Sir Stanley Matthews achieved football fame playing in boots bought from the Co-op.
The legendary Wizard of the Dribble – who played for Blackpool and Stoke City, won an FA Cup Final and was capped 54 times for England – had his football boots specially made by CWS Boot Company in Heckmondwike.
He finally hung them up after a 35-year career spanning the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when he retired at the age of 50.
The company, later called Goliath, supplied Matthews with several pairs of light-weight boots each season. The boots made him quick on his feet, but without the big toe cap which usually featured in the footwear of the time, they were soon damaged beyond use.
The footballer visited the firm’s Brunswick Street factory to see how his boots were made and met the employees. He also put his name to a special brand of boots made by Goliath.
The Goliath-made boots worn by Matthews at the 1953 Wembley FA Cup Final – when Matthews’ Blackpool side beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 thanks to a hat-trick by Stan Mortensen – fetched almost £40,000 when they came up for auction.
The player’s links to Heckmondwike are recalled with the release of a new documentary film, Matthews The Original No 7, which premiered at Staffordshire University in Stoke this month.
The player’s son, Stan Junior, is among the executive producers of the 80-minute film, which includes tributes from Richard Branson, Michael Parkinson, Gary Lineker and Matthews’ former Blackpool and England team-mate Jimmy Armfield
The Spen Valley Civic Society website records Matthews’ links with the Goliath company and how the stone mill building, now converted into flats and houses is featured as a point of interest on the Spen Valley Trail.
Goliath Footwear Ltd, which traces its origins to 1880 making boots for “navvies, quarrymen and policemen” still produces specialist boots for industry and outdoor use and is based at Chain Bar Road, Cleckheaton.
