FOOTBALLERS of yesteryear got none of the luxuries enjoyed by players today.

Everyone mucked in and tackled all sorts of jobs to make sure that match days ran as smoothly as possible.

One man who remembers being a jack of all trades is Ron Bushnell, of Albert Street, Jericho, Oxford.

He was the odd job boy for Oxford YMCA, who played their matches at Jackdaw Lane, off Iffley Road.

He writes: “They were great days. Duties included making tea, cutting up oranges, preparing footballs, running the baths, laying out the kit and many other little jobs.

“Those were the days when players were welcomed to the ground with no electricity, no gas, no running water and the loo was just an old shed with a pit. How quaint!

“We got water for the baths from the fire service, who kindly filled up four giant galvanised tanks.

“We used Calor gas for heating the water, and we used oil lamps for lighting.

“For water for the tea, we walked up Jackdaw Lane to Stratford Street with a boiler and called at the first house, where we were welcomed by a dear old lady who even gave us biscuits.

“My best memory by far was that running alongside the ground, only separated by tall hedges, was a piggery.

“Players never seemed to complain of having a cold, but quite a few noses started to twitch.

“I hope these memories will be remembered by those who are still with us.“ Mr Bushnell was prompted to write in after seeing the photograph which we featured of the Oxford YMCA football team in the 1950s and Ron Godfrey’s letter listing all but one of the names from the line-up (Memory Lane, June 15 and July 20).

Mr Bushnell, known as Butch, was the one Mr Godfrey could not name, in the back row on the extreme right.