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Octopus of Odstock

Oldest Living football league players

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1 hour ago, Master Obit said:

@Octopus of Odstock Richard John Pearson died Q3/2023

 

Seems to be this one: https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/pearson/5126002 - he must have just been registered late.

 

 

 

 

Thank you - the obit made me pause as he wasn't known as Ricky as a player, but everything else matches up.

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27 minutes ago, Octopus of Odstock said:

@Chriswba

West Brom

Geoff Barnsley is definitely still alive - only played one for WBA, but is a legend for Plymouth, born 9th December 1935, so at 88, he's the oldest.

 

Aston Villa

There is someone with a Villa link over 90 still alive ( I believe) - Dave Richardson, who was a coach during Graham Taylor's era, Definitely alive in 2017, born 11th March 1932. 

 

Peter McParland, the legendary Northern Irish striker, is the oldest living Villa player, born 25th April 1934.

 

Jack Willis, who played once, is apparently still alive, born 28th May 1934.

 

Bill Beaton (1935) appears to be alive; definitely was in 2015.

 

Much appricated thank you 

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2 hours ago, Octopus of Odstock said:

Aston Villa

There is someone with a Villa link over 90 still alive ( I believe) - Dave Richardson, who was a coach during Graham Taylor's era, Definitely alive in 2017, born 11th March 1932. 

Dave Richardson was alive in 2021, according to this article.

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Happy 104th birthday to Graham Bailey!

If I'm not wrong, I think he's now second oldest English League player ever after Arthur Smith?

Arthur Smith BEM, 106, Bury, Leicester City
Graham Bailey, 104 (still living), Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Utd.
George Haigh, 103, Stockport County
William Simpson, 102, Carlisle Utd.
Wilf Nixon, 102, Fulham
Zach March, 101, Brighton & Hove Albion, Portsmouth
Harry Clark, 100, Gateshead
Reg Beresford, 100, Crystal Palace
Alf Patrick, 100, York City

Ofc, there was also Sam Latter, 106 Third Lanark – a few months older than Arthur Smith, but he played in the Scottish League.

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8 hours ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Happy 104th birthday to Graham Bailey!

If I'm not wrong, I think he's now second oldest English League player ever after Arthur Smith?

Arthur Smith BEM, 106, Bury, Leicester City
Graham Bailey, 104 (still living), Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Utd.
George Haigh, 103, Stockport County
Wilf Nixon, 102, Fulham
Zach March, 101, Brighton & Hove Albion, Portsmouth

Ofc, there was also Sam Latter, 106 Third Lanark – a few months older than Arthur Smith, but he played in the Scottish League.

Have there really been no players who died aged 100?

William Simpson was 102 when he died in December 2021.

 

http://barryhugmansfootballers.com/player/18049

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There were 3 or 4 post war.one was Harry Clark accrington and Manchester city born 1913 died 2014

Also a Manchester city or Everton player name unknown he was born in the 1850s and died in the 1950s

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14 hours ago, Ulitzer95 said:

Happy 104th birthday to Graham Bailey!

If I'm not wrong, I think he's now second oldest English League player ever after Arthur Smith?

Arthur Smith BEM, 106, Bury, Leicester City
Graham Bailey, 104 (still living), Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Utd.
George Haigh, 103, Stockport County
William Simpson, 102, Carlisle Utd.
Wilf Nixon, 102, Fulham
Zach March, 101, Brighton & Hove Albion, Portsmouth

Ofc, there was also Sam Latter, 106 Third Lanark – a few months older than Arthur Smith, but he played in the Scottish League.

Have there really been no players who died aged 100?

 

 

Reg Beresford died aged 100 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Beresford and so did Alf Patrick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Patrick

 

I'm sure there's some others a little while back.

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39 minutes ago, Octopus of Odstock said:

 

 

Reg Beresford died aged 100 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Beresford and so did Alf Patrick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Patrick

 

I'm sure there's some others a little while back.


Thanks OoO. I've added them to the centenarian sportspeople list of Wiki here. Their previous exclusion was clearly just an oversight.

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You should add Harold Clark 1913 to 2014

 

He played for Gateshead accrington and Manchester city during the war

Age 100 died sunderland

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2 hours ago, michael featherstone said:

You should add Harold Clark 1913 to 2014

 

He played for Gateshead accrington and Manchester city during the war

Age 100 died sunderland


Already added to the list above.

 

I can’t add him or Simpson to the Wikipedia list as they don’t have pages of their own on there.

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Jan Szpula, former Stirling Albion player and Auschwitz survivor, dead at 101.

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On 29/06/2022 at 15:13, whoismakoto said:

I'll try to list here football players from other countries aside from the UK. All above the age of 90

 

Australia

Ron Lord                            25 July 1929

Billy Henderson                23 November 1929

Con Purser                        2 August 1931

Ron Lord has died aged 94.

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A recent report on Eric Doughty confirms he is still very well, but also that he is Plymouth's 2nd oldest living player, behind someone (who for some reason) I had down as deceased - Neil Langman (WIki - Wiki More indepth guide) is still alive. So he's been added. Doughty posts

 

However, it's not all good news. Former Watford player Dennis Maskell died last month, https://www.watfordfc.com/news/tribute-dennis-maskell-1933-2024

 

EDIT - actually died 20th January

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/memorials/death-notices/death/30595831.dennis-danny-maskell/

 

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@Octopus of Odstock Reg Tapley's death was registered in October. Final residence of Cheshire East.

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26 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

@Octopus of Odstock Reg Tapley's death was registered in October. Final residence of Cheshire East.

 

Thank you.

When I get a moment I must prepare a list for people to check each quarter aside from the old footballers.

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On 29/06/2022 at 15:13, whoismakoto said:

Chile

Arturo Nourdin                 16 August 1927

Domingo Massaro          28 August 1927

Carlos Espinoza              21 April 1928

Manuel Munoz                 28 April 1928

Andres Prieto                   16 December 1928

Fernando Jara                 9 August 1930

 

It has been edited that Massaro appears to be dead on Wiki.

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From Southends former player association. This appears to confirm Eric Marsden and Ray Woods are dead but I'll ask.

 

Running SUEPA, albeit in continuing troubled times for our club, can be a joy, and once in a while something happens which is just that little bit extra special. 
This afternoon we received a call from a former player’s daughter to say that her dad had received our letter, and yes, he was still alive! And he was in good health and would love to join SUEPA and has lots of stories to tell us (which she has heard many times!) and he’s 93 years young. That makes him, by some distance, the oldest former Southend United player still alive (the second oldest now at a mere 90 years is the legend that is Eddie Firmani). This is something to celebrate. 
At SUEPA we’ve now built up quite a database, and every former player up to and including the 1955/56 season has sadly now passed away. That said, there are a few from pre-WWII times that we don’t have a date of death for but they’d by now be well over 110 and don’t feature in the ‘England’s oldest person’ list, so we are pretty sure of ourselves on this. For the 1956/57 season, since dear Alex Duchart passed away in 2022, there’s always been one person who we were not quite sure about – a certain Jimmy Thomson. 
Now, look up ‘Jimmy Thomson’ in any search engine and you’ll get quite a long list – Scotland is full of them. Go to any pub in Glasgow and say ‘Oi Jim, would you like a drink?’ and loads of faces will turn round - it will cost you a fortune. Having a date and place of birth helps (our Jimmy was born in Govan on 17 March 1931), but it is still tricky, especially when the average nonagenarian is not usually posing on Instagram. 
A couple of our SUEPA Agents are quite adept at using ancestry tracing sites, piecing together a likely location/family story, and over the last year or so we thought we’d found our Jimmy only to receive a call back saying they were not him. Once we just had a phone number and called it – that was fun, Jimmy Thomson answered but this one hated football (and probably anyone south of the border). 
That there was no apparent death record though gave us hope, and a speculative punt at an address in Scotland for another Jimmy Thomson (whose ancestry history checked out) led to a letter winging its way north of the border some four weeks ago. It had seemed that our investment in a first-class stamp had not paid off, but then we got the call from Jimmy’s daughter Deborah this afternoon, and we were truly delighted.
Deborah told us that her dad (who prefers to be called James or Jim) lives in his own house (with one of her brothers) and still does all of his own chores – he was one of 13 children of who six remain alive with Jim being the second oldest left (and he has an 88-year-old brother who lives in Essex!). Strong genes in the Thomson clan. He apparently has lots of football memorabilia, and has stories-a-plenty.

It was Harry Warren that signed Jim for Southend back in May 1956. He made his Shrimper debut on 30 August 1956 in a 2-1 defeat at Newport County. The team that day was: Harry Threadgold, Arthur Williamson; Dennis Howe, Jim Duthie, Jimmy Stirling, Jimmy Lawler, Crichton Lockhart, Sammy McCrory, Roy Hollis, Jimmy Thomson and John McGuigan. Some legendary names in that team, with Duthie, Stirling and McGuigan being fellow Scots. Deborah told us that her dad remembers Harry Threadgold as a great character.

Jim made 34 appearances that season scoring 10 goals. He scored twice in the FA Cup Second Round tie v Hereford United, and then famously got the winner at home to then Second Division Liverpool in the Third Round in front of 18,253 at Roots Hall. We would then lose to Birmingham City in Round Four, he played in that too, and the Roots Hall crowd that day was 28,964.

Jim’s last game that season was away to Ipswich, and we can only assume he must have got a bad injury as he didn’t play at all in the first team the following season. He returned to the side in September 1958, playing alongside fellow SUEPA members Bill Punton (who turned 90 earlier this month), Alan Dicks (who is 90 in August) and young Terry Kent (who is only 84), and made a further ten appearances scoring three goals.

After 44 appearances and a healthy 13 goals, Jim left in March 1959 for Southern League Headington United (now Oxford United). 
We can’t wait to find out more about Jim’s playing days and his life in oh such different times, memories that need to be treasured and receive a rightful place in our historical records which (when as we all hope our bright new dawn as a club finally arrives) we can bring to the fore in a ‘history and heritage’ project for all to see.
We do know that a few of our more senior SUEPA followers have memories of our playing days in the 1950’s, so please do share them here and we may be able to relay some of them to Jim when we speak to him (the conversation of which we will also then feature in a separate post). Indeed, if you have any questions for Jim, do let us know and we will do our best to get them answered for you. 
For now, whilst there are of course much bigger issues being played out regarding our club’s future which give us all many sleepless nights, but let’s celebrate the oldest former Shrimper joining our ever-growing family, something which we feel is truly remarkable. Welcome to SUEPA Jim!

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Gordon Davies, ex Manchester City, Southport and Chester player died in 2020. I'm sure it's the same chap. From Ancesty

 

Name

Mr Gordon Davies

Birth

4 Sep 1932

Death

19 Jun 2020

Residence

Crewe, Cheshire, England
 
 England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2022
Death, burial, cemetery & obituaries
 
Also, Ray Woods (ex Crystal Palace, Southend) died in 2019.
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A 1934 birth. not on Wikipedia, but he is on Hugman's.

 

Keith Turner, instead of being 90 this year, ex-Nottingham Forest actually died as long ago as 1967, aged just 32! Definitely the same man as on the Ancestry tree, there's a picture of him in his Forest gear. Died of coronary thrombosis and a myocardial infarction. 

 

  • Matching Person details
    Spouse Freda Jean Jones
    Father William Henry Turner
    Mother Gladys Evelyn Brown
    Children Adrian
    Birth 9 Apr 1934 Coventry, Warwickshire, England
    Death 9 Mar 1967 Coventry, Warwickshire, England
    Residence 1939 Warwickshire, England
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Ray Faulkner IS on Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Faulkner

 

Turned 90 yesterday... er, actually no.

 

 England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2022
Death, burial, cemetery & obituaries
 
Record information.
Name
Mr Raymond Arthur Faulkner
Birth
26 May 1934
Death
8 Apr 2004
Residence
Boston, Lincolnshire, England
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Occasionally, a player presumed dead, largely due to zero information, or too common a name, is actually found to be alive.. or was in this case.

 

Allen Oliver Wiki, born 1924 was presumed dead because of a post by Gateshead's historian that such and such (someone younger, can't remember who) was now the oldest. But actually, up until April, he was still alive. - considering the lack of people at his funeral, this might have slipped the net.

The full article is here - https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/stockport-county-anti-wrexham-barcelona-3026246 - but the key bit is this:

 

Quote

An email from a nursing home in Newcastle alerted Stockport to the presence of their oldest surviving player Alan Oliver, who appeared 151 times for the club in the 1950s. He was 99. Stockport were one of eight of Oliver’s former teams contacted by the home.

Bellis was touched and pledged to visit Newcastle at the season’s end to present Oliver with a cap, maintaining the tradition of honouring every player who has played 100 games. He also promised to bring along the League Two trophy should they win it.

Oliver was said to be overwhelmed by the response. Sadly, on the weekend Stockport sealed the title, Oliver passed away. His funeral took place last Monday two days after the official presentation of the trophy.

Bellis made it his business to attend the service in the North-East with a fellow member of staff. “None of the other clubs responded to the initial email, and there were only eight people at the funeral, including us,” Bellis tells i.

“The family asked if we would go back to their home in Hexham, which of course we did. We chatted and gave them the memorabilia that we had promised Alan. They couldn’t believe we had made the trip on behalf of the club.

 
 
 

“It is those little things that we can do that Mark [Stott, owner] wants us to continue with. I have free rein to protect the club’s DNA. It is a privilege to do it and I’ve told Mark this, the minute I think we are going off in corporate direction and losing touch with that, I’m off. Count me out.”

 

 

PS Whilst I'm at it, for those who update Hugman - 

 

John Trusler, ex-Brighton - 

Father John Trussler
Mother Evelyn B Berry
Birth 6 Jul 1934 Steyning, Sussex, England
Death

15 Apr 2022

 

 

 

Ron Hall, ex-Walsall:

 

Canada, Obituary Collection, 1898-Current
Death, burial, cemetery & obituaries
 
Record information.
Name
Ronald Hall
Parent
Thomas Major Hall; May Hall
Child
Roushas
Relatives
Carol
Birth
8 Feb 1933 Dudley, Worchestshire, England
Death
2008
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I'm very close to completing 1933 and 1934 births onto the main list

 

On Wikipedia - Christy Fletcher Wiki, is listed as being 90 years of age.

 

Sadly, not, he died as long ago as 50 years ago in Scotland; where he moved to play football after his spell at Brentford; dying at just 40 years of age.

 

I do wonder if some of those on the list have died so long ago, it's no longer easy to find records on them.

 

Surname Forename Age at death Mother's Maiden Name Gender Year Ref RD Name  
FLETCHER
CHRISTOPHER COL
40
MCMANUS
M
1974
573 / 94
CAMBUSLANG

 

 

PS Hugman's only - not on Wiki - Derek Harvey, ex Doncaster:

 

Record information.
Name
Mr William Derek Harvey
Birth
30 Sep 1934
Death
7 Jan 2013
Residence
Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
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3 minutes ago, Octopus of Odstock said:

I'm very close to completing 1933 and 1934 births onto the main list

 

On Wikipedia - Christy Fletcher Wiki, is listed as being 90 years of age.

 

Sadly, not, he died as long ago as 50 years ago in Scotland; where he moved to play football after his spell at Brentford; dying at just 40 years of age.

 

I do wonder if some of those on the list have died so long ago, it's no longer easy to find records on them.

 

Surname Forename Age at death Mother's Maiden Name Gender Year Ref RD Name  
FLETCHER
CHRISTOPHER COL
40
MCMANUS
M
1974
573 / 94
CAMBUSLANG

Once you have the full list, fire me a message and I'll run GRO for you.

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On 22/03/2024 at 09:10, Ulitzer95 said:

Happy 104th birthday to Graham Bailey!

If I'm not wrong, I think he's now second oldest English League player ever after Arthur Smith?

Arthur Smith BEM, 106, Bury, Leicester City
Graham Bailey, 104 (still living), Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Utd.
George Haigh, 103, Stockport County
William Simpson, 102, Carlisle Utd.
Wilf Nixon, 102, Fulham
Zach March, 101, Brighton & Hove Albion, Portsmouth
Harry Clark, 100, Gateshead
Reg Beresford, 100, Crystal Palace
Alf Patrick, 100, York City

Ofc, there was also Sam Latter, 106 Third Lanark – a few months older than Arthur Smith, but he played in the Scottish League.

I wrote to the EFL two years ago about Graham. Asking if they could confirm if he's the oldest living player, and if he is, could they do something to mark that. I never had a reply, sadly.

 

I spoke with Graham last week and we spoke about his old teams, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United. He's still very interested in following their fortunes on TV.

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