It’s not every day that two former Workington Reds players from different eras play golf against one another, not knowing each other before teeing off.
But that happened on Monday at the Ramside Golf Club in County Durham in what has become an annual fixture.
A team from Ramside were entertaining a touring team of ex-cricketers, and is how John Reach came to play against Graham Monkhouse.
Reach, himself a former more than useful cricketer with Chester-le-Street spent seven seasons with the Reds soon after they went into non-league and captained the side to their first trophy win, the NPL’s President’s Cup in 1985.
In total he played 298 games, plus five more substitute appearances and scored 58 goals for the Borough Park club.
Monkhouse, who played for Surrey in the County Championship, was one of three goalkeepers used by the Reds in their final season of league football in 1976/77.
Although he only played four times he did figure in what was one of the very few high spots that season.
He was in goal for the only away win, 3-0 at Rochdale, when it was also the last victory the team managed in the Football League – actually playing another 13 games after it.
Reach, who is 68 now, told Cumbria Crack: “The Seniors section of the Ramside Golf Club is quite an eclectic bunch of blokes aged 55 and over.
“One of our members is Geoff Cook, a former England cricketer who is also a member of the County Cricketers Golf Society.
“We play them once a year as they tour round the country playing golf at various venues.
“This year I was drawn to play with Graham Monkhouse and we started chatting about our sporting past and soon discovered we both had played for the Reds but in different eras.
“We found that we had a large number of ex-players as mutual friends.
“We chatted throughout the round and the golf became secondary as we exchanged stories some of which were quite enlightening.
“It was good to know that he still kept up to date, as I do, with the current situation at the club regarding the poor start to the season, the current manager and the ground development.”
Monkhouse, now 71, played 75 first class matches for Surrey between 1981 and 1986.
He took 173 wickets (average 27.06) and scored 1,158 runs (average 21.84).
Before turning professional he played 37 times for Cumberland in the Minor Counties, scoring 979 runs and taking 97 wickets.
After leaving Surrey he played one more time for Cumberland in 1987 before retiring.
The cricketers won the match 4-3 with one halved.
Reach and his partner were four up with eight to play but lost their match on the 18th.
John said: “Graham was extremely happy with the result and to be fair he deserved to be on the winning side as he played really well.”
