Four fifties heroes are added to Albion Hall of Fame
QUARTET HELPED CLUB GET A FOOTHOLD IN THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF EXISTENCE
AMIDST the awards at Burton Albion’s end of season online event, at which a famous escape from relegation was celebrated, the club inducted four players from the 1950s into their Hall of Fame.
It was a smart idea. Fans are usually asked to vote for the Hall of Fame entrants, the first two of which were the top two in the appearances list, Darren Stride and Aaron Webster.
But with Covid-19 making a vote more difficult to administer this year and also with it being the club’s 70th anniversary year, the Brewers chose to look back to their roots for the next inductees.
A panel was convened which included the club’s head of media, Nigel Powlson, who is a longstanding supporter, ground announcer Ian Hawkins, Radio
Derby summariser Tony Bentley (those two also supporters with statistics at their fingertips) and myself.
We are all, for want of a better word, mature but none of us old enough to have seen 1950s players playing.
We will all have made use of former Burton Mail sports editor Rex Page’s brilliant history book Wellington Street to Wembley but, in truth, the conclusions were not difficult to reach.
The four players inducted, Nobby Hadfield, Dave Mcadam, Bill Townsend and Reg Weston, all played fundamental roles as the new club got a foothold in nonleague football in the first decade of its existence, all four playing in the same team at one stage.
NOBBY HADFIELD: Albert Hadfield was described by Rex Page in his book as unquestionably the first man in the queue for the Burton Albion Hall of Fame and that was years before the idea of a Hall of Fame had come to fruition. A 26-year-old centre-half who had already won an FA Amateur Cup winner’s medal with Bishop Auckland, he took the number five shirt in the Brewers’ first game in August 1950. He also captained the side. Tough but fair, he was considered the best defender in the old Birmingham League and further described by another writer as “robust, determined and indefatigable – football’s equivalent of the Rock of Gibraltar.”
Hadfield clocked up 270 appearances between 1950 and 1957 and was rewarded with a benefit game against Charlton Athletic, watched by almost 5,000 fans.
DAVE MCADAM: For most of the first decade of the club’s existence,
Albion had only one first choice lefthalf, a skilful footballer who although born in Hereford became a Burtonian through and through and settled in Stapenhill.
From 1951 to 1960, Mcadam made 238 appearances, playing in each season except for 1954-55.
He was described as a true sportsman on and off the pitch and, after leaving the Brewers, played briefly for Matlock Town before a knee injury ended his career at 34.
Long after his playing career was over, he was still a fan, attending games right up to the end of his life.
BILL TOWNSEND: The former Derby County goalkeeper made 204 appearances between 1953 and 1960 for the Brewers.
The landlord of the Smiths Arms in Branston, he was the hero of Albion’s epic FA Cup run to the third round in 1956, especially in earning a 0-0 draw in the second round, away to Halifax Town, pulling of a string of saves despite an injured shoulder.
Apparently, he was not even capable of pulling a pint in his pub the next day.
REG WESTON: The former Derby County defender became playermanager in the 1953-54 season and could justifiably claim to have been the catalyst who pointed the developing club towards more successful years.
He was in charge, on and off the pitch, when the Brewers won their first trophy, the Birmingham Senior Cup in front of a crowd of 5,736 at Nuneaton, where they beat Brierley Hill 2-1.
A month later, Albion were awarded the Keys Cup as runners up in the Birmingham League, the best position they had yet finished in.
Weston retired in the summer of 1957 after four seasons in charge and 158 appearances.
All four of the inductees were in the team that won the Birmingham Senior Cup.
In the 1954-55 season, Hadfield made 52 appearances and the other three all topped 40 appearances.
Mcadam, Townsend and Hadfield featured the following season, when the club finished third in the Birmingham League, then all four were back in 1955-56, although Mcadam was restricted to 19 games,
Hadfield is unquestionably the first man in the queue for the Burton Albion Hall of Fame.
It was the season of the run to play Charlton Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup – getting there took nine games against seven opponents.
It was one of the games Mcadam missed but the other three took on the First Division giants, losing 7-0. There was another consistent league finish, fifth, but the 1956-57 season, when they finished fourth, was to be the last season all four of them played together.
At the end of it, Hadfield and Weston retired but the quartet had done so much to help make the club a respected name and, thanks to their cup exploits, beyond the West Midlands.
They were to move on to the Southern League and that, in the early seasons, brought its problems, but Mcadam remained for the move to Eton Park in 1958.