The Greatest Team Ever…That I Played (a Bit) For

Dr. John Sanders

13th June 2023 | 11:30 AM

Amidst all the pre-Covid journalistic and internet chatter about whether the all-conquering Liverpool team’s season was the greatest ever, various alternative candidates were put forward. These ranged from Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ 2003-4 season to treble-winning Man United (1998-9), or early Mourinho Chelsea (2004-5) to late Guardiola Man City (2017-18). Contenders from the pre-PL antediluvian era included the original Prestonian ‘Invincibles’ 1888-9 season, Spurs’ Double-winning side (1960-61), and any number of incarnations of Arsenal in the Thirties or Liverpool in the late Seventies and early Eighties. However, there was one significant and inexcusable omission from these lists: the treble-winning Willerby Carr Lane County Primary School’s ‘A’ Team of 1960-61. 

My attempt to address this unforgivable oversight begins with a favourite photo:

Willerby Carr Lane County Primary School’s ‘A’ Team of 1960-61 John Sanders England Football WWII

It was taken at the end of the East Riding Junior Schools Cup Final in April 1961 at Anlaby CP School, after we had just vanquished the hosts 3-1 in the final. We were unbeaten all season winning the Beverley and Haltemprice Junior Football Association Division 1, the Beverley and Haltemprice Junior Football Association Knock-out Cup and the East Riding Junior Schools Cup. A unique treble: something that Real Madrid, the only contemporary team that even came close, could never match.

Unlock this article and 1,000+ Football Paradise stories by logging in

Already a subscriber?

All rights reserved © Football Paradise