Magpie Miscellany Part 14
When Harry met Boublis
Prestigious pre season friendlies are manna from heaven for non league football clubs, perhaps second only to an FA Cup run in terms of the profile and revenue they can provide.
This was illustrated a few seasons ago by the visit of the Kuwaiti national team to the Thames Valley but pales in comparison to Greek champions Panathinaikos trip to a Maidenhead park forty three years ago.
Maidenhead Town was a Hellenic League club based in Oaken Grove off Courthouse Road, with no connection to the team that currently bear the name. Their home was the archetypal pitch with a barrier surrounding it adjacent to an infant school in the park to the north of Maidenhead which is familiar to anyone who has played youth or Sunday football locally. Town had begun as Maidenhead Social in the early 70s going onto win the Division One title in 1975. They reached the Premier Division in the 80s and enjoyed a fair degree of popularity in the town contesting a memorable County Cup tie at York Road in 1985. Ultimately their location was their downfall, as ground grading confined them to the Chiltonian League, with the final death knell sounding when a small housing estate was built on their pitch. They folded in 1990.
The Stags started the decade on a high though, securing promotion to the Hellenic League Premier Division in 1980 as runners up in Division One, with the friendly against a real Hellenic team Panathinaikos on 1st August 1980 heralding the start of their newly elevated status.
Known as The Greens or Shamrocks, Panathinaikos remain the oldest active football club in Greece, which turned fully professional in 1979. They had finished 3rd in the previous season’s Alpha Ethniki to qualify for the UEFA Cup, with four players representing Greece at the 1980 European Championship. In June they appointed a new manager, former England striker Ronnie Allen, who brought his team to Bisham Abbey for pre season training, staying at the Walton Cottage Hotel on Marlow Road.
The match was taken seriously by Allen, who fielded five internationals, including new Argentinian signing Juan Rocha (then known as Boublis), whilst Town included future Maidenhead United legends David ‘Harry’ Harrison and Andy Smith.
Maidenhead Advertiser reporter Clive Baskerville described the Greeks as being “several classes better in terms of skill and ball sense” but “traditional English fire and application” saw Allen and his coaching team spend “most of the second half anxiously pacing up and down the touchline in the second half, shouting at their players and shaking their heads in disbelief”.
This followed a first half which went to form, Panathinaikos going into the break 2-0 up thanks to goals from Antonis Antoniadis (one of two survivors in the Greens team from their 1971 European Cup final runners up line up) with a twenty yard volley in the 36th minute, and a delicately struck shot from twenty five yards by Spiros Livathinos, two minutes before the interval.
In customary fashion for a friendly, both teams made changes to their team for the second half, which handed the advantage to Town who levelled the score within 13 minutes of the restart. Firstly Dave Hale converted a Ray Barber cross, then Pat Sweeney won a penalty which Hale scored at the third attempt after the referee judged that goalkeeper Alexiou had moved early in saving the first two efforts.
Town dominated the rest of the match but couldn’t get their noses in front and in stoppage time the Greeks saved their blushes when Ore broke the offside trap and rounded the keeper to score the winner. Nevertheless the three hundred crowd went home proud at seeing a fighting performance from the local heroes.
The season that followed saw Town consolidate their position in the Hellenic League Premier Division in a final place of 10th whilst Panathinaikos finished 5th in the Alpha Ethniki to qualify for the UEFA Cup once more although manager Allen only lasted six months in post.
Sources:
Football Club History Database
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