1960-80 Neil May

Star Recruits Set Poly on a Roll

I took over as Poly captain and coach from the legendary Peter Pass in the mid-1960s. After a spell of limited success by our own expectations, Peter opted to concentrate on playing and not carry the burden of leadership. This was a sound decision - in 1970, he was awarded the MBE for services to water polo (only the second person to receive this honour after Ernest Scott, also of Poly).

I got the job not due to any qualities of leadership or tactical acumen but because we had no one who could coach from the poolside. With the advent of substitutions, it was felt the only person with an overall view was the goalkeeper. Rather than adversely affecting my performance, which might have happened, the reverse was the case — the extra involvement somehow kept me more in the action and I think I enjoyed my best period for Poly during this time.

Of the team I inherited, some had the abilities I required and some not. Those not up to standard were given the opportunity to move on for first team polo. Happily, most stayed, which meant we could enter a second team in the National League in 1968 and 1969 - great for bringing on new talent.

Of our first team squad, Peter Pass was playing the best polo of his career. And there were three talented London University students — Phil Brayford, later to play for England; Jack Gauldie, already capped by Canada but, thanks to his Granny, a future Scotland cap; and gifted Irish international Aiden McCorry. We also had Barry Turner, a most underrated defender.

However, we lacked quality players — until lady luck took a hand. After an Essex ASA dinner, a Starfish Club member told me of a wonderful young player they had produced who, to their horror, was going to join Plaistow, then one of the great teams of British water polo. However, Plaistow had not entered the new Premier Invitation League and so it would have been a mistake for a player of promise to go there.

Terry Bensted was duly invited to one of our sessions — and went straight into the first team. Another stroke of luck followed when Poly were invited to play a practice match against GB at Crystal Palace. At this time we had no international players as Peter and I had retired from that level and the likes of the McCartneys, Dave Chapman, Rod Jones, Tony Meek and Terry had yet to be selected. So we were at full strength.

At the entrance to Palace, we were met by an 18-year-old who said that Southern selector Dusty Rhodes had suggested he turn up and play for Poly having missed the recent GB junior trials. His name was Chris Ayling. I explained that unfortunately I picked the Poly team, not Dusty. But I allowed him to sit with us on the poolside. At half-time we were losing 2-0, so in he went, promptly scoring twice past Martyn Thomas — with an exquisite lob and a rocket into the top comer — to clinch a 2-2 draw. Chris joined Poly shortly after.

Now we had the basis of a good team. But I am a firm believer that you can only be as good as the players you play against. This had been forcibly brought home to me in 1957 when I was lucky enough to go as reserve keeper with Poly to the World Youth Games in Moscow (England were invited but the ASA turned down the invitation and we went instead, despite the ASA refusing us permission to travel. Incidentally, the Poly team were so strong that out of 12 full national sides, we finished fourth behind Hungary, Russia and East Germany).

The point I want to make is that, as reserve, I only played a couple of games and so had the good fortune to train with the Russian under-21 squad every day for three weeks. During the first week, I didn't touch the ball. In the second, I began to stop a few — and by the third had adjusted to the pace of Russian shooting and acquitted myself quite well. On my return home, I was almost unbeatable for a few weeks!

With this in mind, I arranged a series of foreign tours to bed down the new Poly team and raise our game. By now, our first team should have been winning everything but results were up and down. Then came the breakthrough — we were meeting up in London on a Saturday morning to travel to Birkenhead when one of our leading players failed to turn up. He had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly and spent the night in a police cell.

I was absolutely furious. The thought of all our training being negated by a drunken binge really got to me. What the hell was he doing acting like that on the eve of a big match? At that point, Jack Gauldie confessed that all the lads went drinking on a Friday night.

The players then agreed that this would stop prior to a Saturday match — and I think they kept their word. This, and the addition of one more player — 6ft 8ins, 18 stones Glyn Berry - was, I believe, what set Poly on a record-breaking spree over the next 20 years. Glyn, who came to us from Penguin, was a throwback to the days of great goal-scoring centre-forwards like Terry Miller, Phil Jones and Les Baldwin. At first, there was reluctance amongst our players to revert to using a static forward — they were fit, fast and played a swimming game. But I reckoned that all teams, no matter how good, still played to a hole man when the counters broke down!

So began years of Poly dominance with cup and league doubles in 1969 and 1970 (the year I retired from playing) and memorable European Cup campaigns at Crystal Palace in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1976, when we proved you could still get crowds to watch polo.

National League competition produced many funny moments. We always dreaded playing at New Ferry, Birkenhead. One absolutely still evening, we stood miserably on the side discussing the temperature, which was 64F in the training pool next to us. The surface was completely still and glassy. One of our players, Ron Flude (now the National League’s competition co-ordinator) insisted there was no water there — and, being Irish, jumped fully dressed into five feet of cold water to prove his point! Most of our players had hysterics — it was so funny. But it meant we went into the game totally relaxed and eventually won at the “Ferry” for the first time.

The game I remember most was at Aston where Andrew Lench, who had just joined us from the Midlands club, was playing against his old team for the first time. He ended up on the poolside with his eyebrow split and needing stitches. With seconds left, it was 2-2 and Aston were awarded a penalty. Up came big Nigel Horton, the England rugby international second row forward, to take it. The ball hit me so hard it rebounded to half way where Peter Pass, always ready to counter-attack on the penalty whistle, grabbed possession and swam through to score the winner.

Neil May, from NWPL The First 40 Years, June 2002