Top striker on the pitch was the ref

LooKiNG back on my two years of army National service in the 1950s, i enjoyed some amusing times as well as receiving many valuable lessons in discipline. We learnt to fire rifles, use bayonets, march in step and respond to orders without question. But the only soldier i saw injured in action was on the football field, when we were playing for the old south staffordshire regiment at Whittington Barracks, lichfield. early in the first half we were awarded a free kick and as the referee swung his arm to indicate the direction, he caught one of our players flush on the point of his jaw, knocking him unconscious. Happily, our man recovered quickly and we won the match, much to the satisfaction of the watching regimental sergeant Major Threckle. The local newspaper ran the story under the headline: ‘one on the jaw — from the referee!’