West
Hammers
The Official Gridball Site
West Hammers
World Champions 1956
Formed 1948
Colours: Blue & Brown
Feeder Teams: Southend Shrimpers, Colchester Romans, Chelmsford Witches, Basildon Bees, Rayleigh Greyhounds
World Gridball Champions 1956
Open Cup Winners 1960
Record Appearances:
Brenda Marshall 165 {1951-1961}
Record Scorer:
Dorothy Kirton 148 {1951-1957}
Record Victory
14-0 vs Philadelphia Quakers {24th April 1960}
Record Defeat
4-8 vs Liverpool Liverbirds {10th September 1955}
Most Goals in a Game
Pauline Dobby {9} 14-0 vs Philadelphia {24th April 1960}
Most Goals in a Season
37 Dorothy Kirton 1953 & 1956 {Record}
Season History
1951: First Round
1952: Quarter-Finalists
1953: Runners Up
1954: First Round
1955: Second Round
1956: WORLD CHAMPIONS
1957: Second Round
1958: First Round
1959: Elite Division - Fourth Place
1960: Quarter Finalists - Cup Winners
LEGENDS
June Kaye 1956
Shirley Pithers 1960
Players of the Year
June Kaye 1956
Young Players of the Year
Mary Grafton 1956
Team of the Season
June Kaye 1952
Mary Grafton 1956
Priscilla Hale Kilburn 1956
Brenda Marshall 1956
Golden Bat
Pauline Dobby 1960
Dorothy Kirton 1953 & 1956
Silver Bat
Betty Chalmers 1959
Bronze Bat
Dorothy Kirton 1955
Nations Cup Champions
Priscilla Hale-Kilburn {England 1957}
Mary Grafton {United States 1959}
International Representatives
Ann Fletcher {Germany 1960-1961}
Mary Grafton {United States 1959}
Priscilla Hale-Kilburn {England 1957}
Eileen Logan {Scotland 1957-1961}
The West Ham Story
The West Hammers were formed in 1948 to represent Essex, England and adopted the Hammers nickname to reflect both their home base of West Ham but also the iron industry of the area. It also reflected the nickname of the Football team of the same name, Blue and brown were selected as the team colours.
The Hammers have been elite ever presents and gradually developed into a member of the big four sides who came to be the power houses of late 1950s Gridball. They reached their First Supergrid in 1953 but surprisingly lost to underdogs Dublin, which was followed by an inexplicable winless 1954 season, which saw them face the humiliation of having to qualify for the 1955 event. Under their new American coach, Anne Gardner, they bounced back with a vengeance, clinching the title in ruthless style against Houston in 1956 with a side containing legendary Hammers such as their famous 'Special K' strike partnership of June Kaye and Dorothy Kirton, supported by Beverly Marshall at centre and England netminder, Priscilla Hale Kilburn.
Their next superstar was Shirley Pithers, who inspired the Hammers to their second trophy when winning the Open Cup in 1960 only to instantly leave the club for Willesden after following Kaye as the second Hammer to be inducted as a Gridball legend.
West Ham Team
0-0 at Cardiff
3rd June 1961
Shirley Pithers. Hammers Legend of their 1960 Cup winning team
Rosemary Cummings
Coach:
Age 41:
Born: Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland 12/12/1919
Rated 6 {World Class}
Took Glasgow to the title in 1955 and won the cup first year in charge of the Hammers in 1960
Georgina Gardiner
Netminder:
Age 17:
Born: Ilford, Essex 04/08/1943
Rated 3 {Good}
16 Hammers Appearances {1959-}
1960 Cup Winner
Brenda Marshall
Sweeper:
Age 33:
Born: Romford, Essex 19/01/1928
Rated 4 {Very Good}
166 Appearances, 25 Goals {1951-}
1956 World Champion
1960 Cup Winner
1953 Championship Finalist
1956 Team of the Season
Christa Martiny
Attacker:
Age 22:
Born: Cologne, Germany 17/08/1938
Rated 1 {Average}
8 Appearances {1958-}
Prefers to play Attacker {Rated 2 Okay}
Previous Club: Dortmund {1957 4 apps, 4 goals}
Priscilla Hale-Kilburn
First Choice Netminder: Unavaiable: Maternity
Age 31:
Born: Pitsea, Essex 28/03/1930
Rated 9 {Celebrity}
156 Hammers Appearances {1951-}
1956 World Champion
1957 Nations Cup Winner {England}
1953 Goalie of the Year
1956 Team of the Season
Missed the 1960 cup win on maternity
Juliet Rickard-Forgeham
Reserve Netminder:
Age 17:
Born: Ilford, Essex 24/06/1943
Rated 3 {Good}
3 Appearances {1961-}
Debut this season
Mary Grafton
Right Guard:
Age 20:
Born: Lexington, Kentucky, USA 23/07/1940
Rated 5 {Excellent}
86 Appearances, 6 Goals {1956-}
1956 World Champion
1959 Nations Cup Winner {USA}
1960 Cup Winner
1956 Young Gridballer of the Year
Jennifer Roberts
Centre:
Age 24:
Born: Rochford, United States 30/09/1936
Rated 1 {Average}
8 Appearances, 3 Goals {1957-}
Prefers to play Shooter {Rated 3 Good}
Ann Fletcher
Defender
Age 29:
Born: Berlin, Germany 13/07/1931
Rated 7 {Star}
77 Appearances, 6 Goals {1957-}
1960 Cup Winner
German International
Previous Clubs: Liverpool {1956 12 apps}
Birmingham {1951-1955 64 apps}
1961 Squad Rating {Very Good}
1961 World Ranking {11}
Highest {2} 1959
Eileen Logan
Shooter:
Age 28:
Born: Hillhead, Glasgow, Scotland 18/02/1933
Rated 6 {World Class}
48 Appearances, 25 Goals {1959-}
1955 World Champion {Glasgow}
1960 Cup Winner
1958 Championship Bronze Medallist
1958 Nations Cup Bronze Medallist {Scotland}
1955 Golden Bat
1955 Team of the Season
Previous Club: Glasgow 1951-1958 {110 Apps, 126 Goals}
West Ham Legends
Dorothy Kirton: 106 appearances, 148 goals {1951-57} - World Champion 1956. Golden Bat 1953 & 1956, Nations Cup Winner {England 1957}, World Record Goalscorer, record goals for a season twice, 1953 & 1956. 1960: Currently coach of Third Division Seattle
June Kaye: West Ham Career: 105 appearances, 80 goals {1951-56}
World Champion & Player of the Year 1956, Team of the Year 1952
Wuppertal player coach 12 appearances, 4 goals} {1958}
Rotterdam player coach 10 Elite & 31 Lower Division appearances, 1 Elite & 12 lower division goals - promoted to Elite Division {1959}, Back to Back Demotions {1960 & 1961}
Priscilla Hale-Kilburn: West Ham Career: 156 appearances in goal {1951-60}
World Champion 1956
Nations Champion {England} 1957
Netminder of the Year 1953 & 1956
Ann Fletcher: West Ham Career: 84 appearances, 6 goals {1957-61}
Open Cup Winner 1960
World Championship Fourth Place 1959
Germany International 1960
Mary Grafton: West Ham Career: 64 appearances, 6 goals {1956-59}
World Champion & Young Player of the Year 1956
Nations Cup Winner - United States 1959
Shirley Pithers: 70 appearances, 16 goals {1957-59} - Open Cup Winner 1960
Previous clubs: Islington 10 App {1953}, Glasgow {1954} 14 Apps, 8 Goals, Willesden {1955} 17 Apps, 4 Goals, Wandsworth {1956} 2 Apps - England International {1960}
Ann Fletcher
Open Cup Winner {1960}
World Championship Fourth Place {1959}
Germany International {1960-1961}
Date and place of Birth: 13th July 1931, Berlin, Germany
Position: Defender
Debut: 3rd March 1951 for Birmingham Bullettes vs Cardiff {lost 0-1}
Total Appearances: 163 {Birmingham 64 {1951-1955}, {Liverpool 12 {1956} {West Ham 84 {1957-1961} {Germany 3 {1960-1961}
Goals: 6 {West Ham 6 1957-1961}
A German with an English name and accent who can speak both Africaans and Czech, Ann Fletcher is mix up of several worlds. She was born in Germany to her Hungarian mother, hence the fluent Czech. Her father and grandfather before her were both German but their British ancestry had seen them viewed with suspicion by the German authorities during World War One. As war loomed again in Europe in the 1930s, the family decided that England would be the lesser of two evils and relocated in 1937. When war broke out, her father was interned in the Isle of Man while she herself was sent to live with cousins in Warwickshire. Her mother also hoped it would help her shed her German accent and acquire and English one.
Fletcher quickly adopted an English accent, which, with the help of an English sounding name, helped her navigate the suspicions of small town England in wartime.
Her father was released from internment in 1943 but, unsettled in England, decided to relocate to South Africa in 1947 after visiting a friend there. Fletcher enrolled in University in Johannesburg to study medicine before returning to the UK in 1950, initially with plans to work as a nurse in Birmingham, but those plans were quickly changed when she was spotted playing Netball for nursing training school team.
Fletcher made her debut on the first ever Gridball weekend in March 1951, finishing on the losing side in Birmingham's defeat to Cardiff before being an ever present in a side that largely struggled. Despite emerging as a star defender in the team, The Bullettes never threatened to progress to the business end of the competition in her time there, and a move to a bigger team was inevitable. Liverpool took her services in 1956 but it was the only season of the decade in which they failed to get beyond the Quarter Finals and the new players caught most of the flak for their failure. With her future on Merseyside in doubt, Fletcher took the opportunity to join West Ham for the 1957 campaign.
Fletcher struck up a good defensive partnership with the young American, Mary Grafton, helping the Hammers to the Semi Finals in 1959 before winning her first major honour, playing as the solitary defender in their Open Cup win over Lanarkshire, a game she described as one of the most comfortable of her career.
Sadly, just as the Hammers were looking into the 1960s with optimism, their team began to break up. The 1961 season has been a difficult one for Fletcher and the Hammers. The team are on the verge of demotion to Division Two for the first time in their history and Fletcher may reluctantly be in search of pastures new in 1962.
Her German birth and ancestry remained relatively quiet throughout the 1950s, as she feared anti German sentiment from fans. Fletcher was considered for an England call up in 1958 and, after that opportunity passed, South Africa made enquiries to her eligibility to represent them. However, her German/Czech parentage alerted the German national team to offer her a place in their side in 1959.
Outside Gridball she recently got engaged to American born, British based novelist and screen writer, Raymond Brooks.
Mary Grafton
World Champion {West Ham 1956}
World Young Player of the Year {West Ham 1956}
Nations Cup Champion {United States 1959}
Date and place of Birth: 23rd July 1940, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
Position: Defender
Debut: 5th March 1955 for Louisville vs Detroit {lost 1-2}
Appearances: 64 {Louisville 2 1955}, {West Ham 62 1956-1959}
Goals: 6 {West Ham 6 1956-1959}
Grafton was born the daughter of an engineer and a school teacher, the youngest of five children and once dreamt of being a nurse. However, she struggled in school and by her teens realised that she was more equipped for sport as Gridball took hold in the States in the mid 50s. Her phys ed teacher put her forward for the Louisville tryouts in 1954 and Grafton was selected for the team when they made their qualifying debut in 1955 when still just fourteen.
The inexperienced Jockey's lost both games and failed to progress but word got out to the big teams about the teenage American defender and West Ham gained her mother's permission to travel to London on condition she continued her studies at the American school in the city.
The insistence on her studies quickly fell by the wayside as the youngster made an instant impact in West Ham's team, helped by the fact her coach, Anne Gardner was a fellow countrywoman. Grafton's Hammers debut was also in the States where she scored, unusual for a defender, in their 6-1 win in Manhattan. She made the Left Guard slot her own and went on to hit three more goals as the Hammers were crowned World Champions. For her own efforts, Grafton was named Young Gridballer of the Year.
A call up to the National team followed in 1958 with Grafton being part of the US side that became the first team ever to take any major Gridball prize out of Europe as they defeated Wales to be crowned Nations Champions of 1959, which was quickly followed in 1960 by an Open Cup Winners' medal with her club.
It's hard to believe the young Kentuckian is still only nineteen years old. And although she's recently had to adapt to playing at her less preferred position of Right Guard and even as a Shooter on occasion, the 1960s promises to be a decade filled with honours both personally and for club and country.
Priscilla Hale-Kilburn
World Champion {West Ham 1956}
Nations Cup Champion {England 1957}
Netminder of the Year 1953 & 1956
Date and place of Birth: 28th March 1930, Pitsea, Essex, England
Position: Netminder
Debut: 3rd March 1951 vs Kent {6-2}
Appearances: 163 {156 West Ham 1951-1960} {7 England 1957-1960}
When Priscilla Hale was a child, Pitsea Train Station, where her father was station master, was her playground. Her favourite day was Saturday when a small group of local men would congregate at the station to travel into London to watch West Ham play Football. Priscilla would wait all day for
the fans to return, offering them tea in return for the account of the afternoon's game. Her own sporting ability leant towards Hockey, playing in goal for Essex Schools before graduating to the senior game, playing for various south Essex clubs in her youth. When the opportunity to play pro sport came her way in 1951, Hale grabbed the chance with both hands, being approached by the Hammers while playing in goal for her Hockey team. She made her Hammers debut in the very first round of Elite Gridball in March 1951. Two years later she earned the first of two Goalie of the Year crowns but was left with a Silver medal when the Hammers lost Supergrid to Dublin when hot favourites on the day.
Three years later Hale was still first choice when the Hammers put their disappointment right, winning the title for the first time. In so doing she also claimed her second goalie of the year award.
As a continuing keen fan of West Ham United Football Club, Hale was spotted at Upton Park regularly throughout tht e season, when Her own Hammers commitments allowed. The press were quick to pair her with Hammers Football goalie, Leon Kilburn. The pairing soon became romantic with the couple marrying in 1957. So it was as Priscilla Hale-Kilburn that she made her England debut in the first Nations Cup competition in 1957, adding a Nations Gold medal to her Supergrid of the previous year. She missd out on becoming the first player to hold all three major honours in the game when she went on maternity midway through the 1960 season, thus missing out on the Hammer's cup win that year.
Kaye in Rotterdam colours 1960
June Kaye {Gridball Legend 1956}
World Champion {West Ham 1956}
World Player of the Year {West Ham 1956}
Runner up to World Player of the Year {West Ham 1952}
Team of the Season {West Ham 1952 & 1956}
Date and place of Birth: 8th April 1929, Laindon, Essex, England
Age: 32
Position: Shooter
Debut: 3rd March 1951 vs Kent Fillies {won 6-2} scored twice
Appearances: 121 {West Ham 105 1952-1956} {Wuppertal 12 1958} {Rotterdam 10+31 1959-1961}
Goals: 85 + 12 {West Ham 80} {Wuppertal 4} {Rotterdam 1 + 12}
Kaye was born June Barton in 1929 and grew up in the East End of London until she was evacuated to rural Warwickshire during World War Two. Barton returned to London in 1943, taking a job as a factory girl until the end of the war.
With acting ambitions, she joined a theatre company in 1947, performing in amateur dramatics, which saw her elected the University of London Carnival Queen in 1949. The West Hammers offered her a trial to see if she had talent to match her looks and were delighted with what they found. Being Carnival Queen also brought Barton to the attention of young movie maker, Raymond Kaye, whom she married in 1950.
As June Kaye, she made her debut in the 1951 Championship for the Hammers in a 6-2 victory over Kent, scoring twice. Unfortunately the Hammers didn't kick on from that good start and exited in the First Round. June showed a lot of promise in that first season but it was the following year where she properly emerged as a star, being named the attacker in the Team of the Season as the Hammers reached the quarterfinals but being pipped for the World Player of the Year by Liverpool's Gertrude Keegan. Along with Shooter, Dorothy Kirton, the pair would go on to torment defences as the Hammers reached the 1953 Final before winning the title three years later. Kaye was the engine of that '56 title winning team to the extent that this time she went one better than four years earlier and was named World Gridballer of the Year. Having reached the very top of the game, Kaye decided she couldn't do any better as a player, retiring after Supergrid 1956.
During a year on the sidelines, Kaye was offered a host of coaching roles, turning them all down until German side, Wuppertal got their timing right for an approach. Her first season as a player-coach in Germany suggested she might prove just as good in that role as she guided the Arrows through the qualifying campaign and into the First Round at the first attempt. The creation of the new Elite Championship at the end of the season condemned the Arrows to the new Second Division, prompting Kaye to seek pastures new, though it was a shock when she opted to stay in the second tier and move to the Netherlands to take a player-coach role with the Rotterdam Watergeus. As fate would have it, Kaye's first game in charge was against her German former team, overseeing a 2-0 victory. Her first season in charge of the Dutch side saw her guide them to promotion to the Elite Division at her first attempt.
Life among the Elite was made tougher in 1960 with the news that the top tier was to be reduced from thirty-two teams to sixteen over two seasons. An expanded demotion programme to streamline the Divisions saw the Watergeus suffer back to back demotions from the Elite to the third tier, their fate being shared by two other sides being of little consolation to Kaye who, at the time of writing, remains in charge.
Away from Gridball, Kaye and her movie producer husband of eleven years, announced their amicable separation earlier this year, citing the demands of their professional lives.
{Profile Date October 21st 1961}
Dorothy Kirton
World Champion {West Ham 1956}
World Championship Runner Up {West Ham 1953}
Nations Champion {England 1957}
Team of the Season {West Ham 1953 & 1956}
Golden Bat {West Ham 1953 & 1956}
Bronze Bat {West Ham 1955}
Date and place of Birth: 11th September 1925, West Ham
Position: Shooter & Coach
Debut: 3rd March 1951
Appearances: 108 {West Ham 1951-1958}
Goals: 148 {West Ham 1951-1958} World Record scorer
Kirton was born in 1925 in East London, the daughter of a west end actress from Northern Ireland while her father was the one time Mayor of East Ham. She attended South Hampstead High School from 1934 to 1939 excelling as a pianist. War intervened and Kirton joined the wrens, being stationed near her mother's family in Londonderry. It was here that she found herself at the birth of Gridball, playing in the Wrens team that created the wartime tournament in the city that would give birth to the sport. After the war Kirton returned to London and instantly was among the founders of the World Gridball Federation, playing a key role in recruiting and training young players for the first tournament in 1948. She also became the sport's first registered professional in 1949, employed as a coach for multiple teams. By the time of the 1951 World Championship, Kirton was the first choice star of the Hammers.
Sixteen goals in her first season was bettered in the second , but she set the standard in 1953, breaking the thirty goal mark to help the Hammers to the Final in partnership with her attacking partner, June Kaye. Alas, they were undone in the final, although Kirton received the golden bat to go with her silver medal. Pregnancy in 1954 robbed the Hammers of her attacking threat and their failure to win a single game without her only served to increase her value to the East London fans. She came back with a bang in 1955,
winning a bronze bat, but this was just the prelude to her greatest season. Kirton's thirty-seven goals in 1956 was an all time record for one player for a season and not only earned her a second Golden bat but also a Championship gold medal. She also became the first player to score five goals in a final in the hammering of Houston. She was also not surprisingly named in the team of the season.
Her goal tally of sixteen was modest by her standards in 1957, but it placed her as Gridball's all time leading scorer. However it was in an England shirt that she earned her glory this season, winning gold in the first ever Nations cup. Feeling she could do no more in the game, Kirton retired to raise her son but the grip of Gridball proved too strong and when an offer to move to Seattle in the States as coach came along in 1959, it was too good to turn down. Kirton resisted the temptation to pick up her bat as her former strike partner did when moving into coaching and despite being demoted from the Second Division in her first season in charge, albeit due to restructuring of the League, she's become well liked in Washington State.
Shirley Pithers {Gridball Legend 1960}
Open Cup Winner {West Ham 1960}
Date and place of Birth: 20th February 1936, Ilford, London, England
Position: Centre
Debut: For Islington 1953
Career Appearances: 116 in total {Islington 10, 1953}, {Glasgow 14, 1954} {Willesden 18, 1955 & 1961} {Wandsworth 2, 1956} {West Ham 70, 1957-1959} {England 2, 1960}
Goals: 32 in total {Glasgow 8, 1954} {Willesden 8 ,1955 & 1961} {West Ham 16, 1957-1960}
{Stats up to March 11th 1961}
Phyllis Shirley Pithers was born in Ilford in 1936 as the first child of her school teacher parents, attending the County School in Loughton where the family moved when she was a child. Her mother was born in Denmark to Swedish parents and her Scandinavian heritage enabled Shirley to learn both Swedish and Danish as a child. After watching the Diving at the 1948 London Olympics, the young Pithers embarked on trying out for the 1952 British Olympic squad but after failing to make the team, she was encouraged instead to try out for the new Islington Gridball squad.
At just seventeen she made her debut for the Angels in Gridball 1953 but quickly developed a reputation as argumentative and hard to get on with by team mates. Despite this, Pithers impressed Glasgow sufficiently for the Scots to entice her north of the border for the 1954 campaign, where she emerged as a rising star of Gridball. 8 goals in 14 games in the Russian Violet endeared her to the Glaswegian public but homesickness for London left her miserable and isolated, which ultimately resulted in her issuing a 'come and get me' plea to the southern English teams. Willesden answered the call and recruited Pithers for the 1955 campaign.
The season started well for the Londoner with four goals in the First Round and solid performances in the Second. However, a surprise quarter final defeat to Derbyshire yet again highlighted Pithers fiery temper in a heated exchange with Jean Trend, which saw both players declared surplus to requirements at the end of the season. A hugely disappointed Pithers turned down an offer to follow Trend to Croydon, instead opting for struggling Wandsworth in 1956. The Brewers were hopelessly not strong enough for a player of Pithers' talents and after failing to qualify for the main event, West Ham offered her a contract for 1957.
It was a more mature and more humble Pithers who donned the blue and brown of the East Londoners, and this proved the making of her. Gone was the former impetuous and often emotional youngster, replaced by a more composed and calm persona. Pithers developed into a lynchpin of the centre of the Hammers team who reached the semi finals of Supergrid in 1959 and defeated Lanarkshire to win the Open Cup in 1960. Her performances saw her inducted into the Gridball Legends at the end of that season, which included a rather ill advised raunchy photoshoot with her fellow 1960 Legends. By that time she was already on her way back across London, re-joining Willesden in a bid to win a Supergrid Brooch. This latest part of her story has started well with four goals on her Saxons debut in a mauling of Kent on 1961 Championship opening day.
Trivia
On June 16th 1951 West Ham courted Katherine, Gladys and Vilma Chamberlain in their game against Birmingham Bullets, the first and only time three sisters have played in the same senior match. The Hammers won 2-0 with Vilma scoring both goals. It was the only time a Chamberlain sister made the team of the week. All three sisters were amateurs who played only this single season for the Essex team.