She’s had a lifetime in local football but Anne Beaumont – 80 today  – has never kicked a ball in anger.

Down the decades Anne, of Wooldale, has been one of the unsung heroines of the Huddersfield and District Football League.

Anne’s father Alf Richardson was secretary, treasurer and president of the league and husband Frank has been secretary and president, a post he continues to hold at the age of 82.

Her uncles Frank and Harry were also involved and it was inevitable Anne would be drawn into the administrative world of local football.

“It’s been a family affair and I was born into it,” said Anne. “It’s been a joy and we’ve made so many friends and it’s all down to football.”

Anne’s earliest involvement was helping her secretary dad taking results on a Saturday teatime and phoning them through to the Examiner.

Aged 11, Anne would be answering the phone constantly from 4.40pm to 5.20pm. noting the scores on her typed results sheet before running next door where her dad would use the neighbour’s phone to ring the Examiner.

The results would be printed in that night’s pink sports paper and Anne would then catch a bus into town from the family’s home in Fartown to buy a paper from a seller at the top of Northumberland Street.

“Those were the days,” said Anne.”

Alf and his brothers were involved in the league before the war and Alf resumed his duties in 1945 when he came out of the RAF.

“Saturday afternoons were sacrosanct,” said Anne. “We could never go anywhere on a Saturday. It’s when all hell was let loose with the results.

Alf Richardson pictured in 1982 on the occasion of his 50 years service to the FA presentation.

“There was always something to do. My dad always said: ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if nobody will do it, the secretary must’. That’s almost become a motto for the league.”

In 1953 Anne met husband-to-be Frank at a dance at Huddersfield Town Hall. Every Saturday she would beg her dad to take her to Bradley Rangers where Frank played.

The couple married at Woodhouse Church in 1956 and Anne took on more footballing duties – washing the filthy Bradley Rangers kit every Saturday night.

“They had to be soaked in a baby bath before they could go in the washer,” she said.

The couple had three children, Ian, Jill and Neil, and Anne would load Ian and Jill into a pram and take them to matches.

Frank had been Bradley Rangers’ committeeman for a while and when he retired from playing in 1966 he succeeded his father-in-law as league secretary.

Alf became treasurer and later president. When he died in 1983 Frank took over the presidency.

“It’s been great to be involved,” said Anne, who has kept scrapbooks down the years. “There have been no holidays in the football season and our lives have revolved around the league but we’ve loved every minute.”

Anne has never held any official positions herself and said: “Women weren’t really involved in my day.

“My role has been purely supporting both my dad and Frank but I’ve been everywhere presenting things and attending finals.

“Frank’s still going strong and has no thoughts of retirement. We still get calls from people.

“If they can’t get anyone else, they can usually get us!”

Anne Beaumont's scrapbook 'Huddersfield and District Football Through the Ages' - The front cover shows Shepley AFC in 1913.