Willesden
Saxons
The Official Gridball Site
Willesden Saxons
World Champions 1957, 1959 & 1960
Record Three Titles
Open Cup: Last 16: 1960
Formed 1948
Colours: Light Coral, White and Black
Feeder Teams: Twickenham Jesters, Hendon Moors, Sunbury Wild Geese, Ealing Trackers & Wembley Lionesses
World Champions 1957,1959 & 1960 {Record}
Open Cup Last sixteen 1960
Record Appearances:
Ann Hanslip 194 {1951-1961}
Second most appearances of any player in history.
Record Scorer:
Rosalie Williams 119 {1957-1960}
Williams tally of 175 across clubs and country is a Gridball record
Record Victory
12-0 at Monmouthshire Beacons {20th August 1960}
Record Defeat
1-6 vs Sunderland Wasps {1952}
Most Goals in a Game
Jean Anstiss {7} 12-0 vs Monmouthshire {20th August 1960}
Most Goals in a Season
36 Jean Anstiss {1959}
Season History
1951: Quarterfinalists
1952: Semi-Finalists
1953: First Round
1954: Second Round
1955: Quarterfinalists
1956: Quarterfinalists
1957: WORLD CHAMPIONS
1958: Quarterfinalists
1959: WORLD CHAMPIONS
1960: WORLD CHAMPIONS {Cup last 16}
The Willesden story
The Willesden Saxons are the current dominant force in Gridball, having become the first side to retain the ttle in 1960 when they also won a record third Supergrid. Their sudden death victory over Liverpool in December secured a third title for the Middlesex club in four years, having also needed sudden death to see off Portsmouth in 1957 and then a crushing 4-0 demolition of then Champions, Cheshire in 1959.
The Coral, White and Blacks, represent the County of Middlesex and West London and took their Saxon name from the fact their home county is translated as the land of the Middle Saxons from England's middle ages.
Having grown to currently dominate the game, the Saxons have enjoyed a wealth of individual star players during that time. Both Welsh International Golden Bat and Nations Cup winner, Jean Anstiss and her American Nations Cup winning team mate, Elizabeth Meriwether were both inducted into the Hall of Legends in 1960, while the club also secured the resigning of their former star, Shirley Pithers from Cup Winners West Ham after the former Saxons player also joined the list of Legends while in the colours of the Essex team.
Their curent star studded line up includes Sharon Wallis, Margarate Rees and Kathleen Bidmead while Berly Lugg-Neville has returned from Plymouth for a second spell at the club. Rosalie Williams won two of her three titles with the Saxons before retiring last season.
Willesden First Team
28th February 1961
Coach: Pamela Sholto: Age 38: Rated 9 {Celebrity}
Coached Saxons to a Record three titles
Title joy. [Left} Kathleen Bidmead is held aloft by Player of the year and golden bat winner, Jean Anstiss {centre} and Supergrid reserve, Jean Don, along with Kate Good after the Saxons defeated Cheshire 4-0 in 1959.
{Right} Margaret Rees is mobbed by {from left to right} Player of the Year, Beryl Lugg-Neville, Maureen Davies and Jean Anstiss after scoring the sudden death winner to defeat Portsmouth in Supergrid '57
Netminder: Sharon Wallis: Age 27: Rated 8 {Superstar}
Two time Goalie of the year 1952 & 59
Left Guard: Ann Hanslip: Age 26: Rated 7 {Superstar}
Club Record Appearance holder.
Right Guard: Jean Don: Age 18: Rated 7 {Star}
Scored in the 1960 Title win
Sweeper: Elizabeth Meriwether: Age 23: Rated 10 {Legend}
American inducted into Hall of Fame in 1960
Centre: Shirley Pithers: Age 25: Rated 10 {Legend}
Returns this season for her second spell
Attacker: Margaret Rees: Age 26: Rated 7 {Superstar}
Won Supergrid and Nations cup last year
Shooter: Jean Anstiss: Age 26: Rated 10 {Legend}
Inducted into Hall of Fame 1960
1961 Team Rating: {8 - Galaxy of Stars}
1961 World Ranking {1}
Highest {1} 1960-1961
Players of the Year
Elizabeth Meriwether 1960
Jean Anstiss 1959
Beryl Lugg-Neville 1957
Young Players of the Year
Jean Don 1960
Team of the Season
Ann Hanslip 1960
Rosalie Williams 1960
Jean Don 1960 {3rd PoTY}
Elizabeth Meriwether 1960
Sharon Wallis 1952 & 1959
Gabrielle Hamilton 1954
Kathleen Bidmead 1955
Josephine Gordon 1957
Margaret Rees 1957 {3rd PoTY} 1960
Jean Anstiss 1959
Golden Bat
Jean Anstiss 1959
Rosalie Williams 1958
Silver Bat
None
Bronze Bat
Jean Anstiss 1960
Rosalie Williams 1959
Nations Cup Honours
{Champions 1960, Silver 1957 & 1959 - Jean Anstiss {Wales}
{Champions 1960, Silver 1957 & 1959 - Margaret Rees {Wales}
National Team Call ups while at Willesden
Jean Anstiss - Wales 1957-1960
Elizabeth Meriwether - United States 1960
Margaret Rees - Wales 1957-1960
Willesden legend, Champion and Gridballer of the Year 1961, Elizabeth Meriwether from Los Angeles. She's the first Native American to play professional Gridball, having part Cherokee heritage.
2 time Goalie of the year, Sharon Wallis and two time Champion, Ann Hanslip share a greeting with former Willesden team mate and legendary Gridballer, Shirley Pithers before a game against West Ham in 1958. Pithers rejoined the Saxons in 1961
Willesden Legends
Jean Anstiss: 75 appearances, 90 goals {1957-1960} - World Champion 1957 & 1959, Player of the Year 1959, Golden Bat 1959, Bronze Bat 1960 Nations Cup Winner {Wales} 1960 & Runner Up 1957 & 1959
Kathleen Bidmead: 152 appearances, 15 goals {1951-1961} - World Champion 1959 & 1960, Team of the Year 1955
Ann Hanslip: 194 appearances, 19 goals {1951-1961} - World Champion 1957, 1959 & 1960, Team of the Year 1956 & 1960
Beryl Lugg-Neville: 52 appearances, 8 goals {1955-58} - World Champion & Player of the Year 1957
Elizabeth Meriwether: 19 appearances, 4 goals {1960} - World Champion & Player of the Year 1960, Nations Cup Winner 1959 {United States}
Margaret Rees: 93 appearances, 42 goals {1956-1960} - World Champion 1957, 1959 & 1960 {Record}, 3rd in Player of the Year 1957, Team of the Year 1960, Nations Cup Winner {Wales} 1960 Runner Up 1957 & 1959
Pamela Sholto: Coach of the Saxons from 1953 - World Champion 1957, 1959 & 1960
Sharon {Shani} Wallace {Smith}: 146 appearances {1951-1961} - World Champion 1959 & 1960, Goalie of the Year 1952 & 1959, England International
Jean Anstiss
75 appearances, 85 Goals {1957-1960}
Born Newport, Wales 9th March 1934, age 26, Rated 10 {Legend}
{February 28th 1961}
Arguably the greatest Gridballer Wales has ever produced, Jean Anstiss grew up in South Wales, and initially had an ambition to be an Olympic Swimmer. She represented Wales at the 1950 Empire Games in New Zealand but failed to reach the final of the 110 yards Freestyle event. Her ambitions ended when she failed to post a qualifying time for the 1952 British Olympic swim team. As one door closed, another opened when it was suggested she try a change of sport for the new Monmouthshire Beacons franchise.
Anstiss became an instant hit in South Wales, scoring forty-six goals in sixty appearances in the green and black over four years where the side made a quarter final appearance. The Welsh star had loftier ambitions and left her home team in 1957 to sign for the Willesden Saxons, filling the attacking slot that had been missing in the Londoner's jigsaw as she and her team mates were crowned World Champions in overtime against Portsmouth. Anstiss also picked up a silver medal in the first ever Nations Cup as her Welsh side missed out to England.
Anstiss' attacking partnership with the veteran , Rosalie Williams was unable to retain the title in 1958, but did lead coach, Pamela Sholto to swap the pair around for 1959, making Anstiss the out and out shooter. The Welsh girl thrived in the new role, smashing in a club record thirty-six goals during the season, including two of the four Saxons goals that crushed Cheshire in Supergrid '59 and earned her a second World Championship medal. To cap an amazing season she also succeeded her attacking partner, Williams as Golden Bat and was named World Gridballer of the Year, picking up another Nations Cup silver medal with the National team as well.
1960 saw her finally claim a Nation's cup winner's medal for the first time as her goal in Belfast clinched the title against Northern Ireland. However, she missed out on sharing the accolade of being the first player to win the Supergrid and Nations Cup double in the same season with her team mate, Margaret Rees when an injury ruled her out of both the semi final and Final of of the World Championship. Despite missing out on a Championship brooch, she was inducted into the hall of legends at the end of that season.
Off court, she married actor Harry Lang on 1959.
Kathleen Bidmead {Campbell}
144 appearances, 15 Goals {1951-1960}
Born Uxbridge, 28th October 1927, age 33, Career high Rated 8 {Superstar} {Currently 5, Excellent}
{September 3rd 1961}
Kathleen Campbell was born in Uxbridge, the daughter of a successful barrister, who initially trained as a gymnast from the age of four, competing regularly in and around London from the age of seven. The advent of war largely ended her gymnastic ambitions and by the time she was fifteen she was auditioning as a dancer in the west end. Campbell landed a few parts in the chorus line before turning her back on theatre in 1947 when she became a Dr's wife, giving birth to a son in 1948. Gridball became a means of trying to regain her fitness when she signed for the Saxons in 1950 and was a regular from their debut in 1951, being part of a Saxons team that reached a semi final and two quarter finals in their first five seasons. Bidmead was also named in the team of the season in 1955 but suffered a knee injury in pre season for 1957 which saw her miss Willesden's entire first title winning campaign. She returned to clock up her 100th career appearance in 1958.
Her disappointment at missing out in '57 was put right when she captained the team to their second World title in 1959, However, she lost her place in the 1960 team, sitting out most of the season until being called in as a makeshift Shooter for the Semi Final and Final of Supergrid 1960. Bidmead failed to score in either game but still played her part in winning her second Supergrid Brooch.
Away from Gridball, Bidmead has a thirteen year old son from her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1959.
Q&A with Kathleen Bidmead
Full name: Kathleen Beryl Bidmead {Nee Campbell}
Birthplace: Uxbridge, Kent
Birthdate: 28th October 1927
Height: 5 feet 5 ins
Weight: Not telling you
Previous Club: Twickenham Jesters
Married: Divorced
Children: A son, Bobby, aged 13
Car: Mini Cooper
Favourite Player: Dorothy Kirton
Favourite Other Team: Twickenham
Most Difficult Opponent: The next one
Most Memorable Match: 1960 Supergrid, I wasn't expecting to play
Biggest Thrill: Winning Supergrid in 1959
Biggest Disappointment: Losing any game
Best Country Visited: Bermuda
Favourite Food: Anything cooked for me
Miscellaneous Likes: Tennis, Ballet, My son
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Smoking and Losing
Favourite TV Shows: Emergency Ward 10 & Coronation Street
Favourite Singer: Bing Crosby
Favourite Actor: Bud Tingwell {Emergency Ward 10}
Best Friend: Hopefully a Few
Biggest Influence on Career: My family and the coaches at Twickenham Willesden.
Biggest Drag in Gridball: When wrongly accused of fouling recently
Honour: 2 Supergrids, 1 Team of the Season
Personal Ambition: To give security to my son
Professional Ambition: To play for England but think I've missed that bus now.
If you weren't a Gridballer, what do you think you would be?: A dissapointed Dr's wife
Which person in the world would you most like to meet? Whomever is presenting the 1961 Supergrid trophy.
Ann Hanslip
194 appearances, 19 Goals {1951-1961}
Born Clapton, London, 27th September 1934, age 26, Career high Rated 8 {Superstar 1956-1960} {Currently 7, Star}
{September 3rd 1961}
Once described as a Cockney Sparrow, Ann Hanslip grew up near Tottenham in North London, where her father ran a pub. During the war she would be brought in to stand on the bar and dance to entertain the patrons, including a large contingent of American troops, who would give her a shilling a time.
At that stage, as a child, she had ambitions of becoming a dancer and in 1950 began auditioning for dance jobs, while teaching youngsters in her spare time. It was while attending auditions that she heard of trials for Gridball, being successfully selected to join the Willesden Saxons that year.
Hanslip made her debut on the opening day of the first Championship in 1951, signing professional forms at the end of that season, going on to be a first team regular for the Saxons ever since.
She was in the team that reached the Semi Finals in 1952, gradually developing from a talented youngster into a star of the game by the time she
was named in the Gridball Team of the Year for the first time in 1956. However, at that stage, an appearance in Supergrid continued to elude she and her Middlesex based team mates. The pieces finally fitted together the following year as Hanslip appeared in the first of three Supergrids in four years, all of which were won as the Saxons became the dominant force in the game at the turn of the decade.
Despite three Supergrid Broaches, a call up to the England set up has continued to elude her, being kept out of the side by Liverpool's Emma Kehoe-Sim.
Hanslip was nicknamed Cinderella in her early days, due to her long blonde hair, which she often tied up in the manner of the Disney princess. However, commentators have often warned not to be misled by her look as she carries with it a dry and sometimes acerbic wit.
Off court, Hanslip briefly dated Tottenham Footballer, Tony Dee in 1957 before his departure for Juventus in Italy. They rekindled their relationship two years later when he returned from Italy and got engaged in 1960.
{Post 1961: Married Dee in 1962 but divorced in 1971, married for a second time in 1983, widowed in 2017. Made a cameo in the Tumbling Rocks video, The Wind Blows in 1968. In 1972 she co wrote the period comedy 'Behind the green baize door' which became a hit TV show the following year and followed that with another TV hit, 'The Haute Couture Fashion House' in 1992. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 Romantic Horror film, 'Black Wolf', which started her on an acting career at the age of 60. She appeared in two further movies in 1996 and wrote a screenplay of the 1926 Adeline Stephen novel, 'Miss Clarissa', which was a financial failure and almost bankrupted her. However, this led to her pursuing a more serious acting career. She appeared in small or supporting roles in a further nineteen films from 1998-2010, including a cameo in 'The Minutes', a drama about Stephen writing 'Miss Clarissa' and the sports movie, 'Gridball cleats', as a draconian Gridball coach. She won a Bafta and an Emmy for starring in the BBC drama, 'My Lady Ludlow' in 2011, which landed her a leading role in the eight part drama, 'Crazytown' as an evil nurse. She revived 'Behind the green baize door' in 2011, this time briefly acting in it as well. Her first starring movie role came in 'The Doppleganger' in 2012. She is still acting in 2024 and wrote her auto biography, 'She'll do' during Covid Lockdown. Hanslip survived cancer in 1996 and was made a CBE in 1991 for services to Gridball and Drama, which was upgraded to Damehood in 2002 and an honourary doctorate from Cambridge University in 2006. She was widowed in 2017.}
Beryl Lugg-Neville
52 appearances, 8 Goals {1955-1957}
Born Teignmouth, Devon, 25th August 1934
Died Rochester, Kent, 12th March 1961, age 26 [Car Crash]
Plymouth {1952-1954] 14 appearances, 2 goals
Willesden {1955-1957} 52 appearances, 8 goals
Plymouth {1958-1960} 41 appearances, 5 goals
Willesden {1961} 1 appearance, 2 goals
Total 108 appearances, 17 goals
Lugg was born in Teignmouth, Devon, the daughter of a Hotelier and a Florist, whose affluent upbringing enabled her to attend boarding school in Exeter. She signed for the Pilgrims as soon as she left school in 1951, making her debut the following year. She spent three years with her home team before being signed by the Willesden Saxons in 1955.
Lugg spent three successful years with the Londoners, reaching the quarter finals in the first two seasons before her greatest season in 1958. As Sweeper,
the now married Lugg-Neville's performances on the way to winning the World title saw her named World Gridballer of the year. However, issues off the court led to her instantly leaving the club at the end of the season and returning to Plymouth in 1959 and helping them to their best ever finish of fourth.
In a twist of irony, the Pilgrims were demoted the following season with Lugg-Neville sending out a 'come and get me' plea to the Saxons to resign her, which they quickly accepted.
Off the court, Lugg-Neville has been the source of intense press speculation after high profile relationships with Arsenal Footballer, Norman Neville and Royal press aid, Philip Orson. She married the former in May 1957, only for the couple to split after less than four months amid suggestions that she had retained her relationship to the latter. Lugg-Neville was hospitalised in January 1959 after claiming to have accidentally taken an overdose of sleeping tablets, just days after Orsen had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. Neither were seriously injured, though Orsen was relieved of his royal duties.
However the relationship broke down soon after and Lugg-Neville began dating an up and coming Italian screen writer. Lugg-Neville was expecting to be warming the subs bench on her return to the Saxons, but received an unexpected call to fill in as Shooter on the opening day of the 1961 season for the injured Jean Anstiss. She took the opportunity with the best of her ability, scoring twice in a convincing win and screamed "This is fantastic, you're fantastic to her team mates as she celebrated one of her goals in the win at Kent. She spent the evening with her boyfriend at a party in Brighton before driving to Dover the following day to pick up to of his friends.
With her boyfriend at the wheel, the car sped towards London at over 100 miles per hour until a tyre blew near Rochester. The care careered off the road in a horrible crash where Lugg-Neville was thrown from the vehicle. A police motorcyclist was first on the scene and would later report that she passed away at the scene without regaining consciousness.
Lugg-Neville was hailed by the press as the girl in a hurry and her death made front page news. The Willesden Saxons retired the number 7 shirt for the remainder of the 1961 season. Lugg-Neville's funeral took place in her home town of Teignmouth where she was buried.
The Gridballer of the Year award was renamed the Lugg trophy in 1962 while it remains a tradition that any Willesden Saxon player who scores their first hat-trick for the club visits and leaves a matchball at Beryl's grave.
Elizabeth Meriwether
21 appearances, 7 Goals {1960-1961}
Born Los Angeles, California, United States, 22nd February 1938, Age 24, Rated 10 {Legend}
{110 Senior Appearances, 14 goals { {83-7} Los Angeles, {21-7} Willesden & {6} United States}
Compiled {25th March 1961}
Currently regarded as the first true American superstar of Gridball, Elizabeth Meriwether joined the Los Angeles squad direct from High School as part of a bold plan by the California franchise to generate a team of youngsters who would grow together over the coming years.
The plan certainly appeared to be working as she became a key member of the side over the next four years, culminating in an appearance in the Quarter Finals in 1958, which saw the now maturing LA team being tipped as dark horses for the title.
While the crop of youngsters did mature to take on the world, it would be as part of the national team of the USA, rather than Los Angeles where success would be sought. The Dreamers were picked off by the big British clubs, leaving Meriwether in a Los Angeles team that crumbled under the weight of expectation in 1959 and suffered a shock demotion.
Meanwhile the American National team battled through the Nations cup to clinch the first major honour to go outside Europe, giving Meriwether her first honour in the game. With the Dreamers dropping to the Second Division for 1960, the young Californian was left with a dilemma of having to leave her home State Club. Houston and St Louis were expected to be the favourites to recruit her before the defending Champions, Willesden convinced her to cross the Atlantic.
It was the right decision for the American as she instantly added even more grit to already the best team in the World. Meriwether would go on to be named Gridballer of the Year going into Supergrid 1960, her first appearance in the showpiece. Alas it would be a a game of mixed memories for her, scoring an own goal to give Liverpool the lead before instantly equalising. Her match effectively ended in the second quarter in a horrific clash with Liverpool's Constance Kidd, which saw the latter taken to hospital with a broken arm. Meriwether ploughed on into the third quarter, returning from the dressing room at half time with her shoulder heavily strapped up. Her inability to properly move played a part in Liverpool retaking the lead.
The injured Centre was in the process of being replaced when she almost equalised yet again. It was her last action of the game, being withdrawn due to her injury. her team mates won the title in overtime. Her reward for her efforts was to be inducted as a Gridball legend at the end of the season. The first non British player to be so honoured, which was accompanied by a now famous/infamous legends semi nude photo which appeared in Playboy.
Meriwether's rise to stardom has deeper significance in her native United States. She is part Cherokee native American and has become a poster girl of the native American peoples of North America. She married bit part actor, Lorin Gilson in 1958, who moved with her to the UK to find work in British film and TV.
In 2011 she spoke to Joanne Keyes about her career. The interview [up to 1960 can be found here}
Margaret Rees
104 Appearances, 44 Goals
Born Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Wales, 13th April 1934, Rated {8} Superstar
{Career 151 appearances - Cardiff 32 {1951-1955}, Willesden 101 {1956-1961} Wales 18 {1957-1961} Goals 54 - Cardiff 7 {1951-1955}, Willesden 43 {1956-1961}, Wales 4 {1957-1961}
The younger of a trio of Gridballing sisters, Margaret Dynevor started out as a cross country runner at school before being encouraged to join the Dragons by her two older sisters in 1951. Dynevor was still just shy of her seventeenth birthday when she made her Dragons debut in 1951, alongside older sibling Anne. The youngster quickly showed star potential, being named in the team of the season. 1952 was a huge year for her as she also married a local businessman, taking the name Margaret Rees.
The Welsh rising star spent two further years with the Dragons before sitting out the 1955 season on Maternity leave. The break saw her agree to join the Willesden Saxons upon her return, making her debut in 1956 in a side that reached the Quarter Finals.
Rees won her first Supergrid in 1957, scoring the sudden death goal that defeated Portsmouth in the Final. However, a bid to be the first player to complete the trophy double fell short when her Welsh team were defeated in the First ever Nations Cup Final. Her contribution to club and country saw her named in that year's team of the season. After a disappointing '58 campaign, 1959 proved a carbon copy of '57. Rees won her second Supergrid but yet again had to settle for a Silver Medal at Nations cup level as the Welsh were again beaten in the Final. In 1960, at the third time of asking, she finally got her Nations Cup gold medal. And with club mate, Jean Anstiss missing the Welsh success through injury, Rees became the first Nations Cup winner to complete the trophy double and lift a third Supergrid brooch, also scoring a sudden death title winner for the second time in her career. She also achieved her second Team of the Year appearance.
Away from the game, her marriage in 1952, ended in divorce in 1959. The couple have one son born in 1955. Rees remains a keen cross country runner at an amateur level.
Pamela Sholto
Never Played. Coached from 1953-
Born Hammersmith, London 5th May 1922, Age 39
Coached Willesden to three Titles in 1957, 1959 & 1960
Compiled {6th May 1961}
Sholto grew up surrounded by strong female influence, three of her uncles died in Arras in the Great War while her father was badly injured and was in ill health until he passed away when Pamela was nine. Her mother planned to take her to the USA in 1932 but the nine month processing time dissuaded her. Instead Pamela left school in 1938 and went to work in a shop in Hammersmith.
Unfulfilled by the hum drum of that life, the advent of war brought with it opportunity. Sholto joined up as an auxiliary driver and volunteered to travel to North Africa. She remained on active support services throughout the war, travelling behind the march through Africa and Italy. Sholto gradually levitated towards becoming a PT instructor to the female drivers as well as her strong Catholic faith making her a makeshift pastor.
Sholto answered the call among servicewomen to get involved in the creation
of organised Gridball in 1946, joining the Middlesex team that year. Sholto played as a defender for Middlesex in the forties but increasingly turned her attentions towards coaching. By 1951 she'd stopped playing to effectively become the coach of the Willesden Saxons, the pro franchise that replaced Middlesex [not to be confused with the Boston based American team of the same name]
A panel of selectors picked the team and ran day to day affairs in the first two seasons before handing control to Sholto officially in 1953. Her early years were difficult as Saxons coach. She would initially insist the team prayed on court before bat off, would dress in her Sunday best and sit silently watching the game. She almost lost her job after failing to intervene in a blazing row between Saxons stars, Shirley Pithers and Jean Trend, which saw both players leave at the end of 1955.
Sholto was aware her style wasn't working and began to present a more relaxed and involved style of coaching from 1956. The prayers were replaced by team huddles the clothes became more relaxed, though she would never been seen dead in a tracksuit, and she appeared more involved in events on the court.
More importantly, Sholto was an excellent student of players and their ability to play together. She brought Jean Anstiss and Margaret Rees from Monmouthshire, Rosalie Williams from Liverpool, via Croydon and Beryl Lugg-Neville from Plymouth. It was a fantastic team that she sent out in 1957 to win the Saxons their first title. Yet again, Sholto's stern religious views impacted the squad though when she clashed with Lugg-Neville over her off court lifestyle, which resulted in the Gridballer of the year returning to Plymouth at the end of the season.
Willesden lost their crown the following year but undaunted, Sholto enticed Elizabeth Meriwether from Los Angeles. Sholto has stated she was the greatest signing she ever made. With the American in the centre Willesden won back to back titles in 1959 and 1960.
Off court, Sholto has been outspoken regarding the glamourous nature of the game that crept in with professionalism. She strongly disapproved of a sexy photo shoot three of her stars took part in earlier this year, and has also openly stated that she is saddened that the game tries to appeal towards glamour rather than family values.
Despite the suggestion of her being out of touch with 1960s attitudes, she's deeply respected by her players and is expected to become the first coach inducted as a legend in 1961. A raunchy topless shot is unlikely to follow.
Sharon Wallis {Smith}
141 appearances {1951-1960}
Born Hendon, 5th September 1933, age 27, Rated 8 {Superstar}
147 Senior Appearances {Willesden & England}
{June 3rd 1961}
Sharon Smith began playing hockey while living in Shropshire as a wartime evacuee before returning to London where she initially took a job in a typing pool. While working there she saw the advert for Gridballers in 1950. Smith impressed as a goalie and debuted in the Saxons first season in 1951. Small and stocky in comparison to many of her peers, Smith's start as a player wasn't all plain sailing, with some in the press focusing on her appearance over her performance. Her response was to be named goalie of the year in 1952 as the Saxons reached the Semi-Final. This despite she herself having a nervy and poor performance in their Semi-Final defeat to Cheshire where she conceded an own goal to mark their exit.
Occasional erratic performances have gone on to dog an otherwise excellent career where she is regarded as among the best, yet eccentric custodians in the game. She married Tottenham Football Goalkeeper, Bill Wallis in 1953 to become Sharon Wallis, which led to the nickname Shani, after the stage actress. She was on maternity leave when the Saxons won the Championship in 1957 but returned to be named goalie of the year for the second time as she finally got a gold medal and Brooch in 1959, rapidly following it with a second title win in 1960.
Off court, she and her Tottenham goalkeeper husband have two children born in 1953 and '57
