Don’t take offence
IN THE Nineties, I was a care officer for Leeds City Council looking after people with mental health issues.
Most of the staff were ‘right-on’ and as a result you had to walk on eggshells in case you offended anyone. Indeed, I was brought to book for using the term ‘lady’ when discussing cases. Apparently, this term might cause offence as it implies some sort of hierarchy! We were forbidden from
WHAT a poignant photograph of Jimmy and Irene Greaves at their wedding (Mail). Jimmy, the greatest goal-poacher of all time, was my childhood hero. At the first football match I attended, aged nine, I saw him score a brace for Tottenham Hotspur, including a rare header, in a thrilling third-round FA Cup encounter with Birmingham City in January 1962, which ended in a 3-3 draw. Spurs won the replay 4-2, with Jimmy scoring again. Birmingham and Black Country teams suffered badly at the hands of Spurs, the double winners of the previous season, on their triumphant march to the semi-final against Manchester United, when Jimmy scored again. I watched my first FA Cup Final, Burnley v Spurs, in a Birmingham children’s home with my sister Irene. Jimmy scored the opening goal to help Spurs win the game 3-1. I recall listening to the commentaries of Kenneth Wolstenholme when Spurs won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963 by sneaking out of my bed in the dormitory, where we had been sent at 7 pm, and putting my ear to the bedroom floor, which was above the living room. If I made a noise, the house mother, Mrs Kelly, would come rushing up the stairs and I would jump back into bed and pretend to be asleep. My favorite footballing memory of my childhood is of rushing home from school to watch England v The Rest of the World in October 1963, a match marking the 100th anniversary of the Football Association. Jimmy scored a last-minute winner for a 2-1 victory. Jimmy is Spurs’ highest ever scorer with 266 goals and the highest scorer in the history of English top-flight football with 357 goals. An earlier injury meant he lost his place to Geoff Hurst and was not selected for the 1966 World Cup Final, but Jimmy Greaves had already earned his place as a football legend.
PETER HENRICK, Birmingham.