The Preston and Northcote School Sports
While recently researching the history of Preston and Gowerville Park (aka Preston City Oval), I came across a long forgotten phenomenon of the 1950s and early 60s that I’m sure will strike a chord with many readers of “a Certain Age”.
With a drop-off in interest and attendances in Association football in those years, the Park’s biggest crowds usually came on a Wednesday in late October or early November .. ahhh … memories!
These were the days set aside for the Preston and Northcote Annual State School “sports” – effectively athletics of various sorts – the standard running, skipping and jumping athletics events for various age groups, but with a few interesting team sports thrown in.
The age groups extended from probably under-8 (Grade 3) up to under-15 as some state schools at that time extended to year eight (the minimum leaving age was 14 and some children had their entire schooling in a State School).
One report surviving from the Northcote Leader in 1951 set the attendance at a total at Preston Park at around 7,000, of which
“more than 5,000 came from ten surrounding schools who lent a gala atmosphere to the ideal sports ground as they clapped, screamed or yelled interjectory remarks at opposing athletes“.
This was a year fairly typical of the times from the author’s recollections of a few years later.
Some 60 events were conducted; the most successful school, Preston in Tyler Street, their pupils winning eleven events (this was pretty much standard – it was the largest in terms of students and were still dominant five or six years later when the author competed).
The team events included relays (run face-to-face, not in the more complicated circular fashion), the boy’s football exchange, which was similar to a relay, but instead of passing a baton, a football had to be hand-balled from a distance of three or four metres, the girl’s equivalent was a “cross chase” (from memory, two groups of five facing each other and passing a basketball in criss-cross fashion from one end to the other and back).
There was tunnel ball for boys, and skip ball for girls (a similar principal to tunnel ball, except rather than adopting the rather unladylike practice of tunnelling the ball between their legs, the girls had to turn and throw the ball to the next in line with the last recipient having to run to the front).
There were also a couple of marching events, usually to give kids without a lot of athletic ability a chance to participate in the sports.
For the record, the competing schools in 1951 were : Bell, Helen Street, Miller Street (I think this should have read Hutton Street), Pender’s Grove, Reservoir, South Preston, Tyler Street, Wales Street, East Preston and West Preston – it was suggested in the article that every school participated in all 60 events on the day.
What I can’t recall (probably a fair indication that “swimming” to the author was any means of staying alive in the water) is whether or not there was a school swimming carnival – if there was, it probably would have been at the Preston Pool in St. George’s Road as the most central location for the schools concerned.
