Brian Dutton
BRIAN DUTTON FOOTBALL CAREER PROFILE
Brian Dutton played for the hugely successful Mexborough Tech Old Boys football team in the 1950’s. He played at outside left and was a prolific goal scorer. The team were Montagu Cup finalists in 1956 losing to Dearne Community Miners Welfare and went one better the following year in 1957 when they defeated Hickleton Main. He scored the winning goal in a nail biting extra time in the 1957 Montagu Cup final.
Brian Dutton with Montagu Cup won in 1957
Brian Dutton with Montagu Cup at the 125th Anniversary Final in 2022
Photo: MTOB 1956 Montagu Cup finalists - Brian Dutton is on the front row, far right
Photo: MTOB 1957 Montagu Cup winners - Brian Dutton is on the front row, far right
Brian was born in Mexborough in 1937. Attended Mexborough St. John’s Junior School and played for the school football team in the Don & Dearne Junior League and Totty Cup in season 1947-1948.
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Attended Mexborough Adwick Road Secondary School from 1948 to 1950 and played for the school at football in Don & Dearne Intermediate League.
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He was a student at Mexborough Schofield Technical School from 1950 to 1953 and represented the school at football and cricket. The Sports Master was Clarrie Mason.
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In season 1951-1952 Brian played at outside left in the MSTS Under 15 football team against local schools teams. In the same season he also played at outside left for MSTS Under 18 team (although Mexborough only had students up to 16 years old) which won the South Yorkshire Technical Schools League Cup for the first time ever.
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Photo: MSTS Under 15 team season 1951-1952 (Existing ‘K’) Photo: MSTS Under 18 team season 1951-1952 with South Yorkshire Technical Schools League champions trophy (Existing ‘0’)
In season 1952-1953 during his final year at MSTS he played for the Under 18 team in the South Yorkshire Technical School League and Mexborough Tech Old Boys Under 18 football team (managed by Clarrie Mason) in the Mexborough Association League Under 18 League. He played at outside left for both teams and played for MSTS on Saturday mornings and MTOB on Saturday afternoons.
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Photo: MTOB Under 18 team season 1952-1953 (Existing ‘M’)
Photo: MTOB Under 18 team season 1952-1953 (Existing ‘L’)
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On leaving MSTS aged 16 in season 1953-1954 Brian continued playing for Mexborough Tech Old Boys football team at outside left in the Mexborough Association Under 18 League. The team won the Mexborough Youth Cup.
Photo: MTOB Under 18 team season 1953-1954 (Existing ‘10’)
At the start of season 1953-1954, the MTOB Under 18 team attracted the attention of Cliff Duffy, Doncaster Rovers Chief Scout and he was impressed with the performance of the team. Doncaster Rovers were managed by Peter Doherty in the Football League Second Division at that time (ex Northern Ireland international inside forward and Manager of Northern Ireland taking them to the World Cup quarter finals in Sweden 1958).
In November 1953 he invited the MTOB Under 18 team to play Doncaster Rovers Northern Intermediate Under 18 team. The game was played under floodlights on their Belle Vue ground, which at that time was one of the few Football League Clubs to have a full size playing pitch and also one of the few to have floodlights. Doncaster Rovers former centre-half, Sid Bycroft, was manager of their Under 18 team. The referee was Ernest Crawford who was a Football League top tier First Division official. Doncaster Rovers were 3-0 up after 15 minutes as MTOB adjusted to the playing conditions. In the second half MTOB scored 6 goals and won 6-4! Peter Doherty said MTOB were the best Under 18 team he had ever seen and contacted Lancashire FA to send the best Under 18 team from the Manchester area to play MTOB Under 18 team on Doncaster Rovers ground under floodlights. MTOB won the game at Doncaster and were challenged to a return game near Old Trafford which they lost on a poor quality pitch.
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Brian also played a few games for Doncaster Rovers in the Northern Intermediate Under 18 League during season 1953-1954. The Doncaster Rovers team included 15 year old Alick Jeffrey from Rawmarsh (who went on make his debut for Doncaster Rovers first team in the Football League Division 2 in 1954 age 15 years 229 days and played for England Under 23 team when he was 17).
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In season 1954-1955 Brian for Mexborough Tech Old Boys at outside left in the Mexborough Association League. The team won two trophies: Mexborough Challenge Cup and Invitation Cup.
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Photo: MTOB team season 1954-1955 Winners Mexborough Challenge Cup and Invitation Cup (Existing ‘C’)
In season 1955-1956 Mexborough Tech Old Boys were champions of the Mexborough Association League and won four trophies: Mexborough Association League Cup, Mexborough Association Cup (League Top Four Play-Off), Mexborough Challenge Cup and Invitation Cup. The team won every local honour except the Montagu Cup, in which they were beaten 1-2 in the final by Dearne Community Miners Welfare on Denaby United’s ground. Brian played at outside left and during the season scored 17 goals in 35 games including 1 hat-trick. He was the only player with 100% appearances. From 15th October to 2nd April, the team had a run of 25 games without a defeat and never failed to score in any game.
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Photo: MTOB 1956 Mexborough Challenge Cup Winning team (Existing)
Photo: MTOB 1956 Mexborough Invitation Cup Winning team (Existing )
Photo: MTOB team season 1955-1956 Winners of 4 trophies with players replicas (Existing ‘N’ colour version)
In the following season 1956-1957 Mexborough Tech Old Boys continued to play in the Mexborough Association League and finished second to Hickleton Main. The team won the Montagu Cup, after a nail biting extra time, defeating Hickleton Main 3-2 at Hampden Road, Mexborough. MTOB were 1-2 down at half-time, their goal coming from Ken Lee (inside left) from the penalty spot. In the second half MTOB equalised through Kenny King (centre forward) to make it 2-2. With only a few minutes left of normal time MTOB were awarded a second penalty but this time Ken Lee shot wide. Full time came with the score 2-2 to send the game into extra-time. After several near misses during extra-time, MTOB outside left Brian Dutton scored the winning goal with only a few minutes remaining. The team also won the Yorkshire Old Boys Shield, defeating Beverley Old Grammarians (Hull) 2-1 under floodlights on Doncaster Rovers Belle Vue ground. The team also reached the semi-final of the Rotherham Charity Cup, losing 0-3 to Parkgate Welfare in a replay after drawing 3-3. Brian played at outside left during the season and scored 27 goals in 36 games including 2 hat-tricks. He was the only player with 100% appearances, for the second year in succession. The team started the season with a run of 15 games without defeat and never lost away from home until 16th March.
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Photo: MTOB season 1956-1957 Team and Officials Montagu Cup Winners (Existing ,colour version)
Photo: Brian Dutton and Ken Lee MTOB Montagu Cup Winners 1957 (Existing)
Photo: MTOB season 1956-1957 Winners Montagu Cup and Yorkshire Old Boys Shield (Existing)
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In season 1957-1958 Mexborough Tech Old Boys played in the West Riding Old Boys League entry Second Division and finished top of the league, only losing one game and were undefeated away from home. The team also won the West Riding Old Boys Senior Cup defeating Huddersfield Old Grammarians 5-1 on Denaby United’s ground. During the season Brian scored 19 goals in 26 games. He had a run of scoring in 4 successive games.
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Photo: MTOB season 1957-1958 Winners West Riding Old Boys League and Senior Cup (Existing ‘F’) Photo: MTOB season 1957-1958 Winners West Riding Old Boys League and Senior Cup (Existing ‘G’)
Mexborough Tech Old Boys joined the Sheffield Hatchard League (founded 1892) for the first time in season 1958-1959 and finished in fifth position. Only one team completed the double against the team – the eventual league champions Dearne Community Miners Welfare who were also league champions in the previous season 1957-1958. During the season Brian scored 22 goals in 29 games.
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Mexborough Tech Old Boys continued playing in the Sheffield Hatchard League in seasons 1959-1960 through to 1963-1964 when the team was disbanded. They finished in sixth position in season 1959-1960 (Brian scored 18 goals in 28 games) and 1960-1961 (Brian scored 30 goals in 28 games). During these seasons Brian continued playing at outside left. The winter of 1962-1963, known as the Big Freeze of 1963, was one of the coldest winters recorded in the UK at that time - there were no local football games for 3 months due to frozen pitches.
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Photo: MTOB before a Sheffield Hatchard league game in December 1961-1962 (Existing)
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Footnote: Season 1951-1952 was a very good year for MSTS School team and their progress achievements with MTOB through 1952-1953 and 1953-1954 were outstanding. Most of the players progressed further in MTOB successful trophy winning teams in 1954-1955, 1955-1956 (Montagu Cup Finalists) and 1956-1957 (Montagu Cup Winners). The forward line remained unchanged from 1951-1952 to 1953-1954 and continued with only one change from 1954-1955 to 1956-1957. They all scored a lot of goals. Brian played at outside left for all these teams.
Prepared by Brian Hill MSTS (1952-1955) and MTOB (1955-1963) November 2023