Dave Massart

David Louis Massart (2 November 1919 – 1993) was an English professional footballer who scored 73 goals in 126 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Walsall, Bury and Chesterfield.[3] He played as a centre forward.

Dave Massart
Personal information
Full name David Louis Massart[1]
Date of birth (1919-11-02)2 November 1919[2]
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Date of death December 1993 (age 74)
Place of death Weymouth, England
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
193?–1938 Bells Athletic
1938–1947 Birmingham City 3 (0)
1947–1948 Walsall 27 (23)
1948–1951 Bury 85 (45)
1951 Chesterfield 11 (5)
1951–1956 Weymouth 156 (114)
Total 282 (187)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Massart was born in the Yardley district of Birmingham. He joined hometown club Birmingham as an amateur in 1938, and turned professional in February 1939, but had not played for the first team when the outbreak of the Second World War put a stop to the Football League.[2] He played intermittently in the later years of wartime competition, contributing 9 goals from 11 games as Birmingham won the Football League South in the 1945–46 season,[4] and finally made his debut in the Second Division on 7 September 1946 in a 2–0 home defeat to Burnley.[5] Described as "a real old-fashioned number nine",[2] Massart scored freely for the reserves[6] but was unable to establish himself in the first team.[2]

In the 1947 close season, Massart joined up with former Birmingham clubmate Harry Hibbs, then manager of Third Division South club Walsall. He made a spectacular start to his Walsall career, scoring a hat-trick in each of the first three home games.[7] He finished up with 23 goals from 27 league games, which made him Walsall's leading scorer for 1947–48, despite moving back to the Second Division with Bury in March 1948, well before the end of the season.[8]

Bury paid £2,000 for Massart's services. He repaid their investment by scoring 45 goals in 85 league games for the club, becoming their leading scorer for two consecutive seasons. After three years he moved to his last Football League club; Chesterfield paid £6,000 for his services in February 1951 in the hope that his goalscoring might save them from relegation from the Second Division. Five goals from 11 games was too little too late, and Massart moved into non-league football with Weymouth before the 1951–52 season.[9][10]

He continued in prolific vein at Weymouth. In five seasons he scored 114 goals in 156 games in the Southern League, one of only three Weymouth players to achieve 100 career goals in that competition,[11] and he twice scored hat-tricks in consecutive matches.[12] In his final season, the club organised a benefit match for him against a Football Association Guest XI; 7,000 spectators turned up, far in excess of the usual home attendance.[13]

Massart retired from the game in 1956.[11] He remained in Weymouth, Dorset, where he ran a post office and then a hotel. He died in the town in December 1993 at the age of 74.[8]

References
  1. "Dave Massart". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  2. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  3. "Dave Massart". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  4. Matthews, pp. 239–40.
  5. Matthews, p. 182.
  6. Williams, Brian David (5 April 1947). "1947 April–May–June". Diary of a Birmingham schoolboy 1947–1953. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  7. Poole, Andrew (21 May 2015). "Walsall Football Club History". Walsall F.C. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  8. Edwards, Leigh. "Ultimate Saddlers A–Z 11". Walsall F.C. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  9. "Matchday Programmes: Bury v Chesterfield Sat, 15 April 2000". Shakers on Line. Bury F.C. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  10. "The Managers: Bob Marshall". Chesterfield F.C. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
  11. "The best £9,000 Terras ever spent". Bournemouth Echo. 7 May 2003. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  12. "Phillips treble fires Terras title bid". Bournemouth Echo. 21 January 2002. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  13. "1955–1956". Weymouth F.C. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
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