PHS017 Joan Phillips (and Family) MP3
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Audio details
| Collection Title | Champions of England: Oral Histories |
|---|---|
| Date of Recording | |
| Name of Interviewer | Samantha Middleton |
| Location of Interview | Portsmouth |
| Participant Name | Joan Phillips (wife of Len) plus Karen (daughter), Jeff (son-in-law), Ann (daughter) |
| Participant Date of Birth | |
| Participant Sex | Female |
| Participant Occupation | |
| Participant Background | |
| Type of Recorder | Zoom H4n Pro |
| Track No | 1 |
| Track Duration | [00:51:42] |
| Recording Format | |
| Transcript Summary |
[00:00:00] Joan Phillips, born in 1931, wife of Len Phillips, lived in Eastney and Len lived in the next road with Peter Harris, met Len at South Parade Pier. Married in 1951. Used to go to all the matches. [00:01:05] Karen, youngest daughter. Never saw Dad play except when playing for Portsmouth Ex-Professionals. [00:01:16] Jeff, son-in-law of Len Phillips, never saw father in law play but was around to hear stories of the time with himself and other players. [00:01:30] Ann, oldest daughter, never got to see him play but have seen CD footage of games. [00:01:49] Joan Phillips: Remembers sitting in the front row with the wives, where the Directors sit now. Scoular and Froggatt’s wives. It was a great atmosphere. Went to social events together. Had a coffee room behind the seats. and went there before and after the game. Went to the games by bus. Happy and enjoyable and no trouble on way to matches. Remembers it was always full and was fantastic. [00:04:21] Remembers being glad the war was all over, it was more friendly after the war. People would come up and chat to you. Invited to a few parties and we all went together; Len was a family man. Wasn’t much of a drinker and party was given by a man, Groves who owned a hotel, was sitting drinking a port with Duggie Reid and his wife, all the men were at the bar. Music was playing. Someone come along and kept putting drinks in my glass and when I got up to dance with Len I just couldn’t get up and someone put us in a car and drove us along the seafront and we sat on a bench. Len trying to sober me up. Two flashes of lights and it was two policeman. Didn’t recognise Len and said its 1am in the morning you had better go home. Len took me home and stood me up against the wall and tapped the door to wake my sister to let me in. My father was very strict. [00:09:34] Remembers when the team won the cup and they took us and put the cup on the table and it was a trestle table and as I sat down the table fell and the cup was knocked off. No damage to the cup though. Never got involved in the people running the club. [00:11:24] Mentions Len used to train a club Portsea Boys and was a volunteer for love of the game. Mentions living in Eastney, and a family called the Featherstones and they would wait at the end of the road with their bells and rattles for the players to come home. Mentions Jimmy Stephens being favourite player. Remembers Ted Platt, a goalkeeper used to stay with family, younger son little Lenny and at half-time Ted used to kick the ball up to Lenny and he loved it. Helped organise Christmas parties for children and the players would attend at a hall. Mentions making cakes and jellies and the children loved it. Mentions Len being recognised locally and a good response and he liked it. At this stage of the interview, Karen, Ann and Jeff contribute to the interview and at times it is not noted which daughter is talking [00:17:49] Mentions no one believed me at school Len Phillips was dad. When explained people though he was a celebrity. He was older so people didn’t realise until later what a good player he was. Always wore a suit and tie, and would walk the local area, always looked smart. Mentions it was good but upsetting to see footage and couldn’t believe how skilful he was. Len never put himself up on a pedestal and would say his brother was a better player. Len’s Sergeant Major put his name forward for a trial at Portsmouth. [00:21:02] Mentions players are more athletic now but the skill was different, the ball, the boots are so different. Family met on a Sunday and had deep discussions on football, Len loved skilful football and especially Italian football, which he watched. He thought Johnny Gordon was one of the players that wasn’t appreciated as much as he should. Remembers when younger Karen would be in goal and Dad would hammer the ball at her. Love table tennis, played golf and good at darts. Very competitive. Always had football on and would always watch the family playing football. Although didn’t agree with parents watching and shouting on the sideline. [00:24:52] Mentions Len played for Portsmouth in Brazil and Arsenal were out there at the same time and remembers Len telling a story of playing Santos and they were playing ok, then team were all over them and the Ref blew the whistle and Santos had 13 players on the pitch. Remembers him mentioning the heat and the blisters he got. Len and Joan got married the following year. [00:26:25] Mentions after Len retired, following knee injury for England during a training match and stopped him playing professionally. Mentions Malcolm Allison coming to a game at Pompey and he wanted to sign him at 42. He went on to play for Poole Town FC amongst other smaller clubs. Players often visited the family and the children would often play and swim together and other celebrations throughout the years. Remembers the team being more like a family and all very friendly and most of them lived locally, and weren’t allowed to drive or drink or sex on a Friday, and be in by 10pm. Trainers would often knock the doors to check single or married. Mentions Len obeyed every training rule. Mentions Len would train at Moneyfields Ground and Joan would hold the timer as he went around. Remembers training with daughter and would go running. Was never ill or suffered with colds and had a strong pain threshold. Once cutting top of finger and just said perhaps we’ll pop up the hospital. Had strong morals and brought up as the youngest of five, particularly behaviour in front of women. [00:35:16] Remembers time when Len served in the Marines at 17, and struggled with being told what to do but he enrolled and was on the third landing craft on D-Day. Mentions story of Len seeing young boys being sea sick and knowing what was going to happen. Didn’t choose to attend any ceremonies and was a private man. Even though a London boy he was very Pompey born and bred, leaving London at an earlier age. [00:35:16] Mentions articles of Len in the Football Mail and was pleased but always said that it was a team effort. Remembers he was offered a move to Hull but turned it down and chose to stay at Portsmouth and rumoured that Arsenal had come in for him. Remembers them training in the morning and all get on a bus and got to a place in Palmerston Road for lunch and often went for a walk in the afternoon or back for treatment if they were injured. [00:44:04] Remembers in later life attending an ex-professionals’ afternoon on Sunday, in their 40s and played at different venues, they were all spoke well of each other and meet their wives. All for charity and took the week for his knee to go down from playing but always attended. Remembers Len always have a good physic and would ride his pushbike down North End at 82, and exceptionally fit, even when he had a heart attack he thought he had indigestion. [00:51:42] End of interview |
| Copyright Clearance | Full |
| Copyright Holder | Pompey History Society |
