A CENTURY of a local football competition has been reviewed and celebrated in a new book.
The Totty Cup: A Century of Schools Football in the Don and Dearne area has been produced by co-authors Steven Penny and Chris Brook.
It’s a follow-up to the successful book about the adult football competition, The Montagu Cup.
The Totty Cup, originally donated by Goldthorpe cinema owner Russell Totty, celebrated its centenary earlier in 2023.
The competition is for schools in the Don and Dearne regions and it will stir memories of their days playing schoolboy football for many local people.
The current trophy is the third version with the previous two still lost.
The first trophy’s last sighting was in the late 1970s and its replacement has never been seen since Bolton-upon-Dearne school Carrfield won it in 1998.
The book has details in from every one of the finals, the individual winners and has many pictures in from across a century of history.
Youngsters who played in the competition before going on to play professionally are also celebrated.
They include the Robledo brothers, George and Ted, Frank Barlow and Geoff Salmons, who wrote the foreword and the likes of FA Cup winners Gordon West and Alan Sunderland.
Brian Blessed, who also boasted of playing in the competition, is also mentioned.
Chris said: “There is no older primary school football competition that the Totty Cup - it started back in 1923 in Goldthorpe by cinema owner Russell Totty in the days before primary schools initially competed for by 13 and 14 year olds.
“The Dearne Schools FA oversaw the Goldthorpe Picture House Cup in its inaugural season, with future Rotherham United striker, Albert Parkin, scoring a brace in a 2-0 win for Wath Victoria.
“Thereafter it was known as the Totty Cup.
“Schools from Thurnscoe, Bolton-upon-Dearne and Brampton dominated the early years.
“Future FA Cup winner George Robledo scored all four goals in the 1939 final for Brampton Ellis and then all six goals in 1940.
“Dearne Schools FA merged with the Don Schools FA to form the Don and Dearne Schools’ FA which became something of an academy for clubs like Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“Since 1923 there have only been a handful of finals not played. World War Two put the Totty Cup on hold between 1941 and 1944.
“The Don and Dearne folded for a season in 1973 and the teachers’ strike chalked another final off in 1986.
“Covid-19 put paid to the 2020 final.”
Carrfield are currently top the all-time league table for wins with 19, closely followed by Thurnscoe’s The Hill and Swinton Fitzwilliam who have each won the competition 18 times.
The current holders of the competition are Swinton Queen who saw off Goldthorpe’s Sacred Heart in a replay earlier this year.
The replay took place on the exact date, 100 years on, from the first ever final.
Mr Totty’s descendants made the journey up from Camberley to attend the game.
The book can be bought online at https://tottycup.co.uk/pre-order-totty-cup-book-collect-at-pettits/ or from Wath Sports or Hollygrove’s Shop in Goldthorpe.
All proceeds from the book will go to the Don and Dearne Schools’ Association.
Here are a few winners of the cup from recent years.
