Football: This Week

Sidelines

On 22 November 1947, the Daily Mirror's front page began: "A laughing girl with windswept hair sat beside a hatless young man at the wheel of a jeep on the busy Portsmouth road near Romsey. Car drivers passed them without a second glance."

As the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh enjoyed their honeymoon, Portsmouth met Grimsby Town nearby and won 4-0, a result that propelled Pompey up the First Division.

Grimsby were not so fortunate. Nicknamed the `Cinderellas' for being a small club with big ambitions, they were promptly relegated, never to grace football's top flight again. In the 50 years since, it is the Royal couple who have risen in prominence, while Grimsby have been passed by many without a second glance.