THIS year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Malvern and District Football League, and there will be many a local player who turned out for one of the many teams over the years.

The league attracted teams from all over Worcestershire and Herefordshire, and it ran many cup competitions, which attracted teams from as far afield as the Cotswolds.

Some of the names well-known to readers included Kempsey, Malvern Link FC, Colwall, Welland Utd, Worcester College, Linkside Seniors, Holy Trinity FC, Cross Keys, Leigh Utd, Three Horseshoes, Wells Utd, Ring of Bells, Malvern Wayfarers and many more.

Worcester News:

These teams used to do battle for, among others, the Malvern Invitation Trophy, the Mason Cup, the Ogilvie Cup, the Ron Handy Memorial Trophy, the Malvern Hospital Senior Bowl and the Worcester Infirmary Cup.

Read more: Do you remember the day Perdiswell sports centre opened?

Sue Cole got in touch to tell us about an extensive collection of cuttings and photographs her father Bob put together for the 75th anniversary in 1995 – “They have been safely stored in the loft all this time!” – and would we be interested in featuring them as a way of marking the centenary of the league.

Worcester News:

Jim Finney, international referee, was guest of honour at the 1976 presentation evening

How could we say no? After all, the collection includes a picture of probably the only Englishman who had cause to regret England reaching the World Cup Final in 1966.

Jim Finney, international referee and publican from Hereford, was set to take charge of the final.

Sue, Jim’s goddaughter, said: “He was in line to ref the final [but was unable to do so when England beat Portugal in the semi-final] although he was very happy that England got there!”

Worcester News:

The annual competition between Worcester and Malvern referees – Battle of the Specs. Trophy was a pair of spectacles and a whistle on a plinth.This 1948 photo shows Worcester refs captain Ernie Mayor and Malvern refs captain George Poyner. The match was refereed by a Sergeant from Merebrook Army Camp, Malvern Wells. (Apparently it could be that rough!) Also it was not always ‘’peace and goodwill’ only ‘fouls and misconduct’ Crowds of 600 were common.

Our thanks go to Sue (and Bob) for this fascinating collection of photographs.

If you have some old (and even those of a more recent vintage – in colour!) sports pictures and you’d like others to see them, why not get in touch? We can help share them with readers in the paper and on our Facebook page, We grew up in Worcester. Contact our Community content editor Barry Kinghorn at barry.kinghorn@newsquest.co.uk