House on the Hill.

Chapter 30 The Great Nat lofthouse

From the tender age of just four, my mum and grandad used to tell me tales about Nat Lofthouse.
My mum used to talk about Nat Lofthouse with such pride and with a twinkle in her eye and tell me that he was a close family friend. I used to listen with such great anticipation that Bolton wanderers became the club that was close to my heart.
I started putting pictures of Nat Lofthouse in a scrapbook, together with everything connected with Bolton Wanderers. I even filled my side of the wall in the bedroom with posters of Nat Lofthouse and the club. This caused friction with my brother Mark who was an Everton fan and still has a soft spot for them, to this day. He had all the pictures of the Everton players of that era and we used to end up fighting on occasions because he used to taunt me with Everton football songs and rip my posters off my wall which is why I hate Everton so much.
Anyway, back to Nat. He was born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1925. He joined the town's main club on 4th September 1939 and made his debut in a wartime 5–1 win against Bury on 22 March 1941 when he scored two goals. It was then more than five years until he made his league debut for the club, but he eventually played against Chelsea on 31 August 1946, when he scored twice in a 4–3 defeat. Lofthouse would go on to play 33 games for England, but his debut on 22 November 1950 made him 25 years old when he finally broke into the team. He perhaps justified a claim to an earlier call-up by scoring both goals in a 2–2 draw against Yugoslavia at Highbury on his debut.
On 25 May 1952, Lofthouse earned the title 'Lion of Vienna' after scoring his second goal in England's 3–2 victory over Austria. In doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, and finally brought down by the goalkeeper. Back from national team duty, he then scored six goals in a game for the Football League against the Irish League on 24 September 1952. In 1952–53, he was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He scored a goal – but was on the losing side – in the famous 1953 FA Cup Final (aka 'The Matthews Final') having previously scored in each round. That season he topped the First Division goal-scoring charts with 30 goals. He featured in the 1954 World Cup side. Lofthouse scored twice against Belgium in a match that ended 4–4. Injured for the next match, in the quarter final game against Uruguay he equalized in the 16th minute, after receiving the ball in the 18 yard box.
On 3 May 1958, almost five years to the day after losing the 1953 final, he captained Bolton in the 1958 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. There was a national wave of sympathy for United, who three months earlier had suffered grievously in the Munich air disaster. Bolton won the game 2–0 with Lofthouse scoring both goals, the second of which was highly controversial and remains a talking point to this day. Lofthouse went into a challenge with the United keeper Harry Gregg and barged him into the net to score. Shoulder charging the goalkeeper was a legitimate tactic at the time, but Lofthouse later admitted that his challenge was a foul.
On 26 November 1958, Lofthouse made his final England appearance, against Wales, at the age of 33, and he officially retired from the game in January 1960 because of an ankle injury, although his final league game was not until 17 December of that year, when he suffered a knee injury against Birmingham City. Lofthouse stands seventh in the list of English football's top division goals scorers. My mum and grandad told me that Nat used to come around to her house on Baxendale street in Astley Bridge every Sunday for his dinner and talk about Bolton Wanderers and the goals he scored My mum was so proud to have known Nat she used to get a lump in her throat and a bit tearful whenever she talked about him. I really used to look forward going to my grandparents not just because they used to treat me by buying me toffees, but because my grandad was a Bolton wanderers fanatic, I always listened with enthusiasm about the times he went to watch Bolton Wanderers and the great Nat Lofthouse at Burnden park. Nat was his idol and close friend. He always told me he disliked Manchester United and I think the rivalry has carried on through the generations of my family.
My grandad was a real character and in his broad Bolton accent he used to say, " Sit thee down lad," which brought a large smile to my mum's face. "I'll tell thee some stories about Nat. He went to the same school as your uncle Alf and I tell thee na', Alfred was a better footballer than Nat."
I looked at him with disbelief. I thought he was spinning me a yarn like he did about a German pistol my uncle Jim brought home from the Second World War. He told me he buried it in the back garden but I could never find it.
My grandad, however, was deadly serious. I later found out my uncle Alf was a very good footballer and so was his son who played professional football for Bury and various other clubs throughout his career.
My grandad told me Nat used to walk to Burnden park every day with his football boots tied round his neck and that he was proud of his Bolton background and that he loved the Bolton people. He also told me that Nat liked home-made ginger beer after his tea which was usually chicken and potatoes, along with my grandma's current buns which I tried once and they were like rock cakes, they were so hard. Nat must have had a hard set of teeth. I had the pleasure of meeting the great Nat Lofthouse outside the players' entrance of Burnden Park years later. I spoke to him a few times and I mentioned my mum and grandad and my uncle Alf. He asked me their surname.
I replied, "Swales." He grinned and said what a lovely family the Swales were and Alfred was a good footballer. He winked and smiled at me when I mentioned my grandma's currant cakes.
Then he nodded his head and said. "Bye son, give my regards to Irene." Irene was my mum and then he went.
I told my mum what Nat had said and that made her day. She had the biggest smile in Farnworth, she felt so proud that day. Nat Lofthouse was her idol and I must admit, he was mine to and he was lovely bloke and really down-to-earth, a really nice guy who loved Bolton wanderers and was very proud of his Bolton heritage. Nat died on the 15th of January 2011. It was a sad day for everybody who had connections to Bolton Wanderers and specially for my mum who went to his funeral on that sad day in the team's history.