Hugh Lindsay signed amateur forms for Southampton in the summer of 1960, shortly before he headed for Italy, to play in all three of Great Britain’s group matches in the Rome Olympics. Those were the days when the British team was made up of true amateurs, several of whom were good enough to play, without ever signing pro, in the professional game.

Hugh was one such player. His two games at inside-left for the Saints at the tail-end of 1960-61, when he was a student-teacher, were the last-ever appearances, to date, by an amateur in Southampton’s first team. Despite repeated overtures, he was reluctant to commit himself fully to the Saints – although the club held on to his registration papers up until 1965 – preferring to stay in teaching. He was able to combine lecturing in Maths and Statistics at Richmond-upon-Thames College in Twickenham with playing senior amateur football for Kingstonian, Wealdstone and Hampton, gaining 30-odd England caps, being picked for the GB Olympic squads of 1964 and 1968.

When no longer able to perform at that level, he coached at two of those clubs and played Veterans – over 35s – football until 2007. Then, at the age of 68, he was told he had become too slow for the modern game. Living in Teddington, Hugh continued, into his eighties, to play two games to which age is less of an impediment: golf and bridge. He, his son and his grandson visited St Mary’s for the first time in November 2016 for the match against Liverpool.