Lives in Cricket No 20 - Maurice Tompkin

No sooner was the 1946 cricket season over than he signed for Huddersfield Town, then in the First Division of the Football League. His move from Bury, reportedly ‘for a four-figure fee’, was announced on 9 September and he played his first match two days later against Derby County. Huddersfield were keen to strengthen their squad and Maurice’s versatility would seem to be an important factor in his signing. As with his other debuts his performance brought great praise. The match was a 5-2 victory for Huddersfield, and he played a grand game, until an ankle injury slowed him down. Within twelve minutes he provided a chance for McShane to put Huddersfield one up, from which they never looked back and in all he played ten games in the 1946/47 season during their campaign, scoring a goal in a 4-1 defeat away to Middlesbrough on 26 October. It is probable that Maurice decided in the autumn of 1947 that he should concentrate on cricket. About to become a father for the second time, travelling around post-war Britain with petrol rationing and no motorways must have been frustrating to say the least. This also came on top of his years in India. The loss of the war years was even more crucial to his footballing career, because he was 28 by the start of the 1947/48 football season. Playing ten games out of 42 in the 1946/47 season for Huddersfield, he could scarcely be considered a regular. Because of his cricketing commitments he started the 1947/48 football season late. Huddersfield had placed him on the ‘open to offer’ transfer list at a price of £10,000. This was a substantial sum; with the British record at the time having just been broken and standing at £15,500, and the logical explanation for this is that they did not want him to move, and regarded him as a useful reserve player who was versatile enough to play in any of the forward positions apart from in the centre. By the beginning of October, things were coming to a head. Huddersfield’s inside-left, Peter Doherty was injured. Doherty, it should be noted, was an Irish international who had played for Manchester City before the war, and Maurice was his understudy. Taking his place was therefore the opportunity, and as a 28-year-old, maybe the final opportunity to become a serious footballer. According to the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph he received fifteen offers to play for one club or another, and these included one from Leicester City, but instead he chose to sign for Kettering Town, about twenty miles from his home. The reasons he gave make interesting reading: ‘I want to play for a club nearer home and enjoy more home life. For the last few years I have been travelling long distances, and been absent from home for most of the week playing or training and merely getting a fleeting glimpse of home life.’ The Evening Telegraph also said that he wanted to be near where he played cricket, particularly as he had established a coaching school where he was receiving pupils. He had converted a shed at the Aylestone Road ground, and with Les Berry was coaching youngsters in the evenings and on Saturday mornings. Many young cricketers of the time Football winters 39