REMEMBERING MR BLACKPOOL

Patrons of a new Lytham-based charity are sons of a legendary footballer whose reputation was much admired within many local communities. Michael Hodkinson discovers how the Tangerines’ greatest player has left his legacy throughout the Fylde coast

There is a tradition in this country dating back centuries, the naming of a school after someone famous. Many have been saints or religious leaders. Cardinal Newman in Preston and St George’s School, Blackpool are examples. Sometimes it is royalty. Two schools in Lytham were named after King Edward and Queen Mary respectively, but a footballer? Who names a school after someone who kicked a leather bag of wind for a living? But then I suppose it depends on who the footballer was.

Jimmy Armfield was not part of the House of Windsor, but if you captain your country 15 times, win 43 international caps, are voted the World’s best right back after the 1962 World Cup and only the injury sustained just before the 1966 World Cup triumph denying football immortality, no-one can challenge your right to footballing royalty. There is a religious connection also, playing the church organ at St Peter’s Church in Blackpool for half a lifetime. But although this will never qualify anyone for sainthood, Jimmy’s behaviour and attitude as a man earned him so much respect from so many across Lancashire and in Blackpool in particular.

JIMMY TOLD ME OF HIS PRIDE IN BEING ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROJECT

During the blitz, his mother and Jimmy escaped from Denton near Manchester to the safe haven of Blackpool, staying in rented accommodation for three years until his father joined them at the end of the war. Christopher Armfield became a greengrocer with his own shop on Dale Street, close to the Promenade, but with austerity ruling, money was tight. Fortunately, Jimmy was intelligent, passing his 11+ and being accepted as a non-fee payer at Arnold School, the prestigious Boys Grammar School in the South Shore area. Here, to his disgust, football was frowned upon, rugby and hockey being the prescribed sports. But sport was a way to earn respect and at the annual Sports’ Day, the leading athlete was presented with an award.

Cliff Warburton, no mean athlete himself who represented Lancashire at tennis for years and years at different age groups, explained how Armfield’s presence thwarted him from earning the right to be Victor Ludorum: “I had won three events, the same as Jimmy, and the day ended with the Steeplechase. I had won the hurdles and high jump and was favourite.

I led into the finishing straight, but Jimmy and his blistering pace flashed past in the final few yards, snatching the trophy from me. Of course, I was disappointed, but he was such a genuine lad, always smiling and liked and respected by all the other boys, so it was no disgrace to lose to someone like him.”

Simply looking at Jimmy’s footballing career is worth a book in itself, and let us remember that he is one of only five English born football managers to steer a team to the final of Europe’s premier event, Leeds United in the 1975 European Cup. But there was far more to Armfield than football. After the heartache of that undeserved defeat to Bayern Munich, being the victim of some extremely poor refereeing decisions, he decided to re-invent himself. For 15 years, he worked as a football reporter with the Daily Express, running alongside 30 years as a match summariser with BBC Radio 5Live. He was involved with the FA, consulting on the appointment of new England team managers and in demand outside sport also. He became a Director at the NHS Trust, a Governor at Arnold School, was High Sheriff of Lancashire and was awarded the OBE and CBE, all awards and appointments which showed the faith that the local community had in his character.

Chris Lickiss explained that when Arnold School amalgamated with the King Edward School and moved to its Lytham site, the Department for Education decided that Blackpool needed another secondary school to accommodate the growing population within the town. The ex-Arnold site was chosen and Fylde Coast Academy Trust (FCAT) established a free school for pupils from the age of four to eighteen. Chris, the Trust’s Executive Head Teacher, highlighted about the problems in finding an appropriate title for the new school: “We wanted a name which local people could relate to, but if it was to be named after an individual, it had to be someone deserving total respect and without a single stain on his character. Jimmy fitted this description to a tee and following a public vote which was 90 per cent plus in favour of ‘Armfield Academy’, Jimmy told me of his pride in being associated with the project. But at the age of 82, he sadly died just prior to the official opening.”

The result of the 2012 amalgamation of Arnold and the two long standing Lytham schools is ‘AKS’ and if you think you have heard the last of an Armfield connection, think again. Duncan and John, sons of Jimmy, are lending their support as patrons to a new charity based at the school, the ‘AKS Lytham Foundation’. This will offer fully-funded inclusive bursaries to any bright young person regardless of their family’s circumstances, something which Jimmy would have championed. John is also Vice-Chair of Governors at Armfield Academy, a school that is equally committed to achieving the very best educational outcomes for every one of their learners. And should future generations of scholars ask “why the Armfield Academy?”, surely the achievements of this one club man, one of the very greatest of players to don the Tangerine shirt, will be recounted to them. With a stroll down to Bloomfield Road, they will metaphorically and literally look up to his statue and learn about ‘Mr Blackpool’, a legend on the field but even more importantly, a thoroughly decent man with the aspirations of the local people at heart.