Joe Rayment (footballer, born 1934)

Joseph Watson Rayment (25 September 1934 – 15 July 2019) was an English footballer who scored 49 goals from 260 appearances in the Football League playing as a right winger for Middlesbrough, Hartlepools United and Darlington in the 1950s and 1960s.[2]

For this player's father, see Joe Rayment (footballer, born 1906).

Joe Rayment
Personal information
Full name Joseph Watson Rayment[1]
Date of birth (1934-09-25)25 September 1934[2]
Place of birth West Hartlepool, England
Date of death 15 July 2019(2019-07-15) (aged 84)
Place of death Stockton-on-Tees, England
Height 5 ft 4 1⁄2 in (1.64 m)[1]
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
Middlesbrough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1952–1955 Middlesbrough 24 (4)
1955–1958 Hartlepools United 63 (17)
1958–1965 Darlington 173 (28)
1965–1966 Gateshead
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Rayment was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham. His father, also called Joe, had played football for Hartlepools United in the 1920s.[1] Rayment began his football career as a youngster with First Division club Middlesbrough, while doing an electrical engineering apprenticeship at a local company. Having spent the 1951–52 season in the fourth team, and beginning the 1952–53 in the third eleven, Rayment made his first-team debut on 20 September 1952, at the age of 17, in a 4–1 defeat away to Liverpool.[3][4] Middlesbrough's manager suggested the club would be abandoning their policy of paying big transfer fees to concentrate instead on producing home-grown players,[5] and wanted Rayment to commit to the club as a full-time player, but his reluctance to abandon his apprenticeship prevented him from so doing.[1]

By the start of the 1954–55 season, new manager Bob Dennison reportedly had "great hopes" of the club's youngsters, Rayment included,[6] but his engineering employer sacked him for losing too much time to his football commitments. A company spokesman said that although staff participation in sport was encouraged, "there is a limit and he must make up his mind whether he wants to be one thing or another."[7] Rayment himself said he had tried to do his best for both parties, but because the apprenticeship was important to him,[7] he left Middlesbrough and joined Hartlepools United, where he was able to complete his final year with a local firm.[1]

His Hartlepools career was also interrupted by the requirement for National Service. Rayment served with a Royal Engineers bomb disposal squad based in Sussex, more than 300 miles (480 km) distant. He was able to appear for the club when military duties permitted.[1][8] Over three years with Hartlepools, he scored 17 goals from 65 matches in League and FA Cup,[9] and signed as a full-time professional for local rivals Darlington in 1958.[1]

In the inaugural season of the League Cup competition, Rayment made a significant contribution to Darlington reaching the third round, and coming close to taking First Division Bolton Wanderers to a replay. In the first round, Rayment scored the only goal of the first-round match against Crystal Palace after missing several chances.[10] In the next round they beat First Division club West Ham United 3–2: Rayment scored the second and debutant Lance Robson, then a dental student, the winner.[11] In front of a club record attendance of 21,023,[12] Rayment opened the scoring after 16 minutes of the third round, against Bolton, with what the Guardian's reporter called "a terrific shot", but the First Division side, with England international Nat Lofthouse at centre forward, came back to win 2–1 in the last seconds of the match.[13]

Rayment remained with Darlington for seven seasons. He scored 28 goals from 173 league appearances, all in the Fourth Division.[2] He finished his football career with a season at Gateshead, then playing in the North Regional League. He helped the club reach the second round proper of the 1965–66 FA Cup, in which they lost 4–0 at home to Hull City.[14]

After leaving football, Rayment spent eight years as an engineer in the Merchant Navy.[1] He was married three times.[1] He died in North Tees Hospital, Stockton, in July 2019 at the age of 84.[15][16]

References
  1. Amos, Mike (22 January 2011). "Diminutive Joe looks back at a packed night at Feethams". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  2. "Joe Rayment". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  3. McGhee, Frank (20 September 1952). "Boy from the club's fourth team gets a big game". Daily Mirror. London. p. 11.
  4. "Liverpool v Middlesbrough, 20 September 1952". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  5. "The big-money days of Middlesbrough are over now". Daily Mirror. London. 29 December 1953. p. 11.
  6. Rose, Henry (12 August 1954). "'Wake up and play' orders Dennison". Daily Express. London. p. 8.
  7. Taylor, George (4 September 1954). "He can't have football – AND his job". Daily Mirror. London. p. 13.
  8. Ferrier, Bob (6 January 1956). "1,000 will get 'pay as you watch' holiday". Daily Mirror. London. p. 13. Rayment, outside right, tumbled out of a train yesterday, clutching his Cup passport – a seven-day pass from his Army unit in Sussex.
  9. "Joe Rayment". In The Mad Crowd. John Phillips. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  10. "Rayment the flop laughs". Daily Express. London. 13 October 1960. p. 20. Slim Joe Rayment, Darlington's nippy right-winger, hadn't much to smile about for the first 56 minutes of this one-way League Cup clash. In that time Rayment flopped four scoring chances and almost convinced himself there was only one goal net – at the other end. But persistent Rayment still laughed last. Just after half-time Rayment slammed lively Darlington into a belated lead after John Swannnell finger-tipped the ball his way.
  11. "The Darlington dentist yanks Woosnam men out of Cup". Daily Express. London. 25 October 1960. p. 20.
  12. Amos, Mike (14 October 2008). "Legion comes up for air". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  13. "Bolton leave it late". The Guardian. Manchester. 15 November 1960. p. 4.
  14. Summerbell, Charlie (9 December 1965). "'Reluctant' Hull win". Daily Mirror. London. p. 30.
  15. Stoddart, Craig (19 July 2019). "Joe Rayment 1934–2019". The Northern Echo. Darlington. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  16. "Joseph Rayment". Hartlepool Mail. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019 – via Legacy.com.
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