A youth football team that became famous across the UK for being ‘champion losers’ reunited on Saturday for a special 40th anniversary football match.
The under 10 team at Little Downham Feoffees Primary School was featured in the Daily Mirror back in 1973 as the ‘team of the month’, with each of the players featured in the paper and awarded a replica England shirt.
The team of the month was normally reserved for league or cup-winning teams but the Mirror was so touched by the story of the Little Downham team, which failed ever to win a single game, that it agreed to put them on the centre pages.
Midfielder Keith Missin, who still lives in Cannon Street in the village, organises a reunion for the team every 10 years but, with every player turning 50 this year, Keith went the extra mile to make sure every one of the 13-strong squad was able to attend.
Some of the team travelled to the village from as far afield as America just for the event, which took place on Little Downham’s recreation field.
Keith and his team-mates took on a team made up, in part, of their children.
Keith and his team wore specially made kits for the match, organised by the Paul Day sports shop in Ely, featuring a ‘Class of 73’ motif.
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