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Leeds Owls
Arena: Olympia Rink {Wakefield} {Capacity 750}
Colours: Old Gold, Royal Blue & White
Coach: Anne Paynter {Since 1952}
Previous senior coaches - Pamela Gamble {1952 fired after ten game winless run}
Honours: None
Most Appearances: 14 Pauline Barrack, Anne Craigie
& April Stride - 1952
Most Goals: 7 Pauline Barrack {1952}
In a Season: 7 Pauline Barrack {1952}
In a Game: 2 Pauline Barrack 2-3 vs Birmingham
{8th March 1952}
Oldest player: April Stride {24 years old in 1952}
Youngest player: Glenda Wetton {15 years 237 days
8th March 1952 vs Birmingham}
Record Attendance: 730 vs Birmingham 8th March 1952
Best position: Demoted last of 8 - 1952
Club anthem: Dance With Me {since 1999}
{Owls Owls Owls since 1972}*
Correct up to January 1st 1954
Owls Owls Owls is fictional and inspired by Marching on Together
Ann Craigie
{Nee Sowden}
Defender {Rated 3}
Age 20 {27/02/33}
Born: New Wortley, Leeds England
Apps: 14 {1952}
Goals: 1
Played in Leeds's first senior game on 8th March 1952. Married to Table Tennis coach Richard Craigie. Stuck with Leeds when they were demoted in 1952 and helped them immediately regain their senior status.
Sylvia Felgate {Birmingham Loan}
{Sylvia Elizabeth Felgate}
Shooter {Rated 2}
Age 18 {23/11/35}
Born: Sutton Coldfield, England
Apps: 38
Goals: 33
Golden Bat: 1952
Regular Season Champion: 1951 & 1952
Supergrid: 1951 & 1952
Her parents divorced during WWII and both remarried. Her mother and stepfather are entertainers in Birmingham rep. She sang and danced on the stage in Birmingham before joining the Vipers in 1950 from school. married 1952 to childhood sweetheart Archie Walton and is studying medicine. The signing of Emily Taylor for the 1954 season saw the Vipers agree to release Felgate to continue her development on loan with Leeds this season.
January 1954 and 18 year old Syvlia Felgate is asked to phone four different men to see, can a man's voice alone bowl a maiden over.
Madeleine Cristophe
{Betsy Madeleine Cristophe}
Sweeper {Rated 1}
Age 30 {12/09/23}
Born: Rouen, France
New Signing
Previous Club: Lancashire
Apps: 16
Goals: 2
French father, American mother who used her American citizenship for she and her mother to escape the Nazi's to Britain in 1940. Her father died during the occupation so she stayed in Clitheroe and worked in a shop when she made her Lancashire debut in 1953. Turned full time this year, accepting an offer from newly promoted Leeds
June Wigoder
{Nee Petronzio}
Centre {Rated 1}
Age 28 {04/05/25}
Born: Leeds, England
Apps: 14
Goals: 1
Previous Club: Birmingham
Apps: 9
Goals: 1
Born June Petronzi to an Italian father and English mother. Her father competed for Italy in Athletics in the 1900 Olympics while she played Hockey at school and University where she graduated with a BS Physics in 1946. Started working as an announcer on BBC Radio North in 1947 and married producer Kenneth Widoger in 1950. Played in Leeds debut season in 1952 but left for Birmingham after the Owls were demoted. Played nine times for the Vipers in a disappointing campaign before going on maternity. Jumped at the opportunity to return to the Owls when they regained their senior status for 1954 and is aiming to return to playing in August with a new huge £20 a week contract
Anne Paynter
{Anne Nelson}
Coach {Rated 0}
Age 45 {17/04/08}
Born: Wirrall, Liverpool, England
Ann Paynter, née Nelson, was born on Merseyside in April 1908. Her solicitor father was killed in the Great War, and Ann was sent to boarding school while her mother built a portrait photography business.
She married solicitor Fred Paynter in 1932, but after two miscarriages threw herself into keep-fit and physical culture. A wartime physical training instructor, she later had a daughter in 1947 and adopted two babies in 1951.
Paynter became Liverpool coach in 1952, but then sensationally left them when on the brink of promotion to take charge of Leeds who were almost certain of being demoted with one game remaining. Immediately won them back their senior status in 1953 but reports suggest she is a temperamental and unpopular coach whose job may be in jeoprady..
Pat Gregory
Netminder {Rated 0}
Age 23 {24/03/30}
Born: Sydney, Australia
Apps: 2 {1952}
Career Rating High {1}
Born in Australia, the daughter of a film and stage agent, and came to London aged ten in 1940. Trained at Italia Conti and the Cone School of Dance, she made an uncredited screen debut at twelve and danced in several Rank-era films.
Initially placed in Gridball for publicity in 1949, she travelled to Leeds and proved unexpectedly capable. After an unsettled 1950 move to Liverpool, she returned to Leeds.
A dislocated shoulder wrecked her 1952 season, but she stayed after demotion and helped Leeds regain senior status in 1953. She is engaged to commentator Jim Disley and set to marry 27/06/1954
Glenda Wetton
Left Guard {Rated 0}
Age 17 {14/07/36}
Born: Hull, England
Apps: 13 {1952}
Born in Hull but grew up in Leeds making her debut for the Owls in their first ever senior game on 8th March 1952.
Is a superb all round sportswoman who also plays Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and Netball at competitive level, representing England at the latter two.
Stayed with the Owls when demoted in 1952 and helped them win back their senior status at the first attempt.
Was a Career high rated 1 in 1952.
April Stride
Attacker {Rated 3}
Age 25 {30/04/28}
Born: London, England
Apps: 14 {1952}
Goals: 1
Londoner who joined Leeds in the summer series of 1949 and was part of their side that played their first senior game in March 1952. Stuck with the Owls after demotion that season and helped them instantly regain their elite status in 1953.
July 1954