Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Friday 03 January 1930
A Football Pair.
The Barnes Brothers of Wombwell
Two Young Men of Promise.
In the realm of South Yorkshire football Wombwell is represented by two notable personalities in the brothers of Fred and Albert Barnes. Both identified with the game as referees, they are well known in Midland League circles, and on many other grounds beside.
The impartiality they have shown and the technical skill they have displayed in controlling the game has earned them admiration and respect in all quarters. Both have made remarkable progress in the game and brief sketches of their respective careers will no doubt be read with interest.
Of the two brothers, Albert may be better known of the two, for the simple reason that he is more absorbed in football than his schoolmaster brother. Mr. Albert Barnes’s association with sport commenced at a very early stage in his life. A native of Wombwell Main, he started his career with the famous cricket club of that community when he was only fifteen years of age. A year later he won his way into the, first team—a redoubtable combination whose fame at that time had spread over a wide’ area.
The team included such stalwarts as Charlie Pepper (capt.), Samniy Thomas, Tel Thomas, the brothers Kaye, and others. whose names were by-words in local cricket for many seasons and moreover, whose glory has not yet faded.
A chance to make a name for himself came to Albert when he was chosen to play in what proved to be particularly an epic duel in the stirring series of “Derby” matches with the neighbouring club. Mitchell Main; and it may be said at once that he grasped the opportunity with both fists. The match is still well remembered and much talked about in local snugs and cricket circles. Who does not remember the match? The weather was ideal and the pitch perfect. Wombwell Main batted first and were all out for 77. Mitchell Main were all out for 70. The young bowler Albert Barnes, for whom a ieading place in local cricket was now assured, had captured six wickets for 30 runs! That feat, of course, was the dominating factor in Wombwell Main’s victory.
Not long after this the war, with all its shattering influences, came along and many local cricketers answered the call immediately. Albert Barnes was considerably under military age at that time, but at the first opportunity he joined the Forces and survived three years of army life, two years of which was spent in France. Incidentally, he was the first member of the staff of Wombwell Main Colliery to join the colours.
After the war, he resumed his cricket career and ultimately accepted an invitation to play for Tankersley when they gained admission to the Yorkshire Council. He remained four seasons with Tankersley and afterwards removed to Barnsley, whom he has since assisted in the same competition. Albert Barnes’s forte is bowling, but he is also a useful bat On at least two occasions he has taken nine wickets in a match and has made scores of over fifty on several oceasions, his best totals being 62. 66, 70 and 77 all not out.
But if Albert Barnes were put into the position that he had to choose between football and cricket, there is little doubt that he would plump for the more robust game. He started his football career with Wombwell Main immediately after the war and joined Wombwell when that club was formed. He was a playing member of the team that won the runner-up medals in the Yorkshire League the first season, the club finishing second is that campaign to Bradford P.A. Owing to two serious facial injuries be eventually gave up active participation in the game on the doctor’s advice and began to concentrate on refereeing.
In his first season in that capacity he served under the auspices of the Barnsley Association Football Union, for whom year after year he has had charge of Association, League and Cup tie matches and finals. He is now a member of the Barnsley Football Union Executive Committee. Mr. Barnes’s progress on the controlling side of football has been steady and consistent. He served a period of five years as a linesman in the Midland League and Midland Combination, and in 1928 promoted to the linesmen’s list of the Football League comprising first second and third Divisions. He has refereed for three years In Yorkshire League football, and this year was promoted to the supplementary list of referees in the Midland League. During the past three seasons he has refereed matches under the jurisdiction of the Football Association in the English Cup and Amateur Cup (preliminary rounds) and for three seasons has had charge of the final trial match for the Barnsley Football Club at Oakwell.
Mr. Barnes has also been willing at all times to do his whack for charity, and in that capacity has travelled much up and down South Yorkshire. He is a vice-president of the Barnsley and District Referees’ Association. Mr. Albert Barnes has a full diary for the present holidays. On Christmas Day he was on duty in the Rotherham United v. Chesterfield (3rd. Division) match yesterday he officiated in the Rotherham United Reserve v. Frickley match, and for the two Saturdays following Christmas he is booked for Bradford P.A. v Loughborough and Wath Athletic v. Chesterfield Reserve matches respectively.
No less involved in the great game of football is the life of Mr. Fred Barnes, though his career has perhaps not been quite so eventful as that of his brother. Mr. Fred Barnes played football when attending the Barnsley Grammar School, where he also figured as an athlete, winning the Challenge Cup at the Grammar School sports in 1910. For several years after that he attended St. John’s College, York, where he held places in the cricket, football and harriers teams.
Returning to his home town the junior clubs soon discovered him, and he would doubtless have had a successful career in local sport but that a knee injury put him out of action. For several years he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the development of Sunday School football, and has always figured prominently as a champion of the more refined type of game. Football, he has always held, is a science and should be studied and played as such —not as trial of brute force; “brains, not brawn” would be his maxim, though he is not unconscious of the fact that a little weight is useful on occasion.
For many years junior footballers in the Wombwell district looked to Mr. Fred Barnes for a lead in matters technical, and very popular and very instructive were the lectures he gave at one time to young players in the Wombwell district. He began his career as a referee under the Barnsley Association Football Union, and quickly established for himself a reputation for fairness and strict administration of the laws’ governing the game. After one season on the line ha was promoted to the Midland League list of referees, and is now in his fourth season in that capacity.
During the Christmas holidays Mr. Fred Barnes is doe to travel to Denaby, Frickley, and Hull. Head teacher at the Hemingfield Church of England School, Mr. Fred Barnes president of the Deane Valley School Sports Association.
Both young men, the brothers Barnes seem marked for successful careers in the realm of football. Lovers of the game in the Wombwell district are watching their careers with particular interest.