Not Stockton I know but part of a thread……this photograph was submitted by both Bob Irwin and Benny Brown almost simultaneously – how cool is that? 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Not Stockton I know but part of a thread……this photograph was submitted by both Bob Irwin and Benny Brown almost simultaneously – how cool is that?
Hello I am the daughter of Eddie Wilkinson who played for Southbank Juniors in 1952, it is my dad’s 80th birthday coming up in January and I am trying to obtain photographs/memorabilia from Oldham Athletic or Whitby Town where I believe he played as a youngster which I can put into a photo frame for him. I have emailed Oldham athletic football club a few times to which I have had no response and am currently in the process of trying to find an email address for Whitby fc to see if they can help with anything. If anyone can help with any photos or memorabilia it would be greatly appreciated as I would like to give my father a lovely present for his birthday and as football is and always will be his passion I think he would be touched by it as he strolls down memory lane.
Also can anyone enlighten me why he was called Kitty Coyte, as I am not sure what that refers to
Thank you in advance
Kitty Coyte referred to your dad Eddie’s goalscoring feat as a junior footballer, scoring 127 goals in one season for the South Bank Juniors.
Rebecca I’ve just spent a lovely hour in your dad’s company. I don’t want to put my details on here but if you speak to June’s daughter Dawn & get my phone number or e-mail address we could have a chat.
Rebecca try via google to find out the names of the local newspapers to the Oldham and Whitby area, then contact them and ask them to either put out an appeal for memorabilia using the story you placed on this site, or to place an ad in the personal columns on your behalf. Either way this may also come to the attention of the football clubs and with a little luck someone may be able to help. Good Luck
Eddie Wilkinson played for Whitby Town, Shildon & Stockton. He might have gone to Oldham on trial & maybe turned out for the reserves, He worked in the Head Wrightsons Fitting Shop, Thornaby, as a fitter along with Billy Day the Middlesbrough outside right in the Brian Clough era.
Rebecca. I remember playing in schools football for Stockton Boys and your father Eddie Wilkinson was known then as Kitty Coyte. I understood the nick name was taken from a Boys Comic publication, I cannot guarantee that this is where his nick name came from , but I am sure some of his old School friends such as Edgar Fellows who was my opposite number as captain of Richard Hind School would able to help, Anon thinks it was for his goal scoring feats at South Bank Juniors but I am certain this is not the case.
You will be right Ben being a footballing colleague of his earlier years, but I thought maybe Kitty Coyte was a famous gunslinging marksman & Eddie acquired the name through his reputation as a goalscorer, Rebecca should ask her father how he got the nickname & let us all know. Hope you are on the road to recovery Ben.
Benny I was at RH when Eddie being a bit older than me played football for them and the Town. He was known then as ‘Kitty Coyte.’
After checking with my dad he has confirmed that he got the name kitty coyte from a game he used to play with some of the older lads whereby you would throw horse shoes around a target and the older boys would say he has got a coyte. The older boys mistakenly also thought my dads name was kit and my father did not correct them so they nicknamed him kitty coyte whenever he used to come and play. Hope this explains things
Rebecca, with regards to Whitby you should contact their historian, Neil Thaler,E-mail is wtfc@lensmeister.com
I don’t think there will be any photos sadly as I played a couple of seasons there and they never took team photos (early sixties).
Neil, who lives in London area will be able to tell you your Dads playing record at Whitby. I think Anons comments re. Oldham are correct.
If you contact Neil , mention me, he knows me by my full name, Granville Cooper.
Give my best wishes to your Dad.
That clears the Kitty Coyte saga up, Ben, Thanks Rebecca, Eddie was a popular character in Head Wrightsons Machine Shop working as a fitter in Tommy Bett’s squad, also his mother in law Olive Caldwell who was a very nice lady worked there. After Eddie finished playing in the Northern League he played for a very good Furness Athletic team & Wilton I.C.I in the Teesside League.
A photo of Eddie Wilkinson in the Stockton team, he worked as a fitter in the Head Wrightsons Machine Shop, Thornaby.https://picturestocktonarchive.com/2004/08/13/football-in-the-borough-33/
Where does Terry Agnew stand on this picture? Thank you
I would say 1st left back row.
In those days Terry Agnew was a big mate of Eddie (Kitty Koyte) Wilkinson who is also in this photo, front-row 3rd from left.
Bob is correct, Terry had trials with Sheffield Wednesday
Keith Moody would only have been fifteen years old when this photo was taken, you certainly would have noticed the difference when you met him later in life Benny, he finished up a lot taller than you at six feet four inches. He scored a penalty for Whitby Town which beat Enfield in the F.A. Amateur Cup Semi-Final at Roker Park,Sunderland.
Very sad to hear of the passing of Keith Moody. Young Keith, as he was known in the South Bank Junior team as he was a year or so younger than the rest of the team as can be seen by the team photograph, was mainly used as a reserve but gained valuable experience by being around the team that was so successful. I only ever met him once after the South Bank Juniors period, that was when he was introduced to me in the Elm Tree Social club about ten years ago on one of my visits to Stockton. He was then a different proposition to the very skinny kid I first met all those years ago. Keith obviously had a great career in Senior football, culminating in his Wembly appearance for Whitby Town. I am only sorry that I never got to see him play in later years due to my absence from Teesside.
I’m sorry to say that Arthur passed away quite a number of years ago Peter, as did his brother Wilf(dusty). A younger brother and sister are still alive but I have lost contact with them.
Billingham Synthonia moved to Belasis Lane ground for the start of their first Northern League campaign in 1945, so Arthur(DUSTY)Rhodes still holds the club scoring record in one game with his eight goals in the 9-2 win at South Bank, quite impressive in front of Brian Clough & Tony Heathrington.
Ken, I googled Arthur and found out he once scored 8 goals in one game playing for Billingham Synthonia against south bank on xmas day 1945. I must be getting my teams mixed up or maybe he played for South Bank before or after that match, is he still with us?
Peter, the Arncliffe address confirms that the Arthur you recall was indeed my cousin and he was a first class welder who did a lot of work abroad. A very quite and nice man.
Don, Ken, Benny & Anon, thanks for the comments. I think we are on about the same fella (he was a welder if that helps identify him) and when I knew him he lived in Arncliffe Avenue not to far away from Richard Hind.
I remember Arthur Rhodes, he played for R.H.when I was a pupil 1937 into the 40s.
Arthur Rhodes would have been playing senior football about 1950 so who were the teams he actually played for? There were a few well known footballers that worked for Davy McKee, some of them were Colin Saunders, Terry Till & Norman Beal.
Peter I had a cousin called Arthur Rhodes who was a big busling centre forward who played for Richard Hind when I was at Richard Hind Junior School back in the 1940’s. I’m a little bit older than Benny coming up to 78 this New Years Eve so I can remember Arthur from just before the last war. He had a brother called Wilf but was called Dusty as most of us Rhodes’s are nicknamed. Wilf also attended Richard Hind a few years before I was there. A lot of people seem to remember Eddie Wilkinson due to his goal scoring along with Benny and if anybody would like email me with any message for him I’ll be glad to pass them on as I’m sure his friend Benny would. The Picture Stockton Team can provide you with my email address.
Trevor Briggs in the photo is a coach at Stockton Swimming Club. Harold Atkinson was also known as Big G, he played for Tow Law as well as Stockton F.C., he was about the last coach of the old Stockton F.C.Eric Young a Stockton lad who was with Man.Utd.in the George Best,Bobby Charlton & Dennis Law era went to Tasmania for a while before returning to Stockton.
Sorry Peter I can not remember Arthur Rhodes, a bit before my time. I will be 75 years old July 6th, but your Mr Barry Rhodes must be nearer 90 years old on the information you gave. Anon is the man for the history and statistics of the area, I bet he can help. Barry Rodham was the Captain of the Southbank Juniors team mentiones earlier. I cannot see Barry Rodham as the Fat Controller, he was always quite slim and a fit young man, as we all were may I add.
This missing names off contributions must be catching Ken Rhodes, I plead guilty to the same offence on the 26-06-10 item on Eddie Wilkinson. A Senior moment maybe the cause. Big Harold as we called Harold Atkinson, died about four years ago at an early age, Ray Thomas is now retired Engineer, and living in Johannesburg with his wife Shirley an ex Head Wrightsone Harlepool girl. Curley Webster lives in Melbourne and Keith Lakey lives in Tasmania. We are all keen golfers these days and I spend many hours toiling on the golf course, and when I say toiling I mean toiling, I have found golf the hardest game in the world to master. At least we can play all the year round in Australia.
I wonder if Benny Brown or anbody else remembers a Stockton footballer named Arthur Rhodes who I think played for South Bank in the 1940’s/50’s. I worked with Arthur at Davy offshore in the 1980’s and heard he had a pretty good goal scoring record for the club, also is Barry Rodham the same one who had the nickname "the fat controller" whilst working as a foreman pipefitter in the rig yards along the river?
I lost touch with Eddie Wilkinson over the years as I played most of my football away from Teesside, in the Southern League and Five years in South Africa. Except for a few years with Crook Town and Stockton FC in the late fifties and early sixties, so maybe one of Eddie’s friends could fill you in on his later career. As to scoring goals, eleven must have been my lucky number as I managed eleven for an Army team and eleven for my South African team, which turned out to be a South African professional League record at the time whether this still stands. I do not know as everything changed when apartheid was discontinued in South Africa, this particular match was my last as a professioal and I retired. The standard in those days was about non-league standard for the top teams. I recruited for my South African Team on ametuer forms Harold Atkinson ex Bailey Street, Stockton Boys and Stockton FC, and Ray Thomas an ex Ashmores player, who both enjoyed a successful career playing for Vereeniging Athletic in the South African National League. It is surprising how many local players had succesful careers overseas. I know that Gran Cooper was voted player of the year in Singapore when on National Service in that country, it would be intersting to know of other locals such as Curley Webster and Keith Lakey, both ex Stockon players who had very good careers in Australian Football, playing for the very talented and Championship winning Juventus FC of Melbourne, and of course not to forget the late Bill Harbon who represented Austalia in the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne.
Hereford United pen picture of Benny Brown. Ben signed on amateur forms early in the 1956-57 season. A tricky inside left with considerable ball skills, he spent two seasons at Hereford United’s Edgar Street but Roy Williams the manager limited his first team opportunities & he spent most of his time playing for the reserves in the Birmingham League. Benny made a total of five appearances for the first team & scored just one goal, at Merthyr Tydfil in a 2-2 draw in April 1957.
I plead guilty to forgetting to add my name to this article. Benny Brown.
I must have had another senior moment as I forgot to sign this piece Benny Brown.I have just turned 85 years in July 2020 and look back and think where did all those years go. Many happy memories of a long gone era.I have just learned of the passing of another well known Stockon area footballer in Barry Geldart,, who became another victim of this terrible Virus,after attending a Teesside Hospital for treatment to his dislocated artificial Hip joint.. Condolances to His wife Ann and all the family.
I plead guilty to missing my name from my letter dated 24/06/2010 – Sorry.
Did Eddie Wilkinson carry on his prolific goalscoring into senior football, he played for Stockton F.C., Whitby Town & Shildon. He also played in the Teesside League for a good Furness team which included Peter Lax, Eddie Graham, Jimmy Ashworth, Tommy Hooker, Tommy Cushley, Billy Basnett, John Bettison & Ivor Caygill, he finished up playing for his works team Wilton I.C.I.
I agree with all you say Benny, I’ve known Eddie since he was born along with his two sisters Rita and Eileen a very nice family. I see Eddie every Saturday in Stockton High Street and always stop to have a word,and he always recognizes my voice. The eye problem also affects his two sisters but they are always a happy crowd always cheerful. I visited Eddie in hospitial a few weeks ago where he had admitted himself with a bad migraine which quickly disapeared with treatment. I nearly forgot to say that, along with yourself, he was a goal machine.
Another odd item on Southbank Juniors scoring feats that season Anon, was that in one particular match my eleven goals for the match against Guisbrough Boys Club was only second highest for the game. As Centre Forward, Eddie Wilkinson (Kitty Coyte), scored twelve that day in a 32-0 win. Looking back maybe we should not have not scored so many against a weaker team, but to have eased up may have been more of a case of not showing respect for your opponents. Eddie Wilkinson was a first class header of the ball and scored many spectacular goals with his head, for a small player about 5-6 ins he regularly outjumped players of six feet and taller. Eddie is suffering at present from an eye disorder which stops him recognizing peoples faces from a close distance, so if you think Eddie is ignoring you if you see him in Stockton High street that is the reason, so please speak to him and he would appreciate a chat about football.
I bet there are not many goalscorers can claim to have scored over 100 goals in a season & not be top goalscorer like Benny Brown’s 107 goals, I wonder if this is a record.
Talking of records in local football Whinney Banks went over fifty games in all competitions unbeaten in 1967 to 1969,the team won the Middlesbrough & District League Division 1 & the South Bank League Division 2 & the North Riding Amatuer Cup,before becoming a top Teesside League team,the team produced a number of Northern League players,Tommy Lynch & Herbie Hughes at South Bank & Tony Adams,Keith Pain & Tony Woods at Billingham Synthonia.The run came to an end when they were drawn against Head Wrightsons in the South Bank League Cup after a 2-2 draw at Teasdale Park they were beaten 2-0 at home.Head Wrightsons were at the time Teesside League Champions 1966-67,67-68,68-69,also South Bank League Division 1 Champions 1967-68,68-69,Bob(Sonny)Nicholson & his committee certainly had a good squad of players at that time.
The goalscoring feats of Benny Brown, Bill Harburn & Eddie Wilkinson were fantastic, when you think last season in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance which has 52 divisions aged from seven to eighteen years old (over 550 teams), the overall top scorer had sixty two goals.
Sorry to get Eddie Rutherfords name wrong Mike, but it is over fifty years ago and the memory sometimes fails. Rutherford had a very powerful left foot shot on him, he also scored quite a few goals that season besides setting them up for Eddie Wilkinson and myself with very accurate crosses. Eddie Wilkinson was a beautiful header of the ball and only small in stature often out jumped many taller Centre halves he came up against.
Just came across this photo on google and it suprised me as I”ve seen it before at my girlfriend”s grand-parents house. It”s Eddie Rutherford (not John) sitting on the front row furthest right and . He was a left winger with a great shot on him apparantly!
It looks like a young Keith Moody in the photo, Keith later played for Whitby Town against Hendon in the F.A.Amateur Cup Final at Wembley.
Len your Cousin Bill Harburn was the Tradesman I was apprenticed too for short while before he left to emigrate to Australia. I was going to meet up with him when I arrived in Australia myself, but tragically Bill as you know was killed in the Bridge collapse in Melbourne shortly before I arrived with my family in December 1970. Bill was an outstanding Stockton born, all round sportsman, who went on to represent Australia in the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne
The South Bank Juniors Team 1941-42,played 36 games winning 35 games and losing one,with a massive score of 408 goals for and just 24 against.My cousin Bill(BANT)Harburn a Portrack Lad scored 129 goals that season,the team finished the season with four cups.
Bill Rosser,nice to see you in print.You name brings back very happy memories of my time spent at Richard Hind School with yor father as Head.I started aged 11 and went on till Iwas 15.We were at war at the time and teachers came and went because of the war and our class had about four different French teachers in one year which I”m sure must have made your dads job very difficult at that time although as kids we didnt understand that.I always remember the football games we played against Holy Trinity and the lively comments from Mr Rosser(snr) after the games and Eggy Plummer telling us not to worry your dad was only joking.A very nice man and a good Boss.
To add to the information on South Bank Juniors 1952. I have some tattered and fading newspaper cuttings of that season taken from the Saturday Sports Gazette. One relates to the second round match against Middlesbrough Juniors in which the scoring was opened for Middlesbrough by Brian Clough and which we lost 3-2 despite two goals from somebody called Brown. The other refers to the 32-0 win over Guisborough. (I have tried to attach them). The side had a strong Stockton element which scored over two thirds of the goals and if the Billingham link is added, Terry Agnew scored forty of the remainder. I still have the sheet given to us at the end of the season which shows a record in all competitions of P.41 W.33 D.4 L.4 F.349 A.56. All out attack was the order of the day and we won the semi-final of the North Riding Junior Cup against a very good Billingham Synthonia side 7-5. I now live in St Helens having retired as the Headteacher of Sutton High School . It was my wife who found your site when looking into her Stockton past. South Bank junior M”bro juniors Although South Bank went on to the field without much hope of victory against their Middiesbrough opponents. the visitors found that the second round of the P.A. Youth Challenge Cup was by no means “in the bag” for them. Middlesbrough were obviously handicapped by the rough bumpy conditions prevailing underfoot, but made the most of the openings with which they were presented. In the fifth minute CLOUGH opened for the visitors ramming the ball home after a through pass from Cooper. After 15 minutes RHODES improved Middlesborough”s lead with a long shot which curled just under the bar. Five minutes later Bytheway sent a high ball from the right wing which WELDRAKE headed in. South Bank. who were well served by their defensive line. now took the initiative and in the twenty fifth minute BROWN taking up a pass from Rosser beat the Middlesbrough goatkeeper with a deceptive shot. Half-time: S. BANS JRS. 1. M”BRO JRS. 3 BROWN scored for South Bank in the second half Full-time: S. BANS JRS. 2. M”BRO JRS. 3
Benny.Peter Lax has now retired from Billingham Synthonia Football Club,the chairman is now Stuart Coleby ex player & manager.
Sorry to hear of the sad passing of Peter Lax, he was a well known personality in the Northern League and Teesside League. Clubs he was inolved with were; Billingham Synthonia, Norton CCT, ICI Cassel Works, Head Wrightsons and Furness Athletic.
Yes Tony and Ken, Bill Rosser was the son of John Rosser, the Head Master of Richard Hind School. Bill was also a very good cricketer whom I played with for Stockton CC fifty odd years ago. Peter Lax still lives in Billingham and as mentioned previously is the Chairman of Billingham Synthonia Football team as far as I know. As to Bill Rosser”s where abouts and what he has been doing for the past fifty years maybe some other contributor can fill us in on the details.
Tony,Bill Rosser was the son of Johnny Rosser headmaster at Richard Hind for many years a strict but a fair man.He once told the football team that if they beat Holy Trinity by more than 10 goals we would all get detention for an hour on the Monday when we returned to scool.Young Bill was playing for HT and although Bill was a year or so behind our team, he stood out as a canny footballer.Benny played with him for a few years and should be able to fill you in with more details.
Benny Brown-Is this the Bill Rosser who went to Stockton Grammar School whose father was a headmaster in the area ? Is the Peter Lax mentioned the one who lived in Wolviston and worked for I.C.I.? If so, I went to the same school as Bill and lived in the same village as Peter
This is the Southbank Juniors team of 1952. This would be one year after the team Ron Cooper is looking for from when he played with Barrie Butler and Eddie Wilkinson for Southbank Juniors I am sure Eddie would have a copy of the team Ron is looking for . You can contact Eddie on 653258 . Eddie is not on the computer but I am sure he would love to hear from you and he would be able to help you with the copy of the team of 1951. The 1952 team was very successful in winning the Middlesbrough League. and North Riding County Cup that year. The team scored a record of over 350 goals in the season. Eddie scored 127 and I managed 107 goals.In one particular game against Guisborough Juniors I scored 11 goals and was only second top scorer that day as Eddie Wilkinson scored 12 goals. I often wonder if any junior team as surpassed this record and would be interested to hear of any other such high scoring teams from Teesside. The team photo was as follows Back Row team Terry Anew Bill Rosser,Ron Stephenson,Tim Williams,Trevor Briggs,Gordon Lawrence, Front Row Keith Moody,Ray Snowy Stones,Eddie Wilkinson,Barrie Roddam, Benny Brown, John Rutherford.Coach Freddie Benton and Trainer George Morris are far left back row, all others are Southbank Officials.. One notable player missing from the photo was Peter Lax the ex England Schoolboy International from Billingham who missed his bus and was late for the photo shoot. Peter went on to become the Chairman of the Billingham Synthonia Football club a position I think he still holds.
Ken Rhodes was asking Benny Brown to submit this picture re. South Bank Juniors and the record number of goals they scored in one season. If I remember rightly he said “I scored 109 goals and took all the penalties but Eddie Wilkinson beat me, he scored 125 goals” – some record!