Sunday 23rd April saw the inaugural Rob Butt Memorial Trophies competition and what a great success it was. The sun shone all day and over 250 players, family and friends visited Nethermoor Park to watch Guiseley Juniors U13s play Menston Juniors U13s, followed by Guiseley Veterans play Blacks Solicitors.
The games were being played in memory of Rob Butt who sadly died from leukaemia in 2015. Rob was a much loved Guiseley Juniors coach and the whole day raised £408 for the charities of Marie Curie and the Guiseley Community Foundation.
The Juniors kicked off first and after an evenly balanced first half, Billy Clarke – The Veterans team manager for the day, gave Guiseley Juniors a half time talk and boy what a talk it must have been. Guiseley Juniors came out all guns blazing and scored seven goals, the goal scorers were Harry Wellock (4) Taylor Jackson, Frankie Sinfield (2) & Niall Watson, before Menston Juniors managed a consolation goal.
Final result Guiseley Juniors 8 – Menston Juniors 1.
The Guiseley Veterans donned the XXL shirts, walked down the tunnel from the changing rooms, tapped the “This is Nethermoor” sign, emerged into glorious sunshine and stepped onto the hallowed Guiseley turf. Alongside them were a team from Guiseley sponsors Black’s Solicitors who had dared to throw down the gauntlet to this Guiseley team and they looked nervous during the preliminaries.
The game itself was something of a one sided event. Guiseley, managed by Bradford City footballer Billy Clarke were well drilled and took the game to their visitors. Black’s Solicitors featured former Bradford star Wayne Jacobs and were coached by former Leeds United and Sheffield United striker Brian Deane.
They played some nice football at times but Guiseley were in the ascendancy from the off and scored freely. Now, I’ve asked the lads who scored and they’ve all said they got a couple of goals and assists which if I took at face value would have meant a 17-0 home victory.
I think it was 8 or 9. Home goalkeeper Russ Kenyon’s afternoon was only interrupted by some heckling fans as he kept his first clean sheet since football was invented. Steve Baraniak hared up and down the wing like an excited Labrador.
Danny Royston thought the kick off was an hour later than advertised and mentioning no names ( Kristian Tattersfield ) there were a couple of players still feeling the effects of the previous night’s Babychams. At the back David Laverty was so untroubled he could have drawn the raffle which took place during the first half.
Speaking of which, there were over 40 kindly donated prizes ranging from a 4-ball golf round at Hollins Hall to chocolates but the one everyone wanted to win was the 1000 Dog Poo Bags. The lucky winner was local Guiseley fan Kate McGuire who now has no excuses when she walks her 101 Dalmatians – a big thank you to all donations.
There are still eight unclaimed prizes, so if you didn’t check your tickets please see Trudi on Saturday to claim your prize. The unclaimed ticket numbers are listed below.
To be honest the result of the game was largely irrelevant though I’m sure Brian Deane won’t be putting “Head Coach of Black’s Solicitors” on his CV. It was a superb day in memory of a great husband to Victoria and Dad to Taylor and Aimee. Many thanks to everyone involved who put on a great event for Rob.
Unclaimed raffle prizes:
Blue edge: 46-50; 66-70; 86-90; 101-105; 351-355
White: 61-65; 131-135; 181-185
Marie Curie provide help and support for people, and their families, living with any terminal illness.
Guiseley Community Foundation aim to help all members of the local community lead healthier and more active lives.
