80 YEARS AGO

IF you thought that York City have had some poor results so far in 2015-16, it is nothing compared to the record 12-0 walloping they suffered at fifth-placed Chester in what was best described as a ploughed field.

Referee G T Davies ummed and aahed about whether the game would go ahead from 11am to 12.30pm, but it is safe to say that the match would not have been played nowadays.

Sealand Road had been under a foot of water in midweek, and it took the local fire brigade three days to clear it.

A mixture of sand and sawdust was then put down, and on top of that was six inches of mud, which went over the players' ankles.

Most footballers will have played on pitches where the best conditions were on the flanks (sometimes the only bits of grass that could be seen) and, unfortunately for 18th-placed York, Chester had two brilliant wingers in Bill Horsman and Charlie Sargeant.

Goals were scored in the fifth, eighth, tenth, 13th, 22nd, 32nd, 38th, 43rd, 48th, 75th, 84th and 87th minutes, and the wingers were involved in every goal.

Sargeant scored four, Horsman two and each had three assists, and only two of the 12 goals weren't well conceived.

It was a record defeat for York (it still is), who were 4-0 behind before keeper George Wilson had touched the ball in open play, and it was a record victory for Chester (it still is, although they were wound up in 2010, being replaced by Chester FC).

And it could have worse as Frank Wrightson twice hit the bar and missed two other good chances, while shot-shy York had a good chance at 0-0 via Fred Speed and could not take three opportunities in the second half.

In rugby league, York flagged in the final 20 minutes in a 13-7 defeat at home to Leeds, whose three tries should all have been stopped. Moore and Thomas played well for the losers.

Elsewhere Wales completed an international double over England, defeating them 17-14 at Hull KR's Craven Park in rugby league and 2-1 at football at Molineux.

Meanwhile, ever thrifty Yorkshire supporters were criticised by Lord Hawke in his report to Yorkshire County Cricket Club's annual meeting in Sheffield as two or more people were gaining admission to matches by using the same ticket.

In the wider world, 19 natives and seven oxen were killed in Settlers, near Johannesburg, by hailstones that were as big as coconuts, while Herr Hitler's re-armament drive was moving on apace.

50 YEARS AGO

It is amazing what a monetary incentive can achieve.

York Rugby League Club's first team hadn't won since the previous November but were promised greater pay both before the kick-off and even more during the half-time interval.

The upshot was an 11-3 victory over Hull as, for once, passes went to hand, running was strong and direct, and the defence matched the high quality of York's attack.

Rippon got the try and Payne added four goals, but York City leaked two late goals in a 3-1 defeat at Grimsby after Paul Aimson had put the visitors ahead in the second minute.

The row over whether the Challenge Cup final should be the only rugby league match to be televised annually rumbled on, with Rugby League employee Bill Fallowfield saying that clubs had received the not insubstantial amount of £31,423 from TV fees in the 1964-65 season.

British champions Bernard Ford, 18, and Diane Towler, 19, won the European Ice Dance Championships in Bratislava, while Russian scientists confirmed that the moon was safe to land on.

20 YEARS AGO

The future of York Rugby League Club was a big topic for debate as the end-of-season review in The Evening Press stated that they had "few stars and no leaders" in addition to no money, with the home match against Bramley attracting a mere 405 fans - their lowest gate since the Second World War.

Under-16s were to be admitted free in the new season but York were budgeting for crowds of 500, and the situation only became cloudier when chairman John Stabler, who had put a lot of his own money into the club, resigned in order to spend more time with his family and devote more time to his business, John Stabler Textiles in Leeds.

York City boss Alan Little was fuming after an unnamed 22-year-old striker at a Premiership club, but who had no first-team league experience, turned down the chance to move to Bootham Crescent, not even bothering to contact the Minstermen's boss.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club revealed that they were thinking of quitting Headingley to move to a greenfield site at Durkar, near Wakefield.