Ronnie Hepworth

Ronald Hepworth (25 January 1919 – 26 April 2006) was an English professional footballer who made 101 appearances in the Football League playing as a full back for Bradford (Park Avenue).

Ronnie Hepworth
Personal information
Full name Ronald Hepworth[1]
Date of birth (1919-01-25)25 January 1919[1]
Place of birth Barnsley, England
Date of death 26 April 2006(2006-04-26) (aged 87)[1]
Place of death Harrogate, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Full back
Youth career
Stainborough United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1935–1939 Chesterfield 0 (0)
1939–1951 Bradford (Park Avenue) 101 (0)
1951–1952 Scarborough
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Hepworth was born in 1919 in Barnsley, which was then in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[1] His father, Walter, played League football for Barnsley in the 1890s and his older brother Arthur played for Nelson in the late 1920s.[3][4] He played football for local club Stainborough United before signing amateur forms for Chesterfield in December 1935.[3] The club retained his services until 1939, and he played for their reserves – in 1937–38 he made 31 appearances for their Central League team[2] – but could not dislodge Billy Kidd from the first team.[5]

Hepworth signed for Second Division club Bradford (Park Avenue) in May 1939;[2] the fee was reportedly one "which Chesterfield felt they could not turn down".[6] He played all three of their league matches before the competition was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.[4][lower-alpha 1] During the war Hepworth made guest appearances for clubs including Lincoln City, Notts County and Nottingham Forest.[7] He resumed his Bradford career after the war while training as a schoolteacher.[8] His teaching commitments sometimes made it difficult to maintain a regular place in Bradford's eleven,[9][10] and over the five post-war seasons he spent with the club, he made 101 league appearances.[11] In 1951, he moved into non-league football with Scarborough.[12]

Hepworth died in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in 2006 at the age of 87.[1]

Notes
  1. Matches played in the abandoned 1939–40 Football League season are conventionally excluded from a player's record by most statistical sources, although Joyce does count them.[1][4]

References
  1. "Ronnie Hepworth". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  2. "Bradford's new back". Yorkshire Post. 16 May 1939. p. 17.
  3. "16-year-old back signed". Leeds Mercury. 14 December 1935. p. 9. Chesterfield have signed on amateur forms Ronald Hepworth, a 16-year-old left full-back, of Stainborough United, a Barnsley Nelson League side. He is a son of Walter Hepworth, who played for Barnsley from 1896 to 1900, and is the brother of Arthur Hepworth, who also was with Barnsley in 1925, and later with Nelson and Wombwell.
  4. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  5. 'Sportsman' (16 May 1939). "Chesterfield back for Bradford". Grimsby Evening Telegraph. p. 8.
  6. "Chesterfield". Nottingham Evening Post. 16 August 1939. p. 10.
  7. "No first team" (XLSX). cfchistory.com. Stuart Basson. 29 June 2019.
  8. "Squires back in Argyle team to meet Bradford". Western Morning News. Plymouth. 8 September 1948. p. 4. Full-backs Stephen, indisposed, and Hepworth, who is training to be a schoolmaster and passes out today, are replaced by Farrell and James.
  9. Thornton, Eric (18 January 1949). "United's Cup rivals tramp Ilkley Moor". Manchester Evening News. p. 4. That's the probable team, and the principal reserves are schoolmaster Ronald Hepworth, ex-Chesterfield full-back, ...
  10. "Bradford expect 'full house' for United visit". Yorkshire Evening Post. 22 November 1949. p. 12. Ronnie Hepworth, the left-back who could not get away from school work at Filey to make the long trip to Swansea, may not be available.
  11. "Ronnie Hepworth". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  12. "Here and there". Lincolnshire Standard. 25 August 1951. p. 7.
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