Spot the Ball

Back in 1972 during my early teenage years I was a Bloomfield Road regular, never missing a home game. At the time Pool were still a force to be reckoned with in the old Second Division, a handful of talented players supported by a cast of unsung heroes who were the backbone of the side. Into this latter category came Bill Bentley, initially a fullback later a midfield enforcer with inswinging corners a speciality. Over a number of years he became a crowd favourite for his uncompromising style, total commitment and occasional spectacular goals. In 1972 though he was still a solid left back with over ambitious notions of becoming a wing back many years before anybody coined the phrase. This meant frequent forays down the left wing, a headlong charge for the line and a cross which usually ended up in row Z, or even worse, out of the ground completely. Indeed on one memorable occasion his momentum took him over the line, over the perimeter track, and on top of my friend who was sitting next to me on the advertising boards.

Like many schoolboys before me I would religiously cut all the action photos from the Gazette, and collect them in a scrapbook. One such photo featured a perfectly balanced (sic) Bill Bentley about to endanger the lives of those in the loftier parts of the South Stand.

It didn't actually look too bad as the ball had only just left the formidable left boot of our hero, indeed to the uninitiated it might even have looked like a penetrating cross heading for the waiting strikers. My Father and I knew better, as we remembered the incident well and because we laughed so much at the time. The cutting was duly pasted into the scrapbook, along with countless other golden football moments captured by the Gazette photographer.

At that time the paper ran a weekly Spot the Ball competition, usually featuring dreary shots of nondescript midfield action, but on one memorable occasion the photo was of a much more exciting nature, and also looked rather familiar. Much to my amazement I realised it was the same picture of Bill Bentley in full flight that I had in my scrapbook from a couple of months earlier. On closer inspection it was possible to see that part of Alan Suddick's arm had been airbrushed into the space where the ball should have been. After some discussion with my father it was decided that we would enter the competition. Much geometrical calculation then ensued and the crucial cross placed on the photo at the exact centre of the ball. A number of other crosses were spread randomly around the same area. It all seemed too easy, surely somebody would inform the Editor and cause the competition to be declared void.

You can imagine our astonishment when later in the week a representative from the Gazette called at the house to tell us we had won, and that our prize was the biggest pay-out in the history of the competition, £2750. We were over the moon Brian! Despite the euphoria we couldn't completely banish the thought that we might have in some way cheated. Going to school the following week was a bit embarrassing as a large family photo had appeared on the front page of the paper. The unexpected ending to the story came when we saw the position of the ball marked on our winning entry, "as decided by an independent panel of experts." We hadn't realised that it would be decided in this way. The 'expert' version of the action showed a low cross kissing the turf as it headed into the six yard box, not the sort of end result Bill Bentley was known for. The position of this fictitious ball though was some distance from our carefully calculated mark. We had in fact won courtesy of one of our non-scientifically placed other crosses. Our guilt feelings immediately evaporated, we had simply been extremely lucky.