It was FA Cup first round proper day, December 9, 1967 and Reds – struggling in Division Four – had a tricky away draw at Ryhope Colliery Welfare.
They had enjoyed a decent run in the League Cup, including a 2-0 win at Carlisle, before losing in a replay at Fulham but 21 League games had realised only five wins.
Actually they had put together a four-match unbeaten run before the trip to Ryhope – three draws and then a 2-0 home win over Brentford the Saturday beforehand.
But it was still a tricky assignment against a team who had reached the first round proper for the first time – and have never been there since.
The Wearside League team really did fancy their chances of an upset and on the day 4,000 people packed into their tiny ground.
In those days we ran a Saturday Night’s sports paper (the Buff) and Reds games made it into that late edition as running reports.
Unfortunately that day was a stinker. Cold, heavy snow and poor visibility. There were doubts whether it would go ahead.
The ‘press box’ – if it could be called that – was on top of a tin hut.
John Lanaghan was covering the game for the Barrow Mail so we were both perched on top of the hut with flimsy seats and a rickety table, both working from typewriters.
It was an early kick-off so we both knew that we could get our reports written in good time before reading them over to the copy girls back at the office.
Easier said than done. The type-writers seized up, the paper was sodden anyway and both reports were filed off the tops of heads with a few sodden notes for guidance.
The game was memorable for just a few things on the field as well. Billy Griffin made history that day. The talented, but slight, inside forward played in gloves!
Now I know that it happens a lot in the modern game but over 50 years ago it was virtually unheard of.
You can imagine Billy got some stick from some tough, no-nonsense miners in the Ryhope crowd.
The only goal of the game was scored by Tommy Spratt, whose pen pics always described him as a former Busby Babe.
It was a welcome win for the Reds at the time but they went out in the next round, beaten in a home replay by Doncaster and they had to apply for re-election at the end of the season after finishing next to bottom.
One more tale on Billy Griffin – a favourite player of mine in that side – who had come to Reds from Bury via a swap deal for one of Ken Furphy’s men Barry Lowes.
It was Billy who scored a peach of a free-kick in the 2-0 League Cup win at Brunton Park earlier that season.
Billy had started his career at Sheffield Wednesday and he played in a famous Hillsborough friendly with Santos of Brazil when Pele was in his pomp.
He used to tell his Workington team-mates that after the game Pele sought him out to swap shirts because he thought he was the best Wednesday player.
I have a feeling that quite a few Reds players of that era didn’t really believe him.
But fast forward to 2018 and I was idling time by looking at various football items on the internet when I spotted a message posted by a Wednesday fan.
He said that he’d been baby sitting with his girl-friend for one of the Wednesday players on the night of the Santos game.
Imagine his surprise when the player came home and he had with him team-mate Billy Griffin, who was wearing Pele’s shirt.
From exchanging shirts with Pele to wearing gloves at Ryhope Colliery Welfare – that was Billy Griffin.
