Chris Marples

Christopher Marples (born 3 August 1964 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire) is an English former footballer and first-class cricketer.

Chris Marples
Personal information
Full name Christopher Marples[1]
Date of birth (1964-08-03) 3 August 1964[1]
Place of birth Chesterfield,[1] England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1984 Goole ? (?)
1984–1987 Chesterfield 84 (0)
1987–1988 Stockport County 57 (0)
1988–1992 York City 138 (0)
1992 Scunthorpe United 1 (0)
1992–1995 Chesterfield 57 (0)
Teams managed
2001–2002 Ilkeston Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Football career

Marples' Football League goalkeeping career spanned 1984 to 1995, beginning and ending with his local club, Chesterfield and also taking in spells with York City and Stockport County. He won a Fourth Division Championship medal in his first season with Chesterfield and was part of the club's 1994–95 squad that again won promotion from the fourth tier, this time via the playoffs. However, he broke his leg in two places during the course of the campaign.[3]

Though this injury ended his career at the top level, he continued to play non-league football for several years, including with Emley and Ilkeston Town who he went on to manage for the 2001–02 season before a run of poor results led to his dismissal.[4]

In 2005, he became assistant manager to Nicky Law at Buxton[5] during a period which brought success for the club with the achievement of two consecutive promotions in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons to reach the Northern Premier League Premier Division. He accompanied Law in a switch to Alfreton Town for the following season [6] but resigned in April 2008 citing other commitments.

Cricket career

In cricket, Marples was a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman. Having represented the Derbyshire team in the Second XI Championship as early as 1982, Marples made his debut County Championship appearance in July 1985 against Yorkshire. He finished the game with four catches and played all ten subsequent fixtures in the competition to the end of the season. In addition, Marples was part of Derbyshire's Asda Challenge Trophy winning side.

He played fifteen further First-class cricket matches for the club in 1986, a season during which Derbyshire used three different players in the wicket-keeper role, with Bernie Maher, who was recognised as a stronger batsman, eventually reclaiming the position. Marples was not offered a new contract thereafter.

However, Marples stayed on to play several games with the Second XI in 1987, and returned to play one Second XI game in 1993, an almost actionless three-day match, against Leicestershire.

Throughout the two seasons in which he was a first-team player, Marples was a tail-end batsman alongside Danish mainstay Ole Mortensen and was often unlucky to find himself out of action as a strike partner.

References
  1. "Chris Marples". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "Chris Marples – Chesterfield F.C. website". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  4. "Managers – The Independent Ilkeston Football Website". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  5. "New boss aiming to revive flagging Buxton – Buxton Advertiser". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  6. "Buxton FC boss steps down – Buxton Advertiser".
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