Southern League Monthly - Vol. 1 - No. 2 - September 1971

An interesting line within The Hand of Friendship article revealing that Hereford City Council had converted a £15k loan into a grant (roughly £240k today) together with agreeing a 42 year lease - which, ironically, would have run until 2013, roughly when HUFC found itself on a life support machine.  

The Southern League: Formed in 1894, only six years after the football league (and only two years after Division Two was added), the Southern League kicked off with two divisions of its own. The top flight included the likes of Luton, Millwall, Reading, and Swindon, who would lock horns with the wonderfully old fashioned sounding Royal Ordnance Factories and the 2nd Scots Guards. Of the founding clubs, I don't believe any teams still ply their trade in the Southern League. The formation of the Isthmian League in 1905 appears to have absorbed the London clubs that kicked off in the SL - of these, Chatham and Uxbridge play in the Isthmian League set up today.    

In the News: The old penny and threepence cease to be legal tender on 1st September 1971. An unwanted milestone is reached on 7th September as the death toll in the Troubles reaches 100. 9th September - British Ambassador Geoffrey Jackson is freed after being held captive for eight months by Uruguayan Guerrillas. 90 Soviet KGB types are expelled from the UK on 24th September - thankfully that sort of nonsense is a distant memory.   

If you fancy earning yourself two quid, Foley Trading Estate is where you need to be heading, once you have dealt with the small matter of a quiz without the internet to lean on.

The Summer Game: Worcestershire won the 1971 Sunday League, in only its third year. Ron Headley starred with the bat, Vanburn Holder with the ball. 

1971 style finances, including a tidy profit for HUFC. Two Worcester City supporters wading in with £500 interest free loans, approx. £8k in todays money. It is worth noting that an average house was only a touch over £4k back in 71; the interest free element is also impressive as mortgage rates at the time were approx. 8%.   

33 year old Ron Fogg (ex-Hereford who had signed for Stevenage) and 27 year old Ken Mallender also get mentions.

In the Singles Charts: I'm Still Waiting by Diana Ross kicks off the month at No.1 before Hey Girl Don't Bother Me by the Tams takes over on 18th September.

In the Album Charts: Everyone has a go at top spot during September '71: Top of the Pops Volume 18 - Various Artists, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, Who's Next by the Who, and Fireball by Deep Purple.

Who will be the Cup giant-killers? Plenty of references to HUFC, rightly so, they had reached the 1st round of the FA Cup 22 of the last 23 seasons. Less than six months after the article, Hereford had cemented their place in FA Cup history. 

Familiar looking caricatures, courtesy of Hereford Times legend Peter Manders, former Hereford player of the year (65-66 season), Selwyn Vale, adding to the familiarity. 

On TV: Several regional ITV companies begin broadcasting in colour including Grampian and Border TV, in what must have been quite the spectacle given pretty much every shade in 1971 was seemingly inspired by sick. An early "beneficiary" was The Persuaders! starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, which first aired on 17th September. Meanwhile on BBC2, The Old Grey Whistle Test kicked off on 21st September. 

I have missed out British Cinema, what am I thinking? Anyway 1971 saw the likes of On The Buses, Carry on Loving, Dad's Army, Get Carter, Percy, The Railway Children, and Up Pompeii being released.

£25 a season will get you into the brand new VP Lounge at Edgar Street - that equates to roughly £400 today.

In the Maternity Ward: A good haul in September 1971: Actor Martin Freeman - 8th, Richard Ashcroft of the Verve - 11th, talented clothing designer Stella McCartney - 13th, musician Chesney Hawkes - 22nd, Jessie Wallace (Kat Slater in Eastenders) - 28th, then, last but not least, Mackenzie Crook - 29th (The Office, The Detectorists).