London Limeys
The Limeys made their senior debut in 1952, finishing fourth before losing the third placed play-off to West Yorkshire. The following season they were tipped to make it to Supergrid and after finishing Runners Up in the regular season won their way through to a rematch with the team that denied them Bronze the previous year. Yootha Feldman gave them an early lead but they were forced into overtime and survived their goal frame being hit twice before the same player scored the winner to clinch the Limey's first title. The team represents the London Boroughs of Islington, Finsbury, Holborn, Hackney, Shoreditch, Hampstead, St Pancras, Stoke Newington, St Marylebone, Westminster, London City, Stepney, Bethnal Green and Poplar. Their Limeys name comes both from the team colours and the American colloquialism for the British. They started out life at York Hall but outgrew it within their first season, moving to their own small Gridball arena on Hackney Marshes for the 1954 season.
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Arena: Hackney Marshes Gridball Arena {1,400}
Previous Home: York Hall {1953}
Colours: Lime & Old Gold
Coach: Lily Daixel {1952-1953}
Honours: World Champions 1953
1952 Team of the Year - Molly Howells
1953 Team of the Year - Frances Ann Davis
1953 Team of the Year - Pamela Van Earps
Most Appearances: 34 - Marianne Shelton {1952-1953}
Most Goals: 25 - Joan Wallis {1952-1953}
In a Season: 13 - Joan Wallis {1953}
In a Match: 4 - Joan Wallis 6-2 vs Glasgow 9th August 1952
Oldest player: Peggy Entwhistle 37 Years, 337 Days vs Essex 1st March 1952
Youngest player: Frances Ann Davis 15 years, 139 days vs Essex, 1st March 1952
Record Victory: 7-0 vs West Yorkshire 8th August 1953
Record Defeat: 1-4 at Birmingham 19th July 1952
Record Attendance: 726 vs Birmingham 15th August 1953
Seasons:
1952 - 4th - Lost 3rd Place Play-off
1953 - 2nd - Supergrid Champions
Correct up to February 1st 1954
Limeys 1953: Feldman, Winch, New, Van Earps, Shelton, Davis, Wallis & Daixel
Joan Wallis
Shooter {Rated 6}
Age 19 {12/04/34}
Born: South Kensington
Apps: 33
Goals: 25
Supergrid Champion 1953
Joan Cornelia Wallis is London's greatest goalscorer of all time, in a season and in a single match. She is also the highest rated player in the game, despite having not won any individual honours. Despite her great goalscoring record, she didn't score in the side's 1953 Supergrid victory.
Raised in an affluent London household, she is the daughter of a barrister father and a mother descended from the minor aristocracy — her upbringing gave her poise, a high-brow middle name, and a strict education in deportment and languages. Her natural athleticism first showed at school, where she excelled in hockey and tennis, but it was in the Long Jump that she first almost found herself selected for the 1948 Olympic team. That attracted the attention of Gridball in 1949. After impressing in London junior trials, she was swiftly signed by the Limeys and, within a year, emerged as one of the brightest prospects in the sport. She also entered the 1952 British Table Tennis Chamionship and is keen on sports fashion married 1953 to Australian former Soccer player and coach John Collins.
July 1954
Yootha Feldman
{Yvette Lucot}
Attacker {Rated 2}
Age 26 {24/11/27}
Born: Nancy, France
Apps: 31
Goals: 12
Supergrid Champion 1953
Carved her name as a London legend with two goals that crowned them Supergrid Champions of 1953.
Nicknamed le petit Francais by fans, Yootha came to England after the war when she married an Englishman. Was nicknamed Yootha by team mates, which has also stuck. Off court she's also an accomplished skier
Patricia Dowie - new
Centre {Rated 2}
Age 26 {24/11/27}
Born: Roundhay, Leeds
Previous Club: West Yorkshire
Apps: 34
Goals: 7
Supergrid Bronze Medal 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1953
New recruit, having played against the Limeys in Supergrid 1953 for West Yorkshire with whom she also won a Bronze medal in 1952. Started her involvement in Gridball through her job as a journalist with the local paper before deciding to play rather than write about the game. Her younger sister is an aspiring Golfer.
June 1954
Pamela Van Earps
{Nee Brook}
Left Guard {Rated 1}
Age 36 {05/07/17}
Born: Blackheath
World Champion 1953
Adrenaline junkie Pamela was the oldest member of the Limeys team that won Supergrid in 1953 at 36 but the self confessed adrenaline junkie has no plans to retire yet. She joined the Limeys in 1949 while recovering from near fatal injuries sustained when she crashed her plane just months after obtaining her pilots licence. A member of the Brook shipbuilding family, she was dropped into France as part of the SOE during the war and helped her pilot husband, the son of a government minister, escape after he was shot down.
Hazel New
{Nee Brown}
Netminder {Rated 1}
Age 30 {22/02/23}
Born: Hampstead, London
World Champion 1953
Born Hazel Brown and was a model before the war. Lied about her age to get work, married a photographer in 1943 but divorced in 1951 and joined Gridball after her divorce. Adopted a daughter in 1945. Kept goal when the Limeys were crowned World Champions in 1953.
July 1954
Hazel weeps - This week was meant to be a happy one for London Gridball star Hazel New as she was set to marry brewing millionaire Philip Smith in France. However, she flew back into London yesterday upon hearing the news that her former modelling agent, 49 year old Bill Chadwick died at the weekend. "Bill was like a brother to me" she said through tears. "We shall re-arrange the wedding."
Lili Daixel
{Nee Sherman}
Coach {Rated 1}
Age 36 {17/01/18}
Born: Minneapolis, USA
World Champion Coach 1953
Lili Sherman was the first black coach in Gridball after accepting the job with the Limeys in 1951. She came to the UK in 1947 as part of a touring acting production where she worked backstage, but remained after meeting and marrying Danish Speedway rider, Richard Daixel. Trained to become a teacherbut couldn't get a job, partly because of her race but also for having been married and divorced in the States. Took the Limeys to consecutive Supergrid Semi Finals in 1952 & 1953, missing our on a podium place in the first before winning the title in the second.
Ann-Margaret Winch
Right Guard {Rated 0}
Age 23 {02/06/30}
Born: London
World Champion 1953
Winch was easily the most inexperienced member of London's 1953 title winning side, coming in to make her debut towards the end of the season. Supergrid was just her fifth appearance as she was a surprise selection ahead of Jacqueline Courtenay. The daughter of an army captain and Irish mother, who did when she was young, justified her position. of American ancestry through an entertainer grandfather who came to the UK in 1900. She turned full circle, going to the States to seek a Hollywood career. A few small bit parts later, she was back in 1952 before joining the Limeys in 1953. Is engaged to French War hero Comte de Feis.
Ann-Margaret tries the dress - London Gridballer, Ann-Margaret Winch, 23, tries on the wedding gown she is to wear for her marriage to French Comte de Feis, 42, in Paris on Thursday. The picture was taken in a Paris fashion salon. The dress is of a silver coloured silk and white lace, with a lace panel which reaches from the bodice to the hem of the full skirt. Ann-Margaret says she will probably live and train in Paris after her marriage, but will commute to London for games. --- Ann-Margaret marries her Comte - Victor carries his laughing bride into the reception room, but later staggered as he carried her up the steps to the bridal suite
Susannah Eggar
Sweeper {Rated 1}
Age 15 {19/02/39}
Born: West Hampstead, London
Susannah Augusta Eggar. A promising young midcourter, she made her senior debut for the London Limeys at the age of 15 on 20 March 1954 in a scoreless tie in Essex before scoring her first goal in her third appearance. Having found the basket in the first minute of that match against Sussex on 17th April 1954, she immediately did it again to become the first player to score twice in the opening two minutes of a match.
Former Players
Molly Howells - Right Guard - {1922-} 16 Appearance {1952} Team of the Year Turned down a £9 a week full time contract in 1953 to stay in the Police, moved to Surrey in the Minors and was named their coach in 1954
Jacqueline Courtenay - Left Guard - {1916-1975} 11 Appearances, 3 Goals {1953} The former pin up model was something of a publicity signing when she joined the Limeys in 1952 but earned her place at Left Guard the following year, scoring three times as the Londoner's reached Supergrid. Alas for the veteran known for her sensational legs, she was dropped for the big game and promptly retired. She found a second wind on the West End stage at the turn of the 1960s and died of lung cancer in 1975.
Peggy Entwhistle - Netminder - {1914-2001} 1 Appearance {1952} The colourful wealthy socialite, Margit Lichwitz who was a beauty consultant for Gridball begged for the opportunity to get a game. London put her in goal, with the result she was sin binned. She went on to make one more appearance as a substitute. Her solitary appearance in London's first ever senior game made her their oldest ever playewr
Marianne Shelton - Sweeper - {1922-2008} 34 Appearances, 4 Goals {1952-1953} Captained the Limeys to their title success of 1953, making a record thirty-fourth appearance.. The Irish girl of Belgian/Australian parentage immediately retired on that high. The Limeys never lost when the former beauty queen and dancer scored, four. After Gridball she married in 1955 and had two sons, passed away in 2008