Tony Stilgoe, left, with team-mates John Snow and Phil Carrick

Tony Stilgoe, erstwhile publican, hotelier, but, more importantly, Bradford League cricketer, is a raconteur par excellence. Even after an hour or so talking with Tony I was still left with the feeling there were so many more lids that could be lifted on events that have combined to make up one of the more colourful of League cricket careers.

Yorkshire Sport, May 11, 1974

It was a copy of The Yorkshire Sports for Saturday, 11th May 1974, with a picture of him bowling, and another from 24 August that year, that brought my attention to Tony and made me want to look further into his career.

The August edition of 'The Pink' reported that Tony, at this time a Windhill player, had been turning out for Derbyshire Seconds and had recently played against Yorkshire Seconds -taking the wickets of Phil Sharpe, Peter Squires, Graham Stevenson and Jim Love in a 15 over stint.

Intrigued as to why more was not heard of him on the County Championship scene I set about tracking him down to find some answers.

Despite having spent around 15 years in Bradford League cricket with Saltaire, Windhill and Pudsey St Lawrence Stilgoe proved surprisingly hard to find.

He had been brought up in the York area, played York Senior League cricket for Dunnington, earning a place in the club's 'Hall of Fame' website, and after his spell in the Bradford League he had turned out for York in the Yorkshire League and still earns high praise from Yorkshire League legend Peter Chadwick.

Chadwick, Harrogate's all time record run scorer and occasional Yorkshire player, had played for Great Horton in the Bradford League at the invitation of Edgar Robinson on ending his National Service, in 1955 but it was encounters with Stilgoe in the Harrogate v York needle matches that stick in his mind.

"Tony was a very difficult bowler to play against," Chadwick recalled recently. "He bowled off the front foot and the ball seemed to come on to you much

Geoff Cope, Tony Stilgoe and John Alderton

quicker than you anticipated."

Finding Tony for his view of things was difficult but in the end it was a relative, found in the phone book, that made the connection and it seems Tony had run a pub in York, then moved out to Bridlington to run a hotel and has only recently retired and moved back to York.

As it happens Tony disputes the 'front foot' bowling theory. "To be honest, my action was different, but I don't think I, or anyone else, could actually see what foot I did bowl off as my feet moved so fast in delivering the ball."
But, he turned out to be a mine of information about Bradford League cricket in the 70's and 80's.

It was a conversation with Dunnington team-mate Tony Moore that resulted in the pair of them moving to Saltaire initially but Stilgoe was persuaded to branch out on his own at Windhill in 1973 and his old team mate became one of his greatest rivals.

"Tony stayed at Saltaire for the 1973 season but we both did so well I remember us sharing the 'Sir Learie Constantine All Rounders Trophy', " he recalled.

But, my first question was the Derbyshire situation, and I wasn't ready for the answer.

Well, David Smith, one of the Derbyshire committee was playing in the Bradford League at that time and he approached me after the game and asked me if had ever thought of trying my luck in County Cricket," explained Stilgoe.

"I said I wouldn't mind giving it a go and he asked me how old I was. I said 27. Smith, thought for a minute and then said 'You are a bit older than we would have liked but come and have a few games anyway'.

" It actually went quite well I had a good season and I think there was some talk of a contract. Unfortunately I hadn't been exactly truthful. When I told them that I was actually THIRTY ONE any deal was immediately seen as out of the question."

There was still plenty of Bradford League life left in Stilgoe however - particularly after moving to Pudsey St Lawrence.

"I enjoyed my time at St Lawrence," said Stilgoe. "and one of my favourite memories is the day I turned up after being told I would have a new opening bowling partner.

" I had asked who it was but nobody was saying anything. No matter how many times I asked no one would say. I got to the ground and I said to one of the club officials 'who is it then?'. They pointed to this tall fella standing in the car park with his back to me. I had no idea who it was until he turned around - it was John Snow.

" It seemed no time at all since he was helping England beat Australia to win the Ashes and there he was stood next to me in the car park at Tofts Road.
We were playing Idle, I think, and they had just won the 1974 First Division championship.

"Well, Snowy got at them from the start and though I managed to pick up three wickets in one over I never got to bowl again because Snowy finished them off and they were all out for about 29. I've still got the newspapers cutting with a "SNOWSTORM" headline."

Pudsey St Lawrence, whose line up also included the late Phil Carrick that season, finished First Division champions and marked the start of a very happy time for Stilgoe in the Bradford League - although he did fall foul of his club at the start of one season.

"I once turned up for a pre-season friendly," he explained. "Now, I hated these sort of games. I liked to play serious, competetive, cricket and, to be honest I couldn't really be bothered to play in this game. It just happened to be a day when we had a visit from John Alderton, the actor. John is a real cricket fan and we have known each other a while, so I asked him if he would like to play in my place. He was more than happy so we got him some gear and he played.

" But, this hadn't gone down too well in some quarters and the first week of the season I found myself in the Second team. I didn't make a fuss. I just did as I was told and went out and produced a decent performance for the Seconds. I was back in the first team the following week."

The incident did give St Lawrence the distinction of being the only Bradford League club to ever have a professional actor turn out for them. Unless anyone knows differently!

Prize guys; Tont Moore, Tony Stilgoe, Harold Rhodes, former league president Gordon Bowers and John Harrison