EX-FOOTBALLER Bill Smith produced a rapid result when he saw last week's picture of a mystery soccer side of half a century ago -- which its sender suspected was made up of crew from Ribble Motors, as the only known member was goalie Barney Murray, a driver based at the firm's Blackburn depot.

And, yes, says 72-year-old Bill, who worked for the firm for 43 years, the team was that of busmen from the same garage -- that of the either the 1950-51 or 1951-52 season.

As well as spotting himself fifth from the left on the back row and his late brother, Frank, first left, Bill, of Brownhill Drive, Blackburn, also identified old-time colleague Len Smith (no relation), third from the left.

On keeper Barney's right was Paddy Leach and also next to him Jimmy Southern was pictured. That day, they were playing busmen from the bus company's Bootle depot at Blackburn's Pleasington Playing Fields.

"Ribble was a real firm in those days. It had its own football league which had teams from every depot, stretching from as far as Carlisle to Liverpool. They played the matches on Thursday afternoons," Bill recalls. "The company also had its own snooker, darts and dominoes leagues which played their games on Thursday nights."

The soccer players from the Blackburn depot played in the colours of home-town Blackburn Rovers. "It was the Rovers' old shirts that we wore as the club used to give them to us," Bill explains.