Sweet 15
One of the sporting talking points of the last week has been the prodigious talent of 15 year-old golfer Michelle Wie and what the future may hold for her. Here in the AFS office, that set us thinking what became of some of football’s youngest-ever players? Fortunately, the answer soon came to hand.One of the sporting talking points of the last week has been the prodigious talent of 15 year-old golfer Michelle Wie and what the future may hold for her. Here in the AFS office, that set us thinking what became of some of football’s youngest-ever players? Fortunately, the answer soon came to hand.
Having missed out in last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, Michelle still has the ambition to become the first female golfer to make the cut at a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias in 1945. She undoubtedly has an exciting future in her sport but, by comparison, how many of English senior football’s 15 year-olds have gone on to enjoy a long and successful career?
Coincidently, AFS member Stephen Byrne has recently been looking into the subject and his findings will be published in full in the forthcoming AFS Report.
Stephen’s interest was fuelled when Bristol Rovers’ Scott Sinclair became the 25th player to appear in the Football League before their 16th birthday when he came on for the closing minutes of Rovers’ game against Leyton Orient on Boxing Day.
A perfect example of such an early opportunity being an unreliable indication of the future career prospects comes from the two youngest debutants in Football League history.
Ken Roberts made his debut for Wrexham against Bradford Park Avenue on 1 September 1951 (age 15 years 157 days) while Albert Gelderd made his senior bow for Bradford Park Avenue against Millwall on 16 September 1929.
Stephen points out that was Ken’s only appearance for Wrexham and he went on to play in just 38 FL games for Aston Villa before retiring with a knee injury at the age of 22.
In contrast, Albert won four England caps and a FA Cup winners’ medal (with Everton in 1933) before making his final appearance for Bolton Wanderers in April 1947 - career span of almost 18 years.
Two more 15 year-old debutants went on to play for England - Ronnie Dix of Bristol Rovers and Ray Parry of Bolton Wanderers. Like Albert, Ray did the England / FA Cup winners double. Glyn Pardoe of Manchester City also went on to become the proud owner of a FA Cup winners’ medal.
At the other end of the scale, Nigel Dalling (Swansea City) played in only eight League games. Stuart Chapman managed only nine outings for Port Vale while fellow Valiant Malcolm MacKenzie’s career ran to eight games in the Football League.
Joining Scott Sinclair, the current Football League players who made their debut before their 16th birthday are Matthew Etherington, Moses Ashikodi (both West Ham United) and Lee Holmes (Derby County).