James France

Dr James France (as he was known to his students at college) or Ginner (to everyone else except maybe his Mum) was a vital member of the Old Boys squad for a number of years, and in 2012/3 took on the role of Reserve Team Skipper. With his contacts within the college, he was a good source of fresh playing talent from the college ranks, threatening students with bad marks on their dissertations if they didn’t sign up to the Old Boys (allegedly).

However it was very difficult to see Ginner threatening anyone with anything, given that he stood only 3ft 6in tall, and to his repeated frustration was always getting asked to stand up (when he already was), where his parents were when out for an afternoon stroll, and he struggled to get to away games when he couldn’t find the booster seat to enable him to drive his car. To his advantage however, as his missus also played football, they only needed one pair of boots between them as they were the same size.

After a stint up in Norfolk, Ginner returned to take up a role at the University where despite looking like a child and having a northern accent, he is a welll respected member of staff. He also returned to the Old Boys and bizarrely volunteered to manage the under achieving Reserves once again.