REPLAY: After 50 years of hurt - and one man’s guilt - Heswall schools Gayton and St Peter’s take to the football pitch to ‘put right a wrong’

By Douglas Whitbread, SWNS

Gayton Park, home of Heswall FC, was the venue for a special match this weekend. It may not have been the game of the century, but it was certainly the game of a half century.

60 year-old Graeme Jones from Gayton felt compelled to bring together again the two sides from Gayton Primary and St Peter's - 50 years after he shoved the opposition goalkeeper over the goal line in the few remaining seconds of their match in September 1972.

The result back then was a "dubious draw".

Learning of the result's lasting "impact" on his defeated arch rivals, Graeme, a former Royal Navy training instructor, felt haunted by the past and set about putting "right a wrong".

He spent 18 months assembling the same line-up from the Gayton Primary School team which took on St Peter's C of E School when Ted Heath was our Prime Minister and maxi-dresses were the height of fashion.

And before Saturday's game, they even recreated an old squad photo that had appeared in a local paper when they were just ten years old.

That was then...

Graeme's bitter rivals went on to chalk up an overwhelming 6-2 win in the one-off seniors replay.

And though he was left feeling disappointed with the final result, Graeme said he could now put his "demons to bed".

Of the result, he observed: "We got stuffed because they had to bring on a couple of ringers.

"But my demons have been put to bed and my conscience is clear now, and we would have still lost regardless."

He added: "It was very, very surreal to do the official photo as we wanted to capture it more or less exactly as it was at school, 50 years apart.

"And when we walked onto the pitch, we formed up in our original positions as well."

This is now... Picture by Tom Maddick SWNS

Graeme said he came up with the idea for the match a couple of years ago, during the first lockdown, after finding his old team portrait.

But when he shared the proposal with his neighbour Craig Allen - who scored the opposition's only goal - he was shocked to find there was bad blood between the sides.

He said: "My best mate dug out a photograph, which appeared in the local paper way back in September 1972, taken before we played a game against our local rival school.

"I thought, do you know what, I've got bugger all else to do, so I'm going to start fishing around to find out where they are – and it just grew from there.

"But when I spoke to my neighbour, Craig, who played for St Peter's C of E, he told me: 'I remember that game, and I've never forgiven you.'

"'You shoved the goalkeeper about ten feet behind the line in the corner in the dying minute, and your school PE teacher gave the goal.'"

Gobsmacked Graeme was obliged to ponder his goalmouth misdemeanour and the long shadow it had cast over young lives.

So he decided that the match should be replayed as a way to heal old wounds and bring him and the opposition back into the light.

Graeme and members of the Gayton side

He said: "I sat and considered it and thought, 'No wonder he brought it up. I need to put right a wrong here.'

"I felt guilty about the fact that the game finished, but I wasn't aware of the impact.

"I was a centre half back in the day, and I just came up and bulldozed my way through, and Alan, our PE teacher, gave the goal. You wouldn't get away with it today."

Graeme started tracking down every former player who'd been in his school team's original starting line up.

He said: "I had to bully a few people into doing it. And then it was a case of 'I've got these guys, you've got to play – you're irreplaceable, I need you there', and I got all 11.

"The opposition got a team together, but I gave them some leeway on their side in terms of age."

The game was a gruelling encounter. Picture by Tom Maddick SWNS

Graeme even managed to get in contact with his former PE teacher, Alan Jones, who had awarded his team their controversial last gasp equaliser.

And he was given the honour of observing the coin toss before officiating the match for the first five minutes of play on Saturday.

He said: "I was amazed to find that Alan Jones is still alive and is fit and healthy in his early to mid-80s.

"And I said, 'Alan how would you fancy for old times sake, you start the game off and referee, as to get you back as well, as you reffed it 50 years ago, would be brilliant.'"

The two teams played a 30-minute-a-side match at nearby Heswall football club's ground, with a raffle set up to help buy Graeme's old school a new team kit.

And although the team of veterans won't be attempting another match, he said they would continue to meet up and renew their bonds following the now iconic fixture.