Dreams come true

posted by John Winn

Interviewed after their victory over Aston Villa this week one of the Bradford City players said that 'it was every schoolboy's dream to play at Wembley' and of course for him this will  now be fulfilled. The following night a Swansea City player said much the same and although 'every' might be going a bit too far I suspect most sports enthusiasts have at some point in their lives considered the idea of playing at Wembley or Lord's or Wimbledon or the equivalent for their particular sport. By chance I came across a photograph this week of a cricketer whose all round achievements can rarely have been equalled and for whom, if his night times were filled with these sort of ideas, had them satisfied  far beyond his expectations. The man in question was Harry Makepeace, known better perhaps to our red rose readers, especially if they come from the blue side of Liverpool.

Harry died at his home in the Wirral  a week before Christmas 1952, aged 70 and if in his last few days he could cast his mind back over his sporting life then he was spoilt for choice. Would he remember a century at Melbourne in !921 when on a 'perfect pitch he played wonderfully well' (Wisden), and scored a fifty in the second knock. All this son of Middlesbrough's* tests were played on this tour when JWHT Douglas' side were outclassed by Australia. Makepeace played for Lancashire for almost a quarter of a century during a time when the county won the championship four times. Neville Cardus described JWH Makepeace as an 'immortal of Lancashire cricket' and when his playing days were over he gave his adopted county a further twenty years service as coach.

Makepeace's football career was equally illustrious and to show for it he had one winner's medal in the FA Cup, one loser's and one league championship medal with 'the toffees'. The FA Cup Finals were played at  Crystal Palace, was it every late Victorian schoolboy's dream to play at that venue, home to finals from 1895 to 1914? To top it all off Makepeace is part of that very select group  of   just twelve , surely never to be increased, who have represented their country at both cricket and football. To his four test appearances he added the same number of football caps.

Harry Makepeace is the subject of a book by Roy Cavanagh 'Two Men For All Seasons', the second man another Evertonian, Jack Sharp, who too scored a test century(against Australia at The Oval in 1909) and played for Lancashire from 1899 to 1925, captaining them in his last three seasons. In his spare time he was an England test selector and  a director of Evertton FC, for whom he won an FA Cup medal. An outside right he played twice for England, being on the winning side both times. Dream on.

*By coincidence I have written about another Yorkshire man who slipped through the net. Not a household name like Jim Laker but those of us of more modest sporting abilities can only wonder at the likes of Makepeace and Sharp.