Wally Halsall

Walter George Halsall (29 March 1912 – March 1996) was an English professional footballer who made 84 appearances in the First Division of the Football League playing for Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham.[2]

Wally Halsall
Personal information
Full name Walter George Halsall
Date of birth (1912-03-29)29 March 1912
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Date of death March 1996 (aged 83–84)
Place of death Sefton South, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s) Wing half
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000– Bootle Celtic
0000– Liverpool 0 (0)
0000–1932 Marine
1932 Burscough Rangers
1932 Bolton Wanderers
1932–1938 Blackburn Rovers 63 (4)
1938–1939 Birmingham 21 (0)
1939–1946 Chesterfield 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Halsall was born in Liverpool. As a young man he played as an amateur for various clubs in the Lancashire area.[3] In the 1931–32 season, Marine reached the final of the FA Amateur Cup, the first time the club had progressed further than the last eight.[4] Halsall scored the winning goal in the semi-final to defeat Yorkshire Amateurs,[5] and played in the final, which Marine lost 7–1 to Dulwich Hamlet.[4]

In December 1932 he signed for Blackburn Rovers, initially as an amateur, turning professional a few months later. He gained a reputation for an elegant style of play, but when the club signed Charlie Calladine from Birmingham in 1936, the two players were in competition for the same position, and Halsall's appearances became less frequent. He was released after the 1937–38 season and joined Birmingham, where the local press described him as a "tall, stylish player with the heart to do two men's work". After one season Birmingham were relegated from the First Division, and Halsall joined Chesterfield for a fee of £875, but never played a league game for them before the Football League was suspended in September 1939.[3][6]

Halsall retired from football during the Second World War and became a commercial traveller.[3] He died in Sefton South in March 1996.[6]

References
  1. Jackman, Mike (1994). Blackburn Rovers: the official encyclopaedia. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 111. ISBN 1-873626-70-3.
  2. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  4. "F.A. Amateur Cup, Dulwich Hamlet's Victory". The Times. 18 April 1932. p. 5.
  5. "F.A. Amateur Cup, The Finalists: Yorkshire Amateurs Beaten". The Times. 7 March 1932. p. 6.
  6. "Chesterfield FC: Players with no competitive, first-team pedigree" (XLS). Sky is blue. Stuart Basson. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.