FORGET that Geoff Hurst hat-trick. There was a far more memorable footballing achievement in 1966 than England winning the World Cup: at least, for anyone living in York.

1966 was the year when Rowntree FC - arguably York's finest amateur football club of the Sixties - won its second successive treble.

In 1965 Rowntree had lifted the York senior cup, the York senior league cup and the York first division championship. And then, in 1966, they went and won all three again.

"Nobody had done that before us, as far as I know," says 79-year-old Ken Sturdy, who was the team's goalkeeper at the time.

To add the icing to the cake, in 1966 the team also went all the way to the final of the North Riding Cup, beating the previous year's winners, Whitby Town, 3-1 in the semi-final. Ultimately they were beaten only by the professionals of Middlesbrough FC.

York Press:

Rowntree's Ken Macdonald dribbling round Selby Shipyard goalkeeper Tommy Hughes in the York FA Senior Cup Final on Thursday April 14, 196

The final was played at Bootham Crescent, in front of a crowd of more than 2,000, on May 16, 1966 - fifty years ago next month. The Middlesbrough team on the field that day was a reserve team, Ken admits: but they were all professionals and the team included the likes of Northern Ireland international Bobby Braithwaite, and Arthur Horsfield, who went on to sign for Newcastle for the then-princely sum of £25,000.

Playing against the professionals of Middlesbrough was a team of amateurs including an electrician (Ken, in goal); a washing machine engineer (right back Jack Butcher); a fitter (left back Brian Robinson) and an insurance man (centre forward Howard Pearson).

To his chagrin, Ken let in two goals that day - one in each half - as Middlesbrough lifted the trophy 2-0.

The first goal was scored on the break, Ken recalls. "They caught us. They was quicker than us."

He can't actually remember the second goal. But it was a hard-fought match, in which Rowntree - the local factory team up against the professional giants - acquitted themselves well.

At one point, going for the ball, Ken admits he knocked forward Arthur Horsfield senseless. There were no doctors waiting in the sidelines in those days - it was just a 'bucket and sponge', Ken says.

The Middlesbrough manager that day, Harold Shepherdson, came over - and it was clear he wasn't too impressed with the way his own team were playing, Ken says.

He asked Horsfield if he was OK, and when the Middlesbrough player said he was, Shepherdson added: "Well get up then, and tell the bloody rest of them!"

They may have been beaten by Middlesbrough in that North Riding Cup final: but Ken still believes the Rowntree FC team of 50 years ago was one of the best to have played amateur football in York.

They all held down jobs (though only one of them, half back Eddie Gill, actually worked for Rowntree); and yet in the 1965/66 season they played more competitive games (46) than did York City (42), Ken says.

York Press:

Reliving the glory days: Ken with some of his press clippings

The professionals of Middlesbrough paid tribute to their pluck and competitiveness at the end of that North Riding Cup final.

The winners should have left the field first to go to collect the trophy.

"But they all stood and cheered us off the field instead," Ken says.

Quite right too.

The one that almost got away...

Rowntree's (almost) all-conquering team of 1965/66 didn't quite have it all their own way. There was that understandable loss to Middlesbrough in the North Riding Cup Final of May 16. But even before that, they were run worryingly close by Selby Shipyard on Thursday April 14 when they were held 2-2 at Bootham Crescent in the final of the York FA Senior Cup.

Legendary Yorkshire Evening Press sports editor Malcolm Huntington was at Bootham Crescent for the match. "The all-conquering run of Rowntree's came very close to an unexpected end at Bootham Crescent last night when they drew 2-2 with Selby Shipyard in the York FA Senior Cup final," he wrote in next day's newspaper.

York Press:

Evening Press report of the York FA Senior Cup final against Selby Shipyard

"The replay has been fixed for the Selby Town ground on Saturday, April 30, when Rowntree's will have to play with more urgency than they showed last night if they are to retain the trophy."

Shipyard in fact came very close to winning the game, and so depriving Rowntree of their treble: they had a scrambled second half goal disallowed after the referee signalled a free kick.

Despite a comparatively under par performance from Rowntree that night, there was one consolation. "The match also counted for league points and the point gained assured Rowntree's of the Division 1 title for the second successive year," Malcolm Huntington wrote.

As to the York Senior Cup: at the end of 90 minutes in the final at Bootham Crescent, with the score at 2-2, Shipyard were given the option of playing extra time. They opted for a replay at Selby Town instead. "We think we can beat them at Selby," said Shipyard captain Eddie Palmer. It was to prove an inaccurate prediction. Rowntree won the game, and went on to clinch the treble for a second successive year.

There was one casualty of that close-run game at Bootham Crescent on April 14. "Goalkeeper Sturdy went to hospital after the game with a broken finger, the ninth in his career," Mr Huntington wrote.

That's something Ken neglected to mention...

  • Rowntree FC's treble-winning team of 1965/66: Ken Sturdy, Jack Butcher, Brian Robinson, Bob Mason, Geoff Elmer, Eddie Gill, Tony Knifeden, John Coates, Howard Pearson, Ken Macdonald, Tony Stillgoe.