9:53am Wednesday 18th November 2009
By Richard Garfield
IT IS a fitting coincidence that on Saturday, Basingstoke Town Football Club played against Maidenhead United – a couple of weeks after the recent passing of a player who appeared for both teams.
Robert Douglas Weeks, known as Bob or Bobby, was a star player for Town back in the late 1940s and 1950s.
His son Simon, who lives in Rugby, Warwickshire, has contacted The Gazette following his father’s death to ask readers if they could share any memories of Bob, photos or press cuttings.
When Bob was born in 1928, in Chesterfield Road, Basingstoke, the town was a very different place to what it is today. In the football world, the fortunes of Basingstoke Town were certainly on the up as the team attracted a large band of loyal supporters.
Back then, the town boasted two senior football clubs of a similar standard – Basingstoke Town and its friendly rival Thornycroft Athletic.
It was prior to playing serious football for Basingstoke Town that Bob had a stint playing for Maidenhead.
According to Simon, Maidenhead used to be a feeder club for Reading.
He said: “Hampshire boy Ted Drake, who was manager of Reading at the time, arranged for my dad to turn out for a trial game for the Reading A team, so that he could fully assess him.
“There is no doubt that he liked the look of my dad and I am sure that he would have succeeded if he had taken his chance.”
However, Bob did not show up for Reading on the day of the trial game.
Simon explained: “At the time, he also played for a local Basingstoke club called Park Albion. They were his mates and he chose to play for them instead, because they were playing in either a quarter-final or semi-final cup game.
“The lads were a great team and my dad was proud to be a part of it. He was a real competitor, who could never let his team down – the spirit was always more important than the game. Back in the 1950s, football was a different animal.”
Simon said other factors also probably figured in his father’s decision.
“His sister told me he didn’t take the opportunity because of all the travelling that was involved with a professional game. And he made a conscious decision not to show up because he had a young family. I think that swayed his decision a lot, because he was a worrier about his responsibilities. Of course, the elaborate motorway system hadn’t arrived, making travel especially tiresome, and the money in football was not like it is today.
“Dad was a shrewd man who realised that he could make more money by holding down his job as a toolroom inspector at Smiths, coupled with a semi-professional football career. I think it’s possible he made more money from taking this path as those were the days when professional footballers caught the bus to work!
“Nowadays, it would have been a no-brainer to go professional. But back in his day, I don’t think people were so reckless – they were more prepared to accept their responsibilities.”
However, Bob did go on to play for Basingstoke Town, where he developed into a gifted footballer, playing mainly at centre forward and representing the team in more than 500 games.
One player who recalled Bob’s heyday on the pitch at the Camrose Ground is Basingstoke sports stalwart Cyril Thompson, who remembers Bob as being a striking figure on the pitch.
“He was a very tall bloke, about 6ft 2ins and he had a hell of a shot on him,” recalled Cyril.
“I’ll always remember one game when the club first moved down to the Camrose. All the boys stood behind the goal down the Town end and when Bob was asked to take a penalty, some of the kids said to the goalkeeper you’ll never stop his shot.
“This goalkeeper said: ‘I’ve stopped harder shots than him.’ Bob hammered it straight down the middle, the goalkeeper caught it – and went straight in the back of the net with the ball.”
Before Bob moved to Cornwall, Simon went to watch Town in action at the Camrose.
“We used to watch matches together in the late 1980s and saw about 10 or 12 games. We’d go every time Basingstoke had a FA Cup run – I think the last game we went to together was against Northampton.
“All of the old boys would know him and he loved it – he would come alive there. I appreciated the time I spent with my father at those games and the high esteem everyone held for him.
“Some fans would speculate how much my father would be worth nowadays, to which he would be quick to point out his ability with both feet and bemoan the appalling lack of this most basic skill among modern day footballers.
“He loved the banter and would thrive on reliving the old days. Whilst it’s true that he could have gone beyond being our local hero, he was satisfied with his enduring memory.”
If anyone has any memories of Bob or photos or news cuttings, please contact Simon Weeks by emailing siweeks@hotmail.com.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/trade_directory/