Doug Insole (right) alongside friend and Corinthian-Casuals President Micky Stewart. David Harrison pays tribute to two great Corinthians who turn 90 this year.
Doug Insole
On April 18 Doug Insole will be 90. To mark the event we would like to pay tribute to a remarkable sportsman and distinguished member of Corinthian-Casuals.
Doug Insole was born in Clapton in 1926. He went to school at the Sir George Monoux GS in Walthamstow; after brief evacuation during the war he was soon playing cricket for London and Essex schools and joined Walthamstow Avenue for whom he played for two seasons.
In the final years of the war he spent two years military service in Special Signals helping intercept and decode German signals, at an outstation for the famous Bletchley Park code-breaking centre.
At Cambridge from 1946 he captained the university at both football and cricket and in his last year in 1949 also topped the Essex County averages with two centuries and 219 runs against Yorkshire. Meanwhile, in 1948 he was a founder member and first captain of Pegasus, the combined Oxford and Cambridge football side, and played for them for two seasons before moving on to Corinthian-Casuals. In his book on Pegasus, centre half Ken Shearwood described him as "a heavy deliberate sort of player with a tremendous shot in either foot, who'd get hold of the ball and keep it."
For Casuals Doug played First Team football for an incredible 14 seasons, marking up some 339 appearances, including the 1956 Amateur Cup Final at Wembley in front of 80,000 against Bishop Auckland where his cross from the right laid on Casuals' goal in the 1 - 1 draw. During his time with the club he played in eight different positions, including once as goalkeeper.
But it's as a cricketer and administrator that he is best known. From 1950 he was captain of Essex transforming them into one of the top county sides. Micky Stewart, who played against him many times for Surrey remembers him as "a consistent run-scorer and an outstanding captain, on and off the field". He was described in the press as "astute, popular, intelligent and attacking, inclined to be adventurous and exciting rather than conservative".
Over a decade he played 450 First Class matches, scored 25,241 runs including 54 hundreds, at least one against every other county in the game. As a right arm medium pacer he took 138 wickets including 5 for 22 against Surrey. He also kept wicket. In 1956 he was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year.
He played 9 Tests for England, and was vice-captain on the tour of South Africa in 1956, topping the averages and helping England draw the series. He was a member of the MCC Committee for 20 years, Chairman of the England select ors for 10 years in the 60s. He managed the England tour of Australia in 1978/9; was awarded the CBE that season and was President of the MCC for 12 months from October 2006. He's a Life Vice President of the Football Association.
For all of his cricketing career he played as an amateur when the breed was fast dying out, holding down a marketing job with the building giants Wimpey. Remarkably, also, he continued to play for Corinthian-Casuals after his First Team days were over, turning out regularly for the "A" and Schools teams . His last game was a charity match at Leatherhead in 1978/9 when he was 52. So congratulations and best birthday wishes to an all time sporting giant from all of us at the club.
Hubert Doggart OBE, M.A., Poet and Player
George Hubert Graham Doggart is another distinguished member of the club who's recently celebrated his 90th birthday. He was a contemporary of Doug Insole on both football and cricket fields and an outstanding all-round sportsman.
Hubert undoubtedly owed much to the teaching and inspiration of his father, Graham Doggart, a Corinthian who captained the full England international side against Belgium in 1924 and also won four amateur caps. He played an incredible 203 games for Corinthians scoring 207 goals; also 34 games with 21 goals for Casuals. Notable he scored the single goal in Corinthians' famous defeat of Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup in 1924. He played cricket for Cambridge, Durham and Middlesex, was on the committee at Sussex CCC. and was Chairman of the Football Association from 1961 - 3. He died while chairing an F.A. meeting in June 1963 aged 66.
Hubert was born in Earls Court on 18th July 1925, went to school at Winchester where he was captain of both football and cricket. Leaving school in 1943 he was commissioned in the Coldstream Guards and served as a Lieutenant in the British Army of the Rhine occupying Germany for two years after the war.
In 1948 he went to King's College Cambridge to read history. He won Blues in no less than five different sports, cricket, football, squash, racquets and fives and was captain in all except fives. In his first cricket match for Cambridge he scored 215 not out against Lancashire, still an English record for a debutant. A year later he and partner John Dewes put on an unbeaten 429 for the second wicket against Essex of which Doggart made 219. In 1950, when captain of the university he was picked for England but, against the spin bowling of "those two little pals of mine", Ramadin and Valentine he managed only lowly scores.
Meanwhile he'd established himself as a powerful and aggressive footballer, at inside forward, captaining the University after Doug Insole. They both went on to play for Pegasus, the combined Oxford and Cambridge side in their first match in 1948. Ken Shearwood, at centre half, described Doggart as "big, awkward, high stepping and snorting all the while as he bore down on any ball that he considered his."
With Insole, after a season with Pegasus, Doggart joined Corinthian-Casuals, enjoying an slightly irregular but spectacular career until 53/4. In 1951 between October and December he scored 13 goals including three hat tricks - against Cambridge University, Dulwich Hamlet and Woking. The C-C Newsletter describes a goal against Brentwood and Warley in a cup match in Dec 52: "Insole took the ball to the goal line then crossed to Doggart to pivot on his left foot and smash the ball on the volley into the roof of the net. A magnificent goal." During these years, and later, he also played for the Old Wykehamists, captaining them to three wins in the Arthur Dunn Cup.
After Cambridge Hubert went straight back to teach at Winchester where he remained for 22 years, much of that time as a housemaster, also running football and cricket. In the holidays he continued to play for Sussex, captaining them in 1954. He also went on cricket tours to the West Indies, East Africa and South America. In 1972 he became Headmaster of King's School Bruton in Somerset until 1985.
As an administrator he was in much demand. He was President of the MCC for 1981 - 2 and Treasurer 1987 - 92; also President of the Cricket Society 1983 - 98. He has also been President of the English Schools' Cricket Association.
Throughout this extraordinary career Hubert has always had a deep love of words, poetry and history, has published four books and continues to write the occasional sonnet - and not least some verses composed literally overnight in February about Corinthian-Casuals. What better way to end this tribute to Hubert and to his wife Sue than to reproduce the verses here.
HAIL SOCCER, FINE ‘INVENTION’
Of all the Games that ‘we’ ‘invented’
Some watched al fresco, others tented,
Soccer and Cricket I’d persuade
To head my sporting cavalcade.
Should I have, earlier, praised with zest
‘The Beautiful Game’- when at its best?
Especially as my Dad, A.G.,
Captained England in ’23!
We thank Thee, Lord, for what we treasure-
For memories past and present pleasure:
Corinthian values we can reach
By reading Monty Rendell’s speech.*
The deeds heroic still ring true-
Of G.O.Smith and Lindley too;
Of Ashtons, Bower, Chadder, Creek
And Hegan (just a few I seek)
And now there comes a crucial date,
When Corinth joined Casuals in ’38.
Both Clubs could claim a studded history.
The hyphen was no sacred mystery
To those who thought- come wind, come weather-
The Clubs would better thrive together,
Retaining, happily, the ‘feel’
Of the noble Amateur ideal.
One memory before I end…
In ’56 we bucked the trend
When a Wembley final saw us draw;
A replay thus knocked at our door.
How sad that Micky- ruled by fate-
From Trinidad+ arrived too late
To affect the vital replay’s score.
His effort seems Amateur to the core!
England we praise, without dissension.
The Corinthian-Casuals earn their mention.
GHGD
* Monty Rendell, Headmaster of Winchester College, past Corinthian, made the speech
‘In Memory of the Fallen’, in 1919, at the new Crystal Palace ground (see .'A History of the Corinthian Football Club’, by F.N.S.Creek, pp 52-54)
+ Micky Stewart was one of E.W.Swanton’s team touring the West Indies when the call came. I am a witness since I practised with him several mornings on the Savannah, outside our hotel. In his excellent autobiography, Micky talks, selectively, of the great Clyde Walcott’s coming out to be with us on one occasion, but- we’ve joked about this - he seems to have forgotten about his loyal club- mate!
Doug Insole
On April 18 Doug Insole will be 90. To mark the event we would like to pay tribute to a remarkable sportsman and distinguished member of Corinthian-Casuals.
Doug Insole was born in Clapton in 1926. He went to school at the Sir George Monoux GS in Walthamstow; after brief evacuation during the war he was soon playing cricket for London and Essex schools and joined Walthamstow Avenue for whom he played for two seasons.
In the final years of the war he spent two years military service in Special Signals helping intercept and decode German signals, at an outstation for the famous Bletchley Park code-breaking centre.
At Cambridge from 1946 he captained the university at both football and cricket and in his last year in 1949 also topped the Essex County averages with two centuries and 219 runs against Yorkshire. Meanwhile, in 1948 he was a founder member and first captain of Pegasus, the combined Oxford and Cambridge football side, and played for them for two seasons before moving on to Corinthian-Casuals. In his book on Pegasus, centre half Ken Shearwood described him as "a heavy deliberate sort of player with a tremendous shot in either foot, who'd get hold of the ball and keep it."
For Casuals Doug played First Team football for an incredible 14 seasons, marking up some 339 appearances, including the 1956 Amateur Cup Final at Wembley in front of 80,000 against Bishop Auckland where his cross from the right laid on Casuals' goal in the 1 - 1 draw. During his time with the club he played in eight different positions, including once as goalkeeper.
But it's as a cricketer and administrator that he is best known. From 1950 he was captain of Essex transforming them into one of the top county sides. Micky Stewart, who played against him many times for Surrey remembers him as "a consistent run-scorer and an outstanding captain, on and off the field". He was described in the press as "astute, popular, intelligent and attacking, inclined to be adventurous and exciting rather than conservative".
Over a decade he played 450 First Class matches, scored 25,241 runs including 54 hundreds, at least one against every other county in the game. As a right arm medium pacer he took 138 wickets including 5 for 22 against Surrey. He also kept wicket. In 1956 he was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year.
He played 9 Tests for England, and was vice-captain on the tour of South Africa in 1956, topping the averages and helping England draw the series. He was a member of the MCC Committee for 20 years, Chairman of the England select ors for 10 years in the 60s. He managed the England tour of Australia in 1978/9; was awarded the CBE that season and was President of the MCC for 12 months from October 2006. He's a Life Vice President of the Football Association.
For all of his cricketing career he played as an amateur when the breed was fast dying out, holding down a marketing job with the building giants Wimpey. Remarkably, also, he continued to play for Corinthian-Casuals after his First Team days were over, turning out regularly for the "A" and Schools teams . His last game was a charity match at Leatherhead in 1978/9 when he was 52. So congratulations and best birthday wishes to an all time sporting giant from all of us at the club.
Hubert Doggart OBE, M.A., Poet and Player
George Hubert Graham Doggart is another distinguished member of the club who's recently celebrated his 90th birthday. He was a contemporary of Doug Insole on both football and cricket fields and an outstanding all-round sportsman.
Hubert undoubtedly owed much to the teaching and inspiration of his father, Graham Doggart, a Corinthian who captained the full England international side against Belgium in 1924 and also won four amateur caps. He played an incredible 203 games for Corinthians scoring 207 goals; also 34 games with 21 goals for Casuals. Notable he scored the single goal in Corinthians' famous defeat of Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup in 1924. He played cricket for Cambridge, Durham and Middlesex, was on the committee at Sussex CCC. and was Chairman of the Football Association from 1961 - 3. He died while chairing an F.A. meeting in June 1963 aged 66.
Hubert was born in Earls Court on 18th July 1925, went to school at Winchester where he was captain of both football and cricket. Leaving school in 1943 he was commissioned in the Coldstream Guards and served as a Lieutenant in the British Army of the Rhine occupying Germany for two years after the war.
In 1948 he went to King's College Cambridge to read history. He won Blues in no less than five different sports, cricket, football, squash, racquets and fives and was captain in all except fives. In his first cricket match for Cambridge he scored 215 not out against Lancashire, still an English record for a debutant. A year later he and partner John Dewes put on an unbeaten 429 for the second wicket against Essex of which Doggart made 219. In 1950, when captain of the university he was picked for England but, against the spin bowling of "those two little pals of mine", Ramadin and Valentine he managed only lowly scores.
Meanwhile he'd established himself as a powerful and aggressive footballer, at inside forward, captaining the University after Doug Insole. They both went on to play for Pegasus, the combined Oxford and Cambridge side in their first match in 1948. Ken Shearwood, at centre half, described Doggart as "big, awkward, high stepping and snorting all the while as he bore down on any ball that he considered his."
With Insole, after a season with Pegasus, Doggart joined Corinthian-Casuals, enjoying an slightly irregular but spectacular career until 53/4. In 1951 between October and December he scored 13 goals including three hat tricks - against Cambridge University, Dulwich Hamlet and Woking. The C-C Newsletter describes a goal against Brentwood and Warley in a cup match in Dec 52: "Insole took the ball to the goal line then crossed to Doggart to pivot on his left foot and smash the ball on the volley into the roof of the net. A magnificent goal." During these years, and later, he also played for the Old Wykehamists, captaining them to three wins in the Arthur Dunn Cup.
After Cambridge Hubert went straight back to teach at Winchester where he remained for 22 years, much of that time as a housemaster, also running football and cricket. In the holidays he continued to play for Sussex, captaining them in 1954. He also went on cricket tours to the West Indies, East Africa and South America. In 1972 he became Headmaster of King's School Bruton in Somerset until 1985.
As an administrator he was in much demand. He was President of the MCC for 1981 - 2 and Treasurer 1987 - 92; also President of the Cricket Society 1983 - 98. He has also been President of the English Schools' Cricket Association.
Throughout this extraordinary career Hubert has always had a deep love of words, poetry and history, has published four books and continues to write the occasional sonnet - and not least some verses composed literally overnight in February about Corinthian-Casuals. What better way to end this tribute to Hubert and to his wife Sue than to reproduce the verses here.
HAIL SOCCER, FINE ‘INVENTION’
Of all the Games that ‘we’ ‘invented’
Some watched al fresco, others tented,
Soccer and Cricket I’d persuade
To head my sporting cavalcade.
Should I have, earlier, praised with zest
‘The Beautiful Game’- when at its best?
Especially as my Dad, A.G.,
Captained England in ’23!
We thank Thee, Lord, for what we treasure-
For memories past and present pleasure:
Corinthian values we can reach
By reading Monty Rendell’s speech.*
The deeds heroic still ring true-
Of G.O.Smith and Lindley too;
Of Ashtons, Bower, Chadder, Creek
And Hegan (just a few I seek)
And now there comes a crucial date,
When Corinth joined Casuals in ’38.
Both Clubs could claim a studded history.
The hyphen was no sacred mystery
To those who thought- come wind, come weather-
The Clubs would better thrive together,
Retaining, happily, the ‘feel’
Of the noble Amateur ideal.
One memory before I end…
In ’56 we bucked the trend
When a Wembley final saw us draw;
A replay thus knocked at our door.
How sad that Micky- ruled by fate-
From Trinidad+ arrived too late
To affect the vital replay’s score.
His effort seems Amateur to the core!
England we praise, without dissension.
The Corinthian-Casuals earn their mention.
GHGD
* Monty Rendell, Headmaster of Winchester College, past Corinthian, made the speech
‘In Memory of the Fallen’, in 1919, at the new Crystal Palace ground (see .'A History of the Corinthian Football Club’, by F.N.S.Creek, pp 52-54)
+ Micky Stewart was one of E.W.Swanton’s team touring the West Indies when the call came. I am a witness since I practised with him several mornings on the Savannah, outside our hotel. In his excellent autobiography, Micky talks, selectively, of the great Clyde Walcott’s coming out to be with us on one occasion, but- we’ve joked about this - he seems to have forgotten about his loyal club- mate!
