Tony and Phil Brayford
From the Archive
Tony Brayford came to the Poly in 1963, soon made a few first team appearances and, by July 1964 he had been selected for GB under-21s, for whom he was reported to have had a good game. In September 1964, Tony contributed an important goal against then National League champions Cheltenham in a 6-4 Poly win; and in December he scored one of the goals in a Crystal Palace play-off against Otter to decide the National League title, which Poly won 4-3.
In 1968 Phil Brayford took responsibility for writing the Poly Magazine reports. So, sadly, the reports of his exploits in and out of the water have been heavily censored, though he was known as an active and passionate tourist. In 1969 Phil played an important part in the ASA Championship final, scoring two goals against Everton, including the winner, in the club’s first double winning season, a feat which he helped them repeat in 1970.
From Jack Gauldie, July 2024
I first met Phil Brayford when I joined the Poly in 1964, having just arrived from Canada to study at UCL. He had just come up to University to study Estate Management around the same time as John Littleton and Aidan McCorry. We all met at the Poly and Phil, John and I soon found a reasonable “hovel” to share at 325 Westbourne Park Rd. This was a place of respite for many Poly Boys for a memorable number of years, with routine visits to the Curry house, the Cider bar in Paddington and the Portobello Star.
Because of Phil’s strength and physical attributes he was known to most of us as “the animal”. His style of play and disposition would upset many opponents, most of whom would retaliate on McCorry or me. Phil saw this as something like poetic justice. His aggressive play was noticed early, the February 1964 magazine saying: “at a recent Poly match [he] had the distinction of being voted the ‘cleanest’ player in the water, despite the fact that he ‘never’ cleans behind his ears”. I’m glad they put quotation marks. Enough said.
In 1965, Phil, John, Aidan and I were selected for the British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) and travelled to Budapest for the World Student Games. This was the first time we were properly engaged in international waterpolo and the start of many overseas trips we took together. We had many escapades on our tours with the Poly:
Adventures with Bill Searby in Offenbach;
The dreaded “hole-in-the-dark” episode, thanks to Neil Tasker, in Czechoslovakia;
Cockroach stomping in Wurtzburg; and
Escaping the Russian invasion in Prague by one week.
Phil remained, as ever, “the animal”, although occasionally we would get glimpses of the “gentler Phil” - for example, as he sat at lunch in a German forest devouring his beloved sprats.
Phil’s aggression was aimed at opponents, not teammates, and yet the closest any of us came to “near death” was at his hands was on a Poly trip to Europe. Phil had proudly acquired a very fine warm fleece-lined suede coat and during our travels, while leaving a bus, Phil, as usual, pushed in front to get out first. Aidan McCorry reached out to the back of his shoulder to pull him back … but instead ended up with a handful of suede coat that had ripped out. Thank goodness Phil did not notice at that time and we were able to hide the incriminating evidence, so that he did not notice the torn coat for several hours. Needless to say, we all kept mum, especially McCorry, although the missing piece of coat was posted back to Phil in an unmarked envelope some time later.
As Phil graduated and moved into the commercial estate management business, the other Brayford emerged - Tony, or Anthony, Brayford. Tony was a more gentle person who favoured suits and ties, and some times, a cravat. But certainly not jeans. Even though he too had a love of the game, and the Poly, here was a successful business man. Tony’s expertise and knowledge of commercial transactions helped us greatly in our moonlight flit from Westbourne Park Road, where the roof had fallen in, to Bedford Square, where many new future Poly Boys would subsequently find refuge. His playing persona remained, but his dedication and generosity for the Poly was, and remains, unwavering. Nevertheless, I would caution anyone in business to avoid upsetting him.
I left London at the end of 1970, but met Phil (back from being Tony), Andy Lench and Roddy Jones at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 and relived a few Poly memories. My time with Phil and Tony Brayford has been remarkable and it is a very valuable friendship that I treasure.
From Michael McCartney, July 2024
I first met Phil, when I joined the Poly in 1971, at which time he was Poly captain. As a grown-up he was therefore to be feared and respected. He was a professional man, a “Chartered Surveyor”, whatever that involved, and some-one with a company car, a Rover 2000 if I remember correctly, which could be driven at high speed round Leicester Square to check out the comings and goings, sometimes after we had had a post-training pint or two. For a naive 18-year-old Irishman, this sort of activity generated more fear than respect. And clearly professional success had not yet settled his youthful exuberance.
As I got to know him better, respect began to overcome fear, although I still did not want to tangle with him in the water. Although aggression was hardly in short supply in Poly training sessions of the time, the 1973 Europa Cup programme made it clear that “Phil’s shooting ability and aggressive play have made a large contribution to the team’s success for many years”. And in that year he was still one of the club’s leading goal-scorers.
By 1974, Phil was one of the elder statesmen amongst the players, and extremely busy making money, which was beginning to limit his playing time. However, he was still club captain and took on the onerous job of arranging the club’s centenary dinner amongst other things. In 1975, it was no surprise when he decided to take on the role of first team coach, as well as occasional player, and I will always be grateful to him for the breaks he gave me in letting me try out for the first team. He was great at giving me the confidence I needed at that stage of my development.
On a personal level he was also very kind in helping me out when I was homeless and out of work later that year, as he put me up free of charge in his Hampstead home till I was able to find my feet. This was a side to him that was not always evident in the competitive environment of the Poly first team, and kindness was not what the team was thinking when we were on tour in Antwerp. In one of his first acts as coach, Phil got us up early in the morning to overcome any overnight sluggishness by circuit training in one of the hotel bedrooms. Thankfully we were spared from too much effort when the hotel manager interrupted the session to insist that we stop, as the bedroom was above the ballroom and the chandeliers were at risk of falling apart.
Phil coached the team for another year, but he missed goalscoring and wanted to take up the opportunity to play for Wales, which he was able to do in 1976 by proving a connection between Stoke-on-Trent and the principality. I understand that his initiation speech went down very well with the rest of the team. That year he also coached us to another double winning season, capped off with an ASA Championship win over Sutton & Cheam, who we beat 7-6 in the final at Walsall. Sadly though, Phil was extremely disappointed that the margin of victory was so narrow, and was not inclined to allow any post-match celebrations. Clearly standards had to be set.
Around this time he married Carole, which was the first time I found out about his relationship to Tony, and we all celebrated in style somewhere in Hampstead, after a blessing in St Jude’s Church. Much was made of St Jude being the patron saint of lost causes, and something must have worked as they have three fine children in Ben, Sarah and James.
Phil continued his close links with the Poly in administrative roles and, amazingly, was still acting as Club Chairman in 2007. That adds up to 44-years of active participation or support of the club, so clearly some of the old club philosophy rubbed off along the way. A Poly man through and through.