THIS week we’re tip-toeing through the tulips all the way down the garden path to 1927. It was a good year for sport. The legendary Harlem Globetrotters played their first every game in a little place called Hinckley in Illinois, and Cardiff FC became the first club to take the FA Cup out of England after beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley. Meanwhile the Mardy AFC were still rocking and rolling on the green green grass of home. Here sitting pretty are the lads from the 1927/28 season and what a rum bunch they are.

It’s not known if any of these beaming bruisers were veterans of the annual Boxing Day soccer match (U14s) between the Tudor Street Arabs and the Gas Works Gang. What rare footballing delights they must have been. The victors were adjudged on the basis of what side had the most boys standing after 40 minutes. Wallop!

And talking of local matches from yesteryear. Who amongst you remembers the annual St Michael’s RC School versus ‘The Rest Of The World’ game played every St. Patrick’s Day?

One Chronicle reader does and they recalled, “The games were refereed by Sister Calista a football mad nun from County Kildare. She had ten brothers and they all played football.

“The odds against the ‘Rest of the World’ winning were always quite long as 70 percent of the St. Michael’s school pupils lived in Tudor Street and all were of Irish parentage.

“The greatest thrill of all was that each player wore a real soccer shirt donated by the St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Society. I was so proud to be involved.”