A tribute to John Dutchman who died on 22 June, aged 88

3/7/2014

"Leggy, tall and dangerous."

John Dutchman was an England Amateur International and distinguished forward for Corinthian-Casuals during the 1950s and 60s. Born at Harrogate in Yorkshire on 8 October 1925 he went to school at Cockburn G.S in Leeds and soon attracted the attention of Leeds United, totting up some 30 games for the Reserves and a number for the First Team.

After six months at Cambridge in 1943 under a special wartime dispensation, where he quickly won a "blue" against Oxford, he was called up for fulltime RAF service and went to train as a bomb aimer in South Africa where, in an unusual side-line, he also wrote a dissertation on ostriches. A Flight/Lieut when the war ended he was posted to Germany as a Sports and Welfare officer. Back at Cambridge in 1948 he won another "blue" and scored in the university side captained by Doug Insole. He also played and scored against Oxford the following year. Later while doing teacher training in Scotland he played a number of games for Queens Park scoring three goals.

In 1951 he was a member of the recently formed combined Oxford and Cambridge side, Pegasus, that achieved a historic victory in the final of F.A. Amateur Cup against Bishop Auckland at Wembley in front of 100,000 spectators. John, at inside right, laid on one of the two goals in the 2- 1 win. Ken Shearwood, in his book on Pegasus, described John as: "leggy, tall and dangerous, a footballer through and through".

From the early 50s, having taken up a job teaching Geography at Chigwell School, he began to play regularly for Corinthian-Casuals, at inside forward or centre forward. In four seasons from 1951 he averaged some 30 First team games a season, scoring 37 goals. In 1952 he became the first Corinthian-Casuals' player to be awarded an England amateur international cap, scoring in the 8 - 3 defeat of the Republic of Ireland. He won a second cap against Wales in 1954.

In 1955/6 after a handful of games he moved to Walthamstow Avenue, thereby missing out on a possible place in the Corinthian-Casuals' team that reached the Amateur Cup Final that season. But he never lost touch with the club and played for the "A" and Schools team, alongside Doug Insole, until the mid sixties. His son David, who'd been at Chigwell, also played occasional games.

Throughout these years he was Head of Geography at Chigwell, also for a time, with his wife, Margaret, supervised the school's senior boarding house; he also ran football, coached cricket and swimming - and welcomed regular visits from our own Schools Team.

In February 2010 the School and Old Boys held a special dinner to mark his 60 years of association.

John died on 22 June after a long illness. After cremation at Forest Park Crematorium, Hainault on 9 July a memorial service will be held at Chigwell School on 4 October.

Written by David Harrison, with thanks to Norman Epps, Brian Wakefield and Doug Insole and David Morrison. 3/7/2014

3 Comments

Elsie Tibbs (nee Gray

22/11/2015 11:29:02

I was at Cockburn High School in the sixth form.with John. It was a happy time When our group of 9 had much fun together. When everyone scattered and were conscripted to the forces Communications faded I only found out about his death by
fiddling on my computer.My sincere condolences to his wife and family

(Dr) Richard Dixon link

27/2/2017 16:13:23

I was at Chigwell from 1966 to 1972. While I had to drop geography at the school's insistence to get a scraped O-level in Greek, and therefore miss out on John Dutchman's wonderfully droll classroom delivery, I got blooded into the school first XI slightly ahead of my time at 15 for a debut against the Old Boys at right back. Mr Dutchman had us playing in a 4-3-3 that suited the available players, and I graduated to defensive central midfield, in front of the back four, for the following season. He clearly loved the game, and took us on tour to West Germany. Way back in 1966, our predecessors had been to the communist Czechoslovakia and met Dukla Prague. In my era, an undoubted highlight was playing a West Ham XI on our pitch by the conifer plantation. Ron Greenwood may not have been fabulously mobile but the ball was regularly fed to him out on the left and with his sweet left foot he fed crosses to a quicksilver lad of Nigerian extraction called Ade Coker, who played in the first Division. We got beaten 5-1. It was a footballing lesson in making the ball do the work that I never forgot. Another memory was a 1-1 draw at Highgate, where I achingly hit the bar for the winner that wasn't. I had played my heart out on a dry, warm September day. As I left the pitch, he quietly said to me: 'I wish I had 10 other players like you.' What encouragement. A few weeks later, on my 18th birthday, we faced the mighty Alleyn's. They had beaten us 10-1 at their place the previous year – a dreadful humiliation. In my final term, in 1972, they were at our place. Several miracles happened at once: I hit a perfect long ball with my iffy left foot from inside our half to my right midfield comrade Howard Berndes, a serious talent, around their penalty area and he scored the winner in a famous 2-1 victory. It is people like John Dutchman whose immense efforts will never be forgotten by those he taught about geography and football – but above all, life.

Michael Fisher

22/3/2025 11:46:16

I was at Chigwell (69-76) I recall John well, a super nice guy, who came to our home in Epping a few times. One of the very best whose heart was in the right place.

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A tribute to John Dutchman who died on 22 June, aged 88

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