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Birmingham Vipers
The Vipers won both the first two regular season campaigns in 1951 and '52, being awarded a special shield to mark the occasion, which they in turn handed over to Middlesex after a poor 1953 saw them under threat of demotion for a time before recovering. That must have hurt to a degree as it was Middlesex who defeated them in both their Supergrid appearances in '51 and 52. The first, a classic game where they were the better side for long periods but hbad to come from behind three times. A killer fourth goal was scored with just seconds remaining. The following year they also conceded in the final minute, but this time the game had largely been thrown away in a poor first quarter to lose 0-3.
Individually the Vipers had Peggy Heath and Asa Martin in the team of the year, the latter also being awarded the Bronze bat. Both were missing through retirement and injury the following year where Zena Hall was named player of the year, Mona Bertolino the best goalie and Sylvia Felgate won the Goilden Bat.
Arena: Bingley Hall {Capacity 2,000}
Previous venue: Summerhill Ice Rink {1951-1953}
Colours: Royal Magenta & Steel Blue
Coach: Pat Kempson {1951-}
Honours:
* Regular Season Shield Winners - 1951 & 1952
* Supergrid Runners Up - 1951 & 1952
* Gridballer of the Year - Zena Hall 1952
* Golden Bat - Sylvia Felgate 1952
* Netminder of the Year - Mona Bertolino 1952
* Bronze Bat - Asa Martin 1951
* Team of the Year
Zena Hall & Mona Bertolino 1952
Peggy Heath & Asa Martin 1951
Most Appearances: 38 - Mona Bertolino & Sylvia Felgate {1951-1953}
Most Goals: 34 - Sylvia Felgate {1951-1953}
In a Season: 17 - Sylvia Felgate {1952 - Golden Bat}
In a Game: 5 - Sylvia Felgate at Durham 17th may 1952
Oldest player: Peggy Heath aged 36 in 1951
Youngest player: Asa Martin 15 in 1951
Record Victory: 6-0 vs Glasgow 31st May 1952
Record Defeat: 2-7 vs Glasgow 19th September 1953
Record Attendance: 1,098 vs Essex 5th September 1953
Hat-tricks: Sylvia Felgate scored three hat-tricks in 1951-1952
Season By Season record:
1953: 8th of 12
1952: Regular Season Champions - Supergrid Runners Up
1951: Regular Season Champions - Supergrid Runners Up
Correct up to January 1st 1954
Beaten in Supergrids 1951 & 1952
New Signing - Emily Taylor
{New Danjou}
Shooter {Rated 4}
Age 20 {13/12/32}
Born: Paris, France
New Signing
Previous Club: West Yorkshire
Apps: 35
Goals: 21
Supergrid Bronze Medal 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1953
Emily Danjou was born in France to a Jewish mother and Catholic father and was raised Catholic. Her family escaped the Nazis in 1939 and settled in Bradford, where she continued the dance training she had begun as a child. Both parents were actors, and she had a small film part in 1947. Married in 1949, divorced the following year, and remarried in 1951, she became known at West Yorkshire as a forceful, attacking player. picked up bronze and silver medals in consecutive years with the Terriers before making a high profile defection to the Birmingham Vipers.
Unusually, she dislikes make-up and never wears it.
October 1953
Asa Martin
Attacker {Rated 3}
Age 17 {13/04/36}
Born: Smethick, Staffordshire, England
Apps: 24
Goals: 12
Bronze Bat: 1951
ToTY: 1951
Regular Season Champion: 1951 & 1952
Supergrid Runner Up: 1951
How Birmingham missed their potential future star last season. Martin is a schoolgirl diving Champion whose goals on her the Bronze Bat in 1951 when still the youngest member of a youthful Birmingham side that won the Shield. She is still the youngest scorer in a Supergrid, ending up on the losing side in 1951. the following year was a worrying one for her as Rheumatic Fever developed into Pan carditis which saw her miss Supergrid and most of the following 1953 campaign. It was no coincidence that Birmingham struggled before Martin returned for the last five games of the campaign. Newly crowned Champions London tried to lure her south but the youngster has opted to stay with her home town team.
Rhoda Shipton
Midcourter {Rated 2}
Age 20 {15/08/33}
Born: Molesey, Birmingham, England
Apps: 32
Goals: 2
Regular Season Champion: 1951 & 1952
Supergrid 1951 & 1952
Studied ballet and dance before joining Birmingham from school in 1949. Went on to win a Regular Season Shield in 1951 & 1952, playing in both losing Supergrid sides in the same years. Father and uncle played for Walsall FC and she has a day job promoting Dunlop Gridball bats, recently became a PE Teacher in a local high school.
Mary Derbyshire
Centre {Rated 2}
Age 16 {02/06/37}
Born: Blackheath, London, England
Apps: 18
Goals: 2
Supergrid 1952
Born into a famous British acting family. Relocated to Warwickshire during the Blitz and was educated there, attending boarding school before signing for Birmingham in 1952. Made her debut in the 1952 Supergrid semi final, with Supergrid '52 being only her second ever game. is widely tipped as a future Star. Is set to start in drama school in Birmingham this year.
May 1954
Pat Kempson
Coach {Rated 2}
Age 43 {04/08/10}
Born: Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Former England Hockey International who became a PT instructor during the war, leading to taking the Birmingham coaching role in 1947. Coached Birmingham to back to back regular season titles in 1951 & 1952 but lost both Supergrids.
Zena Hall
Centre {Rated 1}
Age 19 {07/03/34}
Born: Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Apps: 27
Goals: 8
Gridballer of the Year: 1952
Regular Season Champion 1951 & 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1952
Hall's Gridball career has been something of a roller coaster. She was ever present in 1951 only to take ill on Supergrid day and miss the biggest match of the season. The following year she went into Supergrid as the Gridballer of the year. Then by the following March she was dropped as new signing June Wigoder took her spot. Hall did return towards the end of the season to play a handfull of games in a disappointing season and while Wigoder has since returned to Leeds, Hall now faces the challenge of the emerging talent of Mary Derbyshire. Her bid to win back a first team place hasn't been helped with a neck strain, which is liable to sideline her until May.
Was ever present in 1951 until taking ill on the morning of Supergrid, wich she missed. 1952 married Birmingham City Footballer Graham Deverill {Jackie Lane} Has begun working as a cardiographer and physiotherapist. Ever present Supergrid Runner Up 1952, injured for 16 weeks on 08/02/1954
Tanya Pitt
{Nee Sheridan}
Left Guard {Rated 1}
Age 29 {26/09/23}
Born: Marylebone, London, England
Apps: 25
Goals: 2
Regular Season Champion 1951 & 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1951
A former Army stenographer who studied acting at the Birmingham school of speech and drama in 1941 after her parents moved there from Nottingham in the thirties. Took elocution lessons in London after the war to shed her Brummie accent and began acting on the West End in 1945. After a couple of years in bit parts in cinema she met and married the brother of her director, 23 years her senior, and retired from acting. She turned to Gridball in 1949 and joined the Vipers, playing in Supergrid 1951 before being an unused sub in 1952
Mona Bertolino
Netminder {Rated 1}
Age 29 {12/02/24}
Born: Marylebone, London, England
Apps: 38
Regular Season Champion: 1951 & 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1951 & 1952
Goalie of the Year 1952
Platinum blonde former bit part actress who joined the Vipers in 1951. Kept goal for the Midlands side in the Supergrids of 1951 & 1952, the second of which also saw her named goalie of the year. Was offered a record £20 a week salary in 1954 but will miss the first month of the season as she recovers from hip surgery. Is also set to marry actor Michael Parsons in February
Helen Annis
Left Guard {Rated 0}
Age 18 {26/08/35}
Born: Newcastle. Tyne & Wear, England
Apps: 16
Goals: 1
Regular Season Champion: 1951 & 1952
Supergrid: 1951 & 1952
Grew up in Redcar before attending boarding school in Warwickshire while her parents were posted abroad as diplomats. Played in Birmingham's first ever senior Championship game in 1951, her only other appearance that season was at makeshift centre in Supergrid, picked up a silver in 1951 and again 1952. Broke her leg in a pre season in 1953 and missed the entire campaign. Should be fir for the '54 campaign but likely to be Tanya Pitt's reserve.
Una Redgrave
Attacker {Rated 0}
Age 16 {14/11/37}
Born: West Bromwich, England
Apps: 1
Promising youngster who got her chance on the last day of the 1953 season and is tipped to be a first team regular this season.
Former Players
Mary Hilton - {1925-1957} - Right Guard - Apps 31 {1952-1953} Other clubs: Liverpool: 7 Apps {1951} Regular season shield 1952, Supergrid 1952. Joined Birmingham from Liverpool after they were demoted in 1951 and won the Regular Season shield and played in Supergrid the following season. The former actress turned down a £20 a week full time contract in 1954 and retired from the game in the hope of starting a family with her husband, British-Romanian writer Konrad Librescu. Passed away tragically young from a brain haemorrhage aged just 31 in 1957.
June Wigoder - Centre - Apps 9, Goals 2 {1953}