Goring Football Club celebrates its
centenary in 2001. As part of the celebrations a
Centenary Booklet has been compiled giving a
flavour of footballing life in the village over
the past 100 years. Below is an extract from an
article in the booklet based on an interview with
Lou Plummer, who played football for Goring in
the 1920s.
Lou Plummer was born in 1905, and moved with
his family to Goring from Reading in 1911, to the
house where he lives to this day. His father was
Edwin Septimus Plummer, who worked as a
hairdresser, and who was the regular linesman at
Goring Football Club matches.
Lou remembers with great clarity his days of
playing football for Goring in the 1920s, the
days when football was revived with tremendous
enthusiasm after the First World War, as recorded
in the Football Chronicle, the weekly supplement
to the Berkshire Chronicle, eagerly awaited at
local newsagents on Saturday evenings. Football
was a wonderful source of local entertainment.
Every village had a team - even small places like
North Stoke, Mapledurham, and Ipsden. Goring had
three, two playing on Saturday and one on
Wednesday, and spectators flocked to watch.
The team's home ground has always been the
Gardiner recreation ground in the heart of the
village. With its row of horse-chestnut trees
along the bottom and tall Victorian houses at the
far end, the setting has hardly changed in the l00
years since the club was founded.
Lou recalls how, as a schoolboy, he used to
dash out of his classroom at the old school in
Station Road, and run across to the rec. on
Wednesday afternoons to watch the end of the
match. Once he'd left school at age 14, he was
able to join the team (annual subscription half a
crown, or 12fip) and soon became the regular
goalkeeper. The Goring Wednesday team, enrolled
in the Reading & District Wednesday League,
was made up mainly of shop workers, unable to
play on Saturdays when the shops stayed open, but
free on Wednesdays when it was halfday closing.
The
Wednesday team of 1924-25. Back row: George
Crook, G. Unwin. Lou Plummer, Bill Parrott,
Stanley Walters; Middle row: Frank Gurnett, Fred
Pomroy, Fred Whitehorn, Reg Martin, Ray
Constantine; Front row: Frank Godfrey, Wilf
Woodley, Jack Clark
The players
Lou worked for Penny's, the grocery shop in
Red Cross Road (where Goring Hardware is now),
and his team mates were as follows:
George Crook and Stan Walters worked at
Colebrook's, the butchers in the High Street (now
Davis Tate, the estate agents)
Bill Parrott worked at Goring Brewery, in the
centre of the village (it closed in the 1940s)
Frank Gurnett worked at Wilde's, the butchers
at the top of Ferry Lane (later Bits for Boats,
then Pennywise)
Fred Pomroy worked at the bakers (the Old
Bakery, just off the High Street)
Fred Whitehorn worked on the railway (as one
of over 30 staff working in and around the
station - porters, goods yard staff, booking
office clerks and so on)
Jack Clark and Roy Constantine, the lock-keeper's
son, worked at King's, the chemists
Reg Martin was a chauffeur for a Streatley
family
Frank Godfrey worked at the International
Stores (now Forbuoys)
George Hobbs worked at Goring Dairy (where
Mary S, the furnishing fabric shop is now).
Lou also remembers a couple of Streatley
players, one a butler and the other a footman in
one of the big houses, who were welcomed along to
the Goring Wednesday team as they had to work at
weekends and there was no Wednesday side in
Streatley.
Getting ready for the match
It was very much a do it yourself team - each
player was responsible for buying his own kit and
getting it washed. There was no team manager,
although often a senior player like Jim Rumble (who
had played for Goring before the First World War)
would assume the role of unofficial coach/manager/mentor
when his playing days were over. As for the
changing room, before the wooden pavilion on the
recreation ground was built, they got changed in
the gardener's shed at Lyndhurst, one of the tall
Victorian villas that look across the rec. The
visiting team often used the Sloane Hotel, which
had other attractions: a newspaper report once
mentioned that one of the visitors had indulged
in 'liberal doses of Sloane's liniment...'
The rules in those days seem harsh: there were
no substitutes once the game had started - if a
player was injured, you were down to 10 men and
that was that. If a player was sent off, he was
banned for a long time. Lou remembers one
Saturday team member 'who started framing up to
the ref' in a cup match and was banned for life.
Home and away
A home match would often be followed by a
dance in the Parish Hall the same evening,
attracting 200 people or more, to raise funds for
the club. Another good source of revenue was the
collecting box passed round among the spectators
at home matches - always a good crowd, often no
spaces round the touchline, and barriers required
behind the goals.
An away match against one of the Reading teams
- such as Reading Tramways or the Royal Berks
Regiment - became a real day out. After the
match, sometimes with the bonus of a postmatch
dip in the Kings Meadow swimming pool (showers
being unheard of) they would have a trip to the
Palace Theatre, then fish and chips at the Fish
Bar in Union Street. Finally it was back to the
station in time for the last (steam) train home,
the 11.05 to Wallingford.
The Goring teams enjoyed a range of transport
to away matches, the opposition being as far
afield as Ascot, Bracknell, and Newbury, as well
as Reading and the villages closer to home. Often
they caught the train, or cycled, but otherwise
they all piled into the back of Mr Vickery's coal
lorry. But when it was somewhere like Moulsford -
well, that was easy - you just walked; and you
could take always the ferry across from South
Stoke (2 miles along the river from Goring) and
drop into the Beetle and Wedge for a pint on the
way back. (It is unlikely that a bunch of muddy
footballers on their way home from a match would
be quite so welcome at the Beetle in 2001.)
A century of games
Lou played 100 consecutive games and was never
sent off or booked. Nor was he seriously injured
whilst playing for Goring there was 'not so
much ankle-tapping as there is today. 'When the
Wednesday team folded in the late twenties, Lou
joined the Saturday Reserves team and played
until he was nearly 40. 'We had some marvellous
times....'he recalls.
And his best match? Beating the up-till-then
unbeaten league leaders, Christchurch Old Boys,
on a February day in 1925. With the final score a
decisive 3-0, it was a clean sheet for the Goring
goalie.
A winning side
Far from being a bunch of village yokels,
Goring became a force to be reckoned with in the
1920S, usually ending the season with all three
teams (Saturday 1st team, Saturday Reserves and
Wednesday team) well placed in their divisions,
and often reaching the late stages of the cup
competitions.
In April 1922 Goring made it to the final of
the prestigious Oxfordshire Junior Shield
competition before losing 1-0 to Witney Swifts
before a 2000-strong crowd. In a comment familiar
today, the Goring reporter reckoned: 'Both teams
played excellent football, but cup-tie excitement
was very prevalent, especially when it came to
open goals. Both sides missed several sitters.
'The Goring Parish Magazine records sadly: 'It is
very bad luck that they didn't win at Oxford, as
they had quite two-thirds of the game. They are
such good sportsmen, and play such clean football...'
Typical - both of the result and the
sentiments that went with it is this report
from the Football Chronicle in March 1922:
'Spencers Wood Reserves put up a plucky fight
against Goring, but were simply swamped in the
second half, Goring adding eight more goals and
winning with the utmost ease by 11-0, only three
of the team failing to score. Spencers Wood's own
report acknowledges: [We] came away defeated but
not downhearted. We were hopelessly outclassed,
but Goring played the game all through the match,
and it was a pleasure to meet them.'
A date with the girlfriend...
And finally .... one episode that brings a
smile to Lou's face as he recounts it:
'One Wednesday evening, I had a date in
Reading, after the match at King's Meadow. Now
when we had matches in Reading, we always used to
go on the train. In those days, if you were
responsible for causing a late kick-off, you were
fined... So bearing in mind my date, I persuaded
the others to get changed in the train on the
way, to save time. So that's what we did.
Well, after the match, when we went to get
changed, I found that I'd left my shoes on the
train. So there I was, making my way up into town
for my date - and those streets were all
cobblestones in my bowler hat, blue nap coat,
kid gloves... and my football boots.......'
[The Goring Football Club Centenary booklet
is now available price £3.00 + 45p p&p. For
further details please contact Helen Turner, tel
01491 875895 or email: 
]
with any queries
