At a time when numbers appear to be declining in local football, I thought it might be of interest to readers, to delve into local football history and see if they jog a few memories about the great game all those years ago.

Today’s picture is of the Crusaders team, a team which I played for in the mid-1960s.

This picture, before my time, I believe is from about 1962, Youth League side which was for players under 18 years old.

In my younger days, I was a keen footballer and initially played for Upperby School followed by Upperby Church in the two Young Anglicans Leagues, and then in the Christian Welfare League which was for Under-16s.

I moved on to the Crusaders, a team that was run by Bob Banks.

Bob had, I understand, run Cecil Street Methodists before that.

Soon after he began refereeing, firstly at local level before eventually moving up to Class One, where his greatest achievement came when he ran the line at St James' Park, Newcastle.

Bob is still sport orientated and enjoys both indoor and outdoor bowls on a regular basis.

As far as this Crusaders team, pictured, is concerned, I know that Keith Klein was the goalkeeper. He later played for Upperby in the Sunday League.

But his playing days came to an end when he suffered a heart-attack during a game on the Scalegate Road pitch and an Ambulance had to be called.

To his left in the picture is Ian Meldrum who worked in the Education department in Carlisle, and on his left is Peter Brockbank.

Like Klein, he also played for Upperby in Sunday football and he was a real speed merchant. He could, as they used to say, “catch pigeons”.

Peter was a very tough man to legally stop as the late Jackie Eubank found out on many occasions.

Front left is Toto Harris and, in the middle of the front row, is Ian Anderson.

All the players mentioned attended Carlisle Grammar School, slightly strange bearing in mind that the school played a different football code.

If you have more information on the Crusaders, recognise a relative or friend, please don’t hesitate to contact David via the sports desk on 01228 612685 or email sport.carlisle@cngroup.co.uk