Rugby and cricket not working class sports? I'd take issue with that TTR.

My owd fella worked nights as a GPO telephonist. 2 days a week at Bass Brewery and tended 2 rich folks' gardens. Mam cleaned 4 mornings a week at 2 posh houses (each house 2 mornings). At one of the houses I cleaned their 2 cars every Saturday morning. We just about scraped by. I was fortunate enough to ace my 11+ and went to the Grammar School. Played Rugby and Cricket there. The local Secondary Schools played football in Winter and Cricket in the Summer. They tended to be good at football but not so hot at Cricket. Most of my fellow pupils were also working class although the Secondary bods told us we were snobs. Right through Junior school we played games of what could easily become 20 a side football on the green at the bottom of our road which was in a Council Estate. 11+ came and went, we all left junior school and the mass football and cricket games continued right through the summer. Then the holidays ended and we all poddled off to our new schools. First day, after dinner I walked down to the green for the usual 20 a side. I and a few others weren't allowed to play as we were now snobs...... I always wondered who the real snobs were, we Grammar School lads or the Secondary lads?

I have no idea why the secondary lads weren't much cop at Cricket. Did we GS bods get better coaching? It's weird. Quite a few of us played football out of school and we had a couple have trials although nobody got a contract offer. 2 years below me at GS there was a lad, he captained England U15s at rugby. A year later his younger brother repeated the feat. The elder one went on to play for Ipswich Town and England at football. Russell Osman. His dad was a pub landlord. Not posh either.