Hugh Kelly (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Hugh Thomas "Hughie" Kelly (23 July 1923 – 28 March 2009) was a Scottish
professional football player and manager. He played as a defender
and spent his entire 14-year professional career with Blackpool
.
, Fife
, Kelly began his career with Perth
-based junior
club Jeanfield Swifts
. He joined English
club Blackpool in 1943 as a 20-year-old, but due to the ongoing World War II
, he didn't make his League
debut for the Seasiders until September 1946. During the war, he guested for several clubs, including East Fife
.
It took some time for Kelly to establish himself in Blackpool's half-back line, but by 1948–49, the trio of Harry Johnston
, Eric Hayward and Kelly was becoming legendary. He played in both the 1948 and 1951 FA Cup Final
s. However, in the final home league game of the 1952–53 season against Liverpool
he suffered a broken ankle following a tackle by centre-forward Louis Bimpson
and he missed the famous 1953
match-up with Bolton Wanderers
, although the club asked the Football Association
to produce a special winners' medal for his nomination as "twelfth man". Kelly later said, "I lived a great journey to Wembley. That's what fascinated me. And it was a privilege to know such a good crowd of players. They were lovely. Even though we'd lost the other two, it was great to have played on the sacred turf at Wembley and I have fond memories."
The 1950s was the most successful decade in Blackpool's history to date, and Kelly was at the club playing top division football throughout, as were goalkeeper George Farm
, defender Tommy Garrett
, right winger Stanley Matthews
, forward Jackie Mudie
and outside left Bill Perry
.
In 1955–56 he took over as Blackpool skipper
from Johnston and helped the club to their highest-ever league finish, runners-up to Manchester United
. He remained club captain until his retirement from the professional game in 1960. At the end of 1959–60 he was given a free transfer, and Lancashire Combination
side Ashton United
came in for his services as their player-manager.
, in a 6–0 victory over the United States
on 30 April 1952. He also appeared twice for Scotland B
.
and was later on the backroom staff at Bloomfield Road
. He also started a business in the North Shore area of the town as a grocer and ice-cream manufacturer. After a short illness in 2008, Kelly underwent an emergency operation in Victoria Hospital
on 14 February 2009. He then contracted pneumonia
and died in Clifton hospital in Lytham St Annes
on 28 March. His funeral was held at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Blackpool, and he was cremated at Carleton Crematorium
.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
professional football player and manager. He played as a defender
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
and spent his entire 14-year professional career with Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
.
Club career
Born in ValleyfieldValleyfield, Fife
High Valleyfield and Low Valleyfield which are neighbouring villages in Fife, Scotland, midway between Dunfermline and Kincardine-on-Forth...
, Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Kelly began his career with Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
-based junior
Scottish Junior Football Association
The Scottish Junior Football Association is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the Junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "Junior" refers to the level of football played...
club Jeanfield Swifts
Jeanfield Swifts F.C.
Jeanfield Swifts F.C. are a Scottish Junior football club based in Perth. Their home ground is Riverside Stadium, located on Bute Drive in the North Muirton area of the city, to which they moved in 2006 from Simpson Park, where they had been plagued by fires and vandalism.Up until the end of the...
. He joined English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
club Blackpool in 1943 as a 20-year-old, but due to the ongoing World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he didn't make his League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
debut for the Seasiders until September 1946. During the war, he guested for several clubs, including East Fife
East Fife F.C.
East Fife Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the Fife coastal town of Methil...
.
It took some time for Kelly to establish himself in Blackpool's half-back line, but by 1948–49, the trio of Harry Johnston
Harry Johnston (footballer)
Henry "Harry" Johnston was an English footballer. He was the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1951. He spent his entire professional playing career with Blackpool, with whom he appeared in three FA Cup Finals...
, Eric Hayward and Kelly was becoming legendary. He played in both the 1948 and 1951 FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
s. However, in the final home league game of the 1952–53 season against Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
he suffered a broken ankle following a tackle by centre-forward Louis Bimpson
Louis Bimpson
Louis Bimpson was a Liverpool Football Club striker of the 1950s who notched up a good goalscoring record without ever being a first-team regular.-Life and playing career:...
and he missed the famous 1953
FA Cup Final 1953
The 1953 FA Cup Final, also known as the Matthews Final, was the eighth to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War. The football match was contested between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers, with Blackpool winning 4-3. The match became famous for the performance of Blackpool winger...
match-up with Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
, although the club asked the Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
to produce a special winners' medal for his nomination as "twelfth man". Kelly later said, "I lived a great journey to Wembley. That's what fascinated me. And it was a privilege to know such a good crowd of players. They were lovely. Even though we'd lost the other two, it was great to have played on the sacred turf at Wembley and I have fond memories."
The 1950s was the most successful decade in Blackpool's history to date, and Kelly was at the club playing top division football throughout, as were goalkeeper George Farm
George Farm
George Neil Farm was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager.Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a gap of five years....
, defender Tommy Garrett
Tommy Garrett
Thomas "Tommy" Garrett was an English professional footballer. He represented his country on three occasions....
, right winger Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers'...
, forward Jackie Mudie
Jackie Mudie
John "Jackie" Knight Mudie was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scots to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup....
and outside left Bill Perry
Bill Perry (footballer)
William "Bill" Perry was a South African-born English professional footballer. He spent thirteen seasons at Blackpool during the 1950s and 1960s.-Club career:...
.
In 1955–56 he took over as Blackpool skipper
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
from Johnston and helped the club to their highest-ever league finish, runners-up to Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
. He remained club captain until his retirement from the professional game in 1960. At the end of 1959–60 he was given a free transfer, and Lancashire Combination
Lancashire Combination
The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League...
side Ashton United
Ashton United F.C.
Ashton United Football Club is an English football club, based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.-History:The club was originally founded in 1878 as Hurst F.C. and the earliest known match report dates back to March 1879. By 1880 the club were playing at Hurst Cross, their current ground....
came in for his services as their player-manager.
International career
Kelly won one cap for ScotlandScotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
, in a 6–0 victory over the United States
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
on 30 April 1952. He also appeared twice for Scotland B
Scotland B national football team
The Scotland B national football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is a secondary football team of Scotland, run occasionally as support for the Scotland national football team as a second string side to the first team....
.
Personal life
Kelly was married in 1949 and had three daughters. After retiring he remained in BlackpoolBlackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
and was later on the backroom staff at Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road is an all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901 and is named after the road on which the stadium's main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000...
. He also started a business in the North Shore area of the town as a grocer and ice-cream manufacturer. After a short illness in 2008, Kelly underwent an emergency operation in Victoria Hospital
Victoria Hospital (Blackpool)
Victoria Hospital is the main hospital for Blackpool and the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, England. The hospital is part of the Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust....
on 14 February 2009. He then contracted pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and died in Clifton hospital in Lytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Anne's-on-the-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort...
on 28 March. His funeral was held at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Blackpool, and he was cremated at Carleton Crematorium
Carleton Crematorium
Carleton Crematorium, together with the adjacent necropolis, Carleton Cemetery, is a graveyard on Stocks Road in Carleton, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. It was opened on 18 July 1935....
.