THERE are influential football people in Jersey who rate the 1960 North side as the best Guernsey side of the lot. Others have won more trophies and their dominant era has stretched far longer than the team coached by Ted Malpas which won three Priaulxs and Uptons on the bounce at the start of the decade.

But for impact and the impression they made on those in the sister isle, the chocolate-and-blues of 60-61 were arguably the cream.

For a start, they managed to do what no other Guernsey side had done since 1939 and before the war, which was to win at Springfield.

But they did it in style, 2-0 in front of a 4,000 crowd with brilliant goals from Derek Mechem and the man who would go on to skipper Pele at New York Cosmos – Barry Mahy.

‘It was an excellent North team,’ recalls current president Dave Finn, who, as a youngster, was at the game.

‘Barry Mahy was absolutely brilliant … a really good player.’

Since the end of the war, six Guernsey champions had travelled to the sister isle only to come back disappointed.

But this North side, led from right back by Lloyd Duquemin and with a young Geoff Cox partnering Brian Mechem in defence, were made of sterner stuff.

All season long, Barry Hill and Mechem had driven the side on from midfield and up front Jim Eker consistently knocked in the goals while flanked by the brilliant Mahy boys, whose only connection was that they both had skill and pace.

When the league season ended, North had scored 77 times in 15 games and averaged five per game.

Centre half Cox was the last player to arrive in Jersey.

His departure had been delayed by the fact that he had to be up at 5am for a four-hour milk round.

He flew down on the morning of the match and marked the great Tot de Gruchy.

His most vivid memory is that of the North support.

‘I remember that the North Supporters Club under Bill Forman, John Rouget and Arty Paul composed a song for that game. Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson had won the Eurovision Song Contest with a song called High, High, High and they rewrote it for North.’

On the eve of the game, North supporters – and there were still thousands in those times – were given a scare by the news that Hill had a sore throat and was likely to miss the game.

Junior Tom Greening was put on standby but, after a fitness test in Jersey, the skilful St Sampson’s School teacher took his place in the side.

The North skipper still remembers the day clearly and said it was a hard game.

‘We were up against a very good side. Nobody gave anything. We didn’t win it easily,’ said the captain.

Malpas, a former UK professional, masterminded it all.

‘He was a very good coach and coached us for years,’ said Duquemin, whose name will forever live among the ranks of great Northerners. ‘He was a good man.’

Training, said Duquemin, was a lot different in those pre-Northfield days.

‘We used to do a lot of road running and a lot of work at the Stoneworkers’ Hall.

‘It was a bit packed because all the club sides trained on the same night, but we would take our turn and play five-a-sides.

‘You still used to get a good sweat on.’

Greening might have missed out on the big game against Beeches, but he had the consolation the same season of being involved in the club’s first Junior Upton success.

Coached by Harry Finn and with his son, Dave, in goal, North’s under-18s thumped Georgetown 7-1, a young John Brehaut heavily among the goals.

For the record, North’s team that afternoon was: Finn; Lowe, Cauvain; Le Poidevin, Gaudion, Greening; Martel, Mills, D. Brehaut, J. Brehaut, Giles.