Bill Marshall recalls the Press' sporting headlines from this week...

80 YEARS AGO

SPORTS editors these days would love for such clearly defined seasons as happened in 1936, when the last day of the football season was the first day of the cricket season.

In a week when 23-year-old James Robert Green was fined £2 and ordered to pay 15 shillings (75p) costs for stealing a roller from St Thomas Cricket Club in Scalby, where he was a member – he sold it in pieces to a marine store dealer for 4s 6d (22½p) – York City wrapped up their Third Division North programme with a 2-0 victory at New Brighton AFC (who dropped out of the Football League in 1951 and were disbanded in 1983).

This was no straightforward victory on Merseyside, however, as the hosts, who finished bottom of the table, dominated territory but ran out of ideas on the edge of York's penalty area.

Control of a lively ball was difficult on a hard, dusty surface, but visiting forward Duncan Lindsay seemed to enjoy himself, scoring in the 17th and 80th minutes, and only being denied a hat-trick soon after when a linesman disallowed a goal that the referee had already awarded.

Ted Wass' head got in the way of many New Brighton attacks, while goalkeeper George Wilson had his best display of the season for the Minstermen.

The British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth heralded the start of the outdoor tennis season and attracted two heavyweights of the national game in Fred Perry and Bunny Austin.

Perry had won the title for the previous four years, seeing off Austin in the 1935 final, and beat his Davis Cup colleague 6-2, 8-6, 6-3 in 1936 to complete a nap hand, with Kay Stammers taking the ladies' singles for a second straight year, beating Chilean teenage sensation Senorita Anita Lizana, a master of spin, 7-5, 7-5.

50 YEARS AGO

RICHMOND Rugby League Club in Northern New South Wales decided it would be a good idea to cancel their matches for the rest of the season at Woodburn Oval after an Aborigine walked onto the pitch and threatened the referee with a boomerang.

There was also drama in York Cricket Club's opener against Yorkshire League champions Sheffield United at Wigginton Road.

York had made a modest 120, and United only needed one run with three wickets standing.

However, Tony Keel had visiting skipper Fleetwood caught behind, and York skipper David Kirby took a marvellous caught and bowled to dismiss Hood before Keel sent Moore's stumps backwards to gain an unlikely tie.

England's schoolboy footballers had just beaten Germany Boys 2-1 at Wembley in front of over 90,000, and York City were hoping for at least 15,000 for the rematch two days later at Bootham Crescent.

However, only 7,127 saw England win 1-0, Lyndon Hughes heading home a fifth-minute corner, a minute after Anthony Hallam had hit a post. Doncaster's Malcolm Webster later made a brilliant save from Roland Popp.

York RI backed up their fine season by claiming some notable scalps in the Huddersfield RU Sevens, defeating Broughton Park 13-8, Harrogate 10-3 and Nottingham 8-5 before losing the final 23-18 to a strong Hawick side.

20 YEARS AGO

BRAYTON High School pupil Gail Richardson was selected for England's junior volleyball side but York Vikings' Friday night experiment could possibly have been spiked after only one attempt when only 475 watched them play Barrow Braves.

However, the on-the-pitch bit went well as York won 20-8, thanks to tries by on-loan winger Paul Brown (2), star centre Damian Ball and Jason Laurence, but the visitors' task was much harder after Stewart Quayle was sent off in the 28th minute for a high tackle.

York City lost one of their 1954-55 FA Cup semi-final heroes in 69-year-old Roy Spence, who was laid to rest at Fulford Cemetery.

Meanwhile, the Minstermen's 1-0 defeat at home to Chesterfield not only took them nearer the relegation places but was also one of the biggest injustices of the 1965-66 season.

City's first-half display, driven by Nigel Pepper, Paul Stephenson and Gary Bull, was their best 45 minutes of the campaign but the only goal was scored by the Spireites' Gary Lund after 70 minutes.

Few English sports like their statistics as much as cricket, and the stattos had a field day when Yorkshire faced Glamorgan in the County Championship at Sophia Gardens.

Martyn Moxon (213) and Michael Vaughan (183) put on 362 for Yorkshire's first wicket in their 536-8 declared, and the openers' effort was the highest stand for any wicket by Yorkshire against the Welshmen.

It beat the unbroken third-wicket partnership of 323 by Herbert Sutcliffe and Maurice Leyland at Huddersfield in 1928.