Ian Reid

[Real Ale Madrid]

too young to remember him myself.

 

http://www.hitchintownfc.co.uk/articles/weekly_articles/20110728483163972159.shtml

[Jim Cunneen]

I'm not! That is sad news indeed. One of EFC's greats!

[Pretty Vacant]

I'm not! That is sad news indeed. One of EFC's greats!

 

For once I agree with you Jim, very sad. I also understand that Billy Broomfield passed away a couple of weeks or so ago.

[theabbeyabbott]

PV is there any verification about Billy please?

[littlehampton]

Wonderful memories of two great players. Both were fine signings for the 'E's' and both made a significant contribution to the success of the club. Those of us lucky enough to remember them, will be deeply saddened by this news.

 

 

[Steph]

I remember them both. It may be that when we are young everything is big, new and exciting but it is my view that those teams of the '60's were the greatest Enfield sides of the past 5 decades.

 

Football has clearly changed since those days. It is now faster with lighter footballs and more athletic footballers but when I see the head down and run style of such players as Nasri or Reyes and the ridiculous amount of money that these apologies for footballers earn I do miss the style and guile of such players as Mathews, Finney, Gascoigne and Best. To those names Broomfield, Day, Ashford can be added at our level.

 

Ian Reid was an attacking fall back who worked with the winger in front of him something which is often missed in today's game. However in the present Town side I can see those partnerships emerging.

[Pretty Vacant]

PV is there any verification about Billy please?

I haven't seen anything to verify this, but five or six people told me about it when I met them at a ETFC function last month. As they were fairly certain of the circumstances, I'd say that sadly it is true.

[Part Time Par]

from the Northern Echo:

 

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/9109762.Backtrack__There_s_nothing_glossy_about_Horden/

 

 

BILLY BROOMFIELD, ENGLAND AND West Auckland

 

Billy Broomfield, winner of 13 England amateur international caps and West Auckland's inside-right in the 1961 Amateur Cup final, has died. Stan Skelton, his fellow inside forward at Wembley, died last November.

 

Billy was a Sunderland shipyard worker, played for Cornsay Park Albion after leaving the army, married an Esh Winning girl and joined West.

 

Two years ago he gave his Wembley shirt, unwashed and still grass stained, back to the club. It's now framed in the bar.

 

"It's a very prized possession, Billy recalled those days with great affection," says West secretary Allen Bayles.

 

He also played midweek games for Leeds United reserves, was offered full terms but declined because it would have meant he could no longer play amateur football.

 

Billy moved south, joined Enfield - for whom he was also on a losing side at Wembley, against Crook Town in 1964 - and later successfully managed Waltham Abbey before coaching junior sides.

 

"He never lost his love of the Northern League and still followed the progress of West Auckland and Esh Winning," says his friend George Hutchinson, from Waterhouses.

 

Billy moved six years ago to Welton, Lincolnshire, where his funeral will be held on July 8

 

 

[theabbeyabbott]

Gutted

[Bush Hill Parker]

I was sorry to read of the recent deaths of Bill Broomfield and Ian Reid - two very fine players in a wonderful era for EFC. Of course, both were signed from Northern League clubs the season after they had helped knock EFC out of the Amatuer Cup.