MIKE BARNARD ‘good at games’ by Dave Allen The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph series No. 22 MIKE BARNARD - ‘good at games’ During the first half of the twentieth century it was possible, if not common for talented English sportsmen to earn a wage playing football in the winter and cricket in the summer. Neither of these professions was especially well paid, and an ability to play professionally at both sports ensured a full wage over twelve months of the year. Mike Barnard, like his contemporaries such as Arthur Milton, Denis Compton, Willie Watson and fellow Hampshire cricketers Ted Drake, Henry Horton, Arthur Holt and Bernard Harrison, played professionally at both sports. But Londoner Denis Compton is one of the few men who, like Mike Barnard, played exclusively for the football club and cricket county of his birth – and while Compton played for England, even he cannot match Barnard’s 100+ football league appearances in the top division. In the early 1950s, Mike signed with Portsmouth Football Club who were then one of the strongest sides in Britain. He also joined Hampshire County Cricket Club, by contrast among the weakest of the 17 county sides. As Hampshire were finishing next-to-bottom of the table in the autumn of 1949, Pompey were embarking on a successful defence of their league title of the previous season. When his cricketing career ended in the mid-1960s, the fortunes of the two sides had been reversed. Henry Michael (Mike) Barnard was born in July 1933 and grew up in Portsea, the youngest of four brothers, who all attended Portsmouth Grammar School. His father ran a garage business just 100 yards from the Dockyard. But when the war came and with it the threat of German bombs, the family moved from Havant Street to the town of Havant a few miles north east of the bombers’ targets. Within twelve months, the old business had been flattened. Mike entered the Grammar School in January 1945 and impressed from the start as a sportsman, his form master’s very first report describing him as being “good at games”. In the winter of 1945 the Portmuthian told us that Soccer Colt Mike Barnard when he played for the Rugby Under 15 Colts, 1948 Barnard (inside left), a member of an unbeaten side, was “clever” and offered “good support to his winger” although he was also “rather light and inexperienced” – not unreasonable at the age of 12. Since some of his colleagues were criticised for being “rather slow”, having “faulty” ball control, being “inclined to wander” or having a “poor kick”, Mike was clearly promising. By 1947, the magazine was reporting on the second season of Rugby Football at the school, which had replaced soccer as the School’s winter game. Over his school career Mike moved from scrum-half to fly-half, had a settled period at full-back Front Cover: Mike Barnard batting, c 1960. and then ended up back at scrum-half (April 1951). In 1947, playing at fly-half, he Monograph No. 22 1 Portsmouth Grammar School Rugby Under 15 Colts, 1947/48. Portsmouth Grammar School First XI, 1950. (Barnard is seated on the ground on the right.) (Barnard is in the front row, second from left.) “used his excellent soccer footwork to great advantage”. By the following spring and 2nd XI with their new coach Arthur Holt – another man who played cricket he was praised for being an “unflurried” full-back with “excellent” positioning, “a and soccer (for Southampton FC). fine pair of hands” and “courageous” tackling. Among his colleagues in the XV were Roger Harris and the two captains DB Edwards and JM Smart. Mike received his He also played rugby for the county’s Under-19 side. His father told the colours in 1950. Portsmouth Evening News that Mike “tolerated” rugby but would “get his game of soccer somehow”. On Sundays he played for Bedhampton Boys Club and then His impact as a cricketer was less well recorded until 1948. While Bradman’s Havant United where he was spotted again and went via Gosport into top-flight ‘Invincibles’ took England by storm Mike, still young enough for the Colts, was the football. In May 1951, at the end of his school career and approaching his 18th First XI’s “most consistent” batsman with “very attractive strokes”. As a bowler he birthday, he signed as an amateur with Pompey, having already joined Hampshire could “turn the ball both ways” and was, of course, “quick in the field”. In 1949, the County Cricket Club. First XI played a couple of games during the summer holidays and Mike “saved” them against the OP Club with a “courageous” 48. This courage, developed on the Mike passed his School Certificate but as a grammar school boy of average playing fields would be crucial in Mike’s adult life. academic ability and with few University places available, the chance to be a professional sportsman was too good to resist. He left school in 1951 and took By the following summer he was praised for his “wide range of shots, usually digs with Hampshire’s groundsman Ernie Knights and his wife Bella. On the executed with power and elegance”. He was also a “very dangerous change bowler groundstaff, his duties meant working alongside Ernie and his small team, and an excellent fielder” although he was warned not to “hook off leg stump” too maintaining the ground and general facilities at Northlands Road. Over the next early in his innings. couple of years his sporting career was also interrupted by a period of National Service in the Army. He had been prepared for that at PGS, reaching the rank of In 1949 he averaged over 60 for Hampshire Schools and he headed their averages Lance Corporal in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). again in 1950 and was third in the bowling averages at 10.3. His PGS colleague P Bishop captained that side. Meanwhile, the School XI won nine and drew five of When he resumed his professional football career in 1953, Pompey were trying to their 16 matches and it is interesting to note the relatively low scores; in a number develop their own players to replace the recent Champions like Scoular, Froggat of games neither side passed three figures. Mike progressed from the school and and Reid although Jimmy Dickinson remained throughout Mike’s career. The county school sides to England Schools and also to Hampshire’s Club & Ground footballer’s maximum wage was £14 per week, rising to £20 by the end of the 2 The Portsmouth Grammar School Monograph No. 22 3 decade and broken early in the 1960s as Fulham’s Johnny Haynes became the first On the 2 January Mike played again as Pompey beat Huddersfield 5-2 and he to earn £100. held his place for seven matches. He then missed six games but returned for the final 10 matches of the season, finishing with a 3-0 victory against West As a cricketer, Mike had already made his Hampshire debut with another Bromwich Albion who finished runners-up to Wolves. Mike had scored six goals newcomer Guy Jewell in a three-day match in 1952 against Glamorgan in Swansea. in 19 matches and Pompey finished in 14th place after which he returned to Mike was still in the Army but injuries had left Hampshire short of players and he Southampton for the new cricket season. was called into the side. The third day – a Friday – was his nineteenth birthday but it was an inauspicious start as he made four and nought and bowled three fruitless Mike played initially in Club & Ground matches until he arrived at the County overs, although he did hold his first catch. Throughout his career he would hold Ground on the morning of Saturday 22 May to act as twelfth man for the first many more – and, unusually, at better than one per match. team against Middlesex. But with the start approaching, Hampshire’s veteran off-spinner Charlie Knott – an amateur – rang in to apologise that work had Mike had to wait more than twelve months for his next chance in a match in detained him and he withdrew from the team. Hampshire stuck with their original his home city against Warwickshire but his ‘pair’ (two successive ducks) meant a batting order but were dismayed to be reduced to 48-8 before Mike came to the third successive first class duck and a return to the 2nd XI. A few months later, wicket and helped to double the total, top-scoring with 39. In the second innings just before Christmas 1953, his picture appeared in the local newspaper with the his undefeated 24 was second highest and although Hampshire lost, Mike had caption informing readers that his “recent form for Pompey reserves had been enjoyed his first taste of cricketing success at county level. very promising”. In a 3-0 victory over Millwall Reserves he scored twice and was identified as “the best” of Pompey’s forwards. Hampshire then played a two-day friendly mid-week match against the Around Portsmouth over Christmas 1953, the King’s Theatre offered Cinderella, Royal Navy at Portsmouth. They selected while Babes in the Wood was at the Empire; there was a “Carnival Dance” at the some good batsmen but few bowlers, Savoy and the Greyhound stadium opened for racing on the morning of Boxing so Mike took the new ball with Roy Day. On Christmas Day, Pompey fans were offered a coach trip to London for just Marshall with little success.