The History & Legends of Grasshoppers F.C. |
|
The original Grasshoppers Football Club evolved from Chilton Polden Cricket Club in the long hot summer of 1983. Over the next few years the demographic make-up of the club changed until the point where it was no longer representative of the village of Chilton Polden so a new name was sought. Eventually Grasshoppers FC was decided upon by one of the club's "founding fathers", John Ross, and the distinctive emerald green socks were chosen, together with white shirts and black shorts.
A number of "colourful" characters have graced the pitches of the Bridgwater & District Sunday League in the colours of the Grasshoppers. Here is a selection of the more memorable individuals: |
|
| 'Gentleman Dave' Edney | | | | Picture the scene. It was the summer of 1983 in Thatcher's Britain, and KC and the Sunshine Band were asking the nation to "Give it up". However, a certain 'Gentleman Dave' Edney had other ideas. He didn't want to give it up. On the contrary. He wanted to get it started - a football club that is. Therefore, together with his fellow Kellands colleagues, Phil Reece and John Ross, this triumvirate of "founding fathers" gave the world their lasting legacy - the famous Grasshoppers FC, based on the then youthful nucleus of the Chilton Polden Cricket Club. The rest, as they say, is history. | | | |
|
|
| | The Ross Bros | | | | The brothers Ross, namely Neil, John and Yim, played a key role in helping the club to move from perennial re-election candidates to mid-table respectability. They had a somewhat uncoventional approach to pre-match preparation which saw them eating a full Macdonalds breakfast in their van minutes before kick-off before finally extinguishing their woodbine cigarettes on the goalposts approximately midway through the first half. | | | |
|
|
| | Dave 'The Rave' Murray | | | | All-round defender who never allowed his playboy lifestyle to affect his performances on the pitch. Holds the club record for most career own goals - 103 - the majority of which came prior to a serious injury to his big toe. After having most of the bone removed from the offending appendage he found to his surprise that he could finally kick the ball straight. | | | |
|
|
| | Martin 'Dusty' Day | | | | A striker-cum-attacking midfielder who was affectionately known as 'Dusty' due to his adverse reaction to aggro. When the brown stuff hit the fan, whether on the pitch or in a night club, you never saw him for dust. | | | |
|
|
| | Simon 'Clarky' Clark | | | | Much-travelled Simon was that rarest of breeds, an intellectual Grasshopper, holding an honours degree in Geology. He could play in defence or midfield and often employed his trademark move during a game - the overhead bicycle kick to no one in particular. Once played in goal and, after conceding for the fifteenth time during the game, was stubbornly heard to cry: "I am not coming out until I save one." | | | |
|
|
| | 'Pickwick' | | | | A fast but highly volatile and unpredictable winger who would often leave the pitch during the game to talk to "squirrels in the bushes". I kid you not! | | | |
|
|
| | Danny 'Boy' O'Loughlin | | | | Proud Irish descendant Danny is the club's longest serving player, having originally signed on during the inaugural 1983-84 season. A qualified accountant, like a bad debt he is still on the books today! | | | |
|
|
| | Andrew 'Beaver' May | | | A legendary goalkeeper, Beaver can still be seen on a Sunday morning plying his trade "between the sticks" for the Hoppers despite being in his late 50's!
Away from the pitch, he runs a successful bird shop in Bridgwater town centre, which means that when he says he is "as sick as a parrot" you might want to take a step backwards just to be on the safe side, for fear of catching avian flu. | | | |
|
|
| | Lee 'Lee' Gannicott | | | | 'Lee', or rather Leroy Ulysses St. John Hohenzolleren Gannicott to give him his full name, rivals Danny O'Loughlin in terms of years of service for the Grasshoppers. Joining the club during the early nineties, Lee was a constant fixture in the side as the Hoppers rose from Third to First Division and on to two Tom Bell Trophies and a Geoff Harvey Cup Final. As such, Lee can proudly boast to be the most decorated player in Grasshoppers colours, especially if you also include his various tattoos, pierced nipples and 'Prince Albert'. | | | |
|
|
| | Steve 'Lechkov' Davis | | | | Named after the 'follicly challenged' Bulgarian international from the USA '94 World Cup, Steve was a former British Olympic grade swimmer which was handy if a ball ever got kicked into a ditch but it soon became apparent that 'Lechy' was of more use to club as a rock-solid centre back. Plying his trade for the Hoppers during the early to mid-90's his greatest asset was his speed. His greatest regret was his hair or rather lack of it. | | | |
|
|
| | Mike 'Cheeky Monkey' Beasley | | | | A more appropriate nickname for Mike might have been "The Mummy" given the miles of bandages he used to wrap himself up with before each game. Signed during mid-season in 1994, he was a talisman and catalyst for success, giving the Hoppers the necessary steel in midfield that allowed them to go all the way to the Geoff Harvey Cup Final of that year. | | | |
|
|
| | Steve 'Wilmer' Wills | | | | A fleet-footed and determined midfielder with a decidedly 'Hestletinian' shock of Germanic blond hair who represented the Hoppers with distinction during the early 1990's before a serious knee injury put him out of action for a prolonged spell, effectively ending his Hoppers career. His most memorable display for the club came in the 1994 Geoff Harvey Cup Final at Bridgwater Town's ground when, in full view of a packed grandstand, and in general desperation at not being able to catch an opponent who was tearing down the wing ahead of him, 'Wilm' took the only option available to him and rugby-tackled the unfortunate winger, in the process half-removing his shorts and underpants. It proved to be a cheeky display from both players. | | | |
|
|
| | Andy 'Punchy Nenz' Nendick | | | If Glenn Hoddle was the "thinking man's footballer" then Andy Nendick was "Sunday football's thinking man". With a degree in Astrophysics, an MSc, an MBA and being a chartered accountant as well, this man was more than qualified to keep count of goals conceded in the fantasy football scorelines that the Grasshoppers enjoyed during the early-to-mid 90's.
A cultured midfielder with a tendency towards spectacular long-range goals, he suffered an horrendous leg-break during one particular game at East Huntspill after a "Musgrove Special" pass from then team-mate, and now current Hoppers manager, Dean Waghorn.
As Waghorn knows only too well it is best not to get on the wrong side of "Punchy Nenz", as he is more commonly known, especially when he has sunk his normal quota of Taunton Dry Blackthorns - the only drink with the necessary brain cell-destroying power to successfully reduce Punchy's IQ down to the level of mere mortal. | | | |
|
|
| | Steve 'Bully' Bull | | | | Steve joined the Grasshoppers in the mid-90's, and soon took over the reigns of the club. Thanks to his "robust" style of management he single-handedly created the most successful era in the club's history to date, taking his much-feared Grasshoppers side from the Third to the First Division and lifting two successive Tom Bell Trophies in 1998-99 and 1999-00. | | | |
|
|
|
