GOLF: On the weekend that Ipswich Town celebrated the 40th anniversary of winning the old First Division Championship under Alf Ramsey, it was appropriate that one of its members should triumph in the former players' golf day.

ON the weekend that Ipswich Town celebrated the 40th anniversary of winning the old First Division Championship under Alf Ramsey, it was appropriate that one of its members should triumph in the former players' golf day.

Doug Moran, who played in all 42 league games in that unforgettable season, became the third winner of the Roy Stephenson Shield, donated in the memory of another one of Town's unsung heroes.

Doug, that dapper inside-right, was not instantly recognisable to some who attended the golf day at Waldringfield. With receding hair and wearing glasses, Doug was not particularly relishing playing 18 holes in the wind and rain.

It was Murphy's law that the rain should arrive for the first time for a month on the day of Ipswich Town's special reunion.

Before he went out to play with the weather at its worst, Doug told me he had not played golf for two years and these days was very much into bowls.

"That's why," he said, pointing as the rain lashed down on the clubhouse windows. So when he returned to the clubhouse after four hours out in the elements with 37 Stableford points there was more than a murmur of disbelief about his score.

"Bandit" came instantly to mind to sum up Doug's round that was played off a 21 handicap. He used to be a good few shots lower than that – a steady 14-handicapper Jimmy Leadbetter, a regular playing partner back in their native Scotland, told me a few years ago.

Because he hadn't played for a couple of years, Doug was given a 21 handicap for the day. Mind you, he had got himself prepared by chipping and putting before the rain lashed down and it paid off.

In the evening at the old players' reunion dinner at the Galleria Restaurant at Portman Road, Doug was presented with the Roy Stephenson Shield and no doubt will be back next year to defend his title – but playing off a lesser handicap!

In the team event – the best three scores of four counting at each hole – Peter Grant, Matt Grant, Alan Smith and Keith Barber came up trumps with 109 points. Peter, who came to Portman Road from Scotland, later went on to play for Stockport County before returning to Suffolk and now plays for Hadleigh United in the Jewson League.

The runners-up were the team that contained John Compton who played in all but the first three league matches in the championship winning side at left-back. The team of John, Steve Peake, Rob Peake and Roger Williams had 106 points.

Third was the team of Terry Austin, John Morrison, David Grieves and Colin Bateman. Terry, who plays off single figures and now lives in Mansfield, was at Portman Road in the 1970s and was part of the deal that brought Paul Mariner to Ipswich from Plymouth Argyle.

John Peddelty, now an Ipswich policeman who plays his golf at Rushmere, and Terry went to Plymouth in the Mariner deal.

Despite having to be arranged at short notice, it was a successful day despite the weather.