Swindon Town, March 1969
Photo by Peter Robinson ©Empics
Published in WSC 221, July 2005

When Peter Robinson arrived in Swindon to take this picture, the Third Division side were about to play Arsenal in the League Cup final and the club were suitably upbeat. Shooting for Football League Review, for whom his unusual team line-ups were a trademark feature, this set-up was derived from photos of factory workforces which were popular in industry at the time.

So a street lighting rig was hired and the V-shape lines planned out on paper. “Everyone was happy to participate, even if they thought it a bit bizarre. Though the groundsman wouldn’t allow the truck on the pitch, which is why it’s in the corner,” he recalls. “It was more ad hoc than it appears. I had to keep adjusting the height of the rig and there should have been another ball on the far left. Manager Danny Williams [front right] suggested the first team wear the white shirts chosen for the final, but it still looked better with red ones at the front.”

Twelve of the 14 in white played in the final; only Owen Dawson (far right) and Chris Jones (seventh left) missed out. Don Rogers, scorer of the two goals that won the cup in extra time, is fifth right and the captain Stan Harland, already practising a beaming winner’s smile, is seventh right.

Among the Captain Mainwaring lookalike directors in the third row are chairman Eric Lane (fifth right), who sat in the royal box at Wembley next to Princess Margaret. He once recalled: “She was smoking throughout the match and kept throwing the butts down at my feet. But I had a feeling she had a bit of sympathy for me after Arsenal’s late equaliser.” He endured another 30 minutes of passive smoking to see Harland collect the trophy.

Bob Jefferies (third left), assistant secretary, stood down at the start of Lou Macari’s tenure as manager, the two failing to see eye to eye. Macari’s ‘methods’ cost the club promotion to Division One in 1990 and this Swindon side were also denied. They were not offered the winners’ place in the Fairs Cup as they were not in Division One. The Fairs Cup was won in 1970 by... Arsenal.

This unique squad, complete with drum majorettes “The Robinettes”, don’t seem bothered here. They’re probably more concerned about how long the man on the rig was going to be taking the picture.

Doug Cheeseman
Football Photography Writing

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