nearly a decade (ninth) and once again reached a Senior Cup Final, taking the lead but ultimately losing to holders Whitton by two goals to one.

Securing the Division One title of the ECL on the final day of the 2014-15 season represented the club’s greatest achievement for many years, and elevated Melford to Step Five of the Non-League Pyramid for the first time in their history. A highly satisfactory ninth place finish in 2016 exceeded expectations but the last three seasons have found them struggling near the bottom of the table.

This afternoon’s visitors are Thetford United, who coincidentally Melford beat on the final day of last season to assure their own survival. Like the hosts, Thetford are also on a good run. Jamie Bradbury is looking forward to three o’clock: “Thetford are a tough side so it will be a tight game today and an interesting one. We’ve got momentum but so have they, and they won’t be fearing us one little bit. But we won’t be fearing them either.”

Melford enjoy plenty of possession early on but it is the visitors who take the lead through Michael Campbell, slightly against the run of play midway through the half. The goal gives Thetford the edge but they are unable to add to their tally. After the break Melford again see a lot of the ball without really troubling keeper Jamie Humphrey. At the other end Matt Walker pulls off a fine double save to deny the Thetford attack but is beaten by an Elliot Smith header off the underside of the bar. With less than fifteen minutes remaining Jacob Brown pulls one back for Melford but as they throw black and white shirts forward in search of an equaliser, they leave themselves open at the back. Inevitably Thetford break away and Tanner Call puts the result beyond doubt a minute from the end, although not before Brown rattles the visitors’ crossbar in the dying moments.

After the match Jamie is disappointed with his team’s performance, but far from despondent: “We’d be greedy to think that it coming to an end after eight unbeaten games is bad, when in fact as I’ve just told the boys, it’s actually great for them to bring the club to where it is. We probably won’t be second now but the fact that they’ve got us there over those eight games is something they should be proud of. Thetford worked hard. They were desperate to win today, beat us and get the points, and they are on a decent run now. So let’s not take anything away from the fact that we’ve lost to a good side that is in good form.” …

“I can’t really complain though. If you’d told me eight weeks ago that we were going to go on an eight game unbeaten run – winning seven of them and losing at home to Thetford, I would have taken that. So we’ll brush ourselves down and see if we can crack on next week. It’s very important now that we don’t let it slip.”

FOOTNOTES
With thanks to Jamie Bradbury, Colin Woodhouse, Richard Powell, Richard Kemp, Debra Rowe; and Richard Wall & Nick Garnham (Suffolk County FA)
Long Melford Football Club, New Road, Long Melford, Sudbury, UK
© 2021 DAVID BAUCKHAM