History

Founded in the mid to late 1980's, the birth of this University of Nottingham Sunday league side is clouded in mystery. Not since the infamous "act of desperation", when Grant "Sid" McKinlay was asked by Marc Mullen to join as goalkeeper for the 1989/90 campaign (following 'inspired' performances for Lenton Hall 3rd XI), are the links to the modern era well known. Sid became manager for the following two seasons (1990/91 and 1991/92) and the rest, as they say, would have been history.

However, each summer now in honour of glories past, 22 (or thereabouts) souls enact a football match in Nottingham to pay respect to their founding fathers.

Research to date has failed to reveal much concrete evidence of Northern Allstars players before 1990/91. Sid's notoriously deficient memory means he can barely remember anyone from his days as captain, let alone anyone else. To this day, Sid can only recall Marc's name from his first season as goalkeeper in 1989/90, and refuses to accept that a certain Andy Nockton guested as centre-back in 1990/91.

Dave Eslick, Sports Secretary for Lenton Hall in 1988/89 (and inducted in the Allstars Hall of Fame in 2001) holds no records of either inter-Hall or Sunday League football at the University of Nottingham. Unfortunately, the University Sports Centre staff are similarly unable to provide Sunday League match statistics for the period in question.

Nevertheless, Duncan Wiggetts, erstwhile captain of the Lenton Hall 2nd XI football team in 1988/89 (League Champions), has provided two names from the early days of the Allstars. Pete Unsworth and Ged O'Neill, lawyer friends of Duncan at University, were apparently regular Northern Allstars players. Indeed, Duncan suggests that Pete might even have run the team (for all or part of the time) between 1986/87 and the 1988/1989 season. Duncan also ran the Legal Eagles team in the Sunday League, and remembers being regularly "stuffed" by the Northern Allstars (claiming mitigating circumstances around his team's less-than-ideal Saturday night preparations).

Mr Mullen, meanwhile, as the main link from the original pre-historic Allstars can only remember (somehow fittingly) the nicknames of two of his fellow Allstars from 1989/90. The WebMaster remains to be convinced that "Toastie" and "Travs" will prove to be anything other than elusive in the quest for Allstar history.

So, was a Mr Pete Unsworth the man responsible for penultimately passing the baton of management to our own dear Mr Sidney McKinlay in 1990? Indeed, was he the man responsible for the very name of the team whose honour lives on to this day? Who was responsible for captaining the Northern Allstars to (allegedly) second place in the league in 1989/90?

Anyone with any information that might throw invaluable light on such questions, and the wider historical quest of the Northern Allstars "dark ages", is kindly asked to contact the WebMaster.

For more archive Allstars information, read the Allstar Gospels, and check out some shots from the 1990/91 season.