Albert Walker (4 February 1910 – April 1993) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a full-back in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Barrow,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. Walker was born in

Little Lever Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, near

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. After moving from his school team to Little Lever United of the Bolton and District League, Walker signed as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

for

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

. He spent little over a year at

Haig Avenue Haig Avenue is a football stadium in Blowick, Southport, Merseyside, England, that holds 6,008 people (1,660 seated, 4,164 standing) Since its opening in 1905 it has been the home ground of Southport F.C. Everton Reserves also use the stadium fo ...

before moving to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

of the First Division. Competing with

Bob Haworth Robert Haworth (26 June 1897 – 1962) was an English footballer best known for playing for Bolton Wanderers, for whom he made over 300 appearances in The Football League. He played for the team in the 1923, 1926 and 1929 FA Cup Final The 1 ...

and Alex Finney, Walker found his chances limited and moved to

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

side Barrow the following year. After 72 games and 11 goals for Barrow, Walker was picked up by London club

, who had just been

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He made his Hammers debut against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

, a 5–2 win at Upton Park. Walker spent six years at West Ham, forming a partnership with Alf Chalkley, and was an ever-present during the 1934–35 season. He played his last game for the club on 28 December 1937 against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Walker left in 1938 to join

along with

Fred Dell Fred Dell (10 December 1915 – 1970) was an English footballer who played as an inside right for Dartford and in The Football League for West Ham United and Doncaster Rovers. Club career Born in Dartford, Kent, Dell joined his hometown club ...

in an exchange which took

Arthur Banner Arthur Banner (28 June 1918 – April 1980) was an English footballer who played as a defender for Doncaster Rovers, West Ham United, Leyton Orient and Sittingbourne where he was also the player-manager. Playing career Doncaster Rovers Born i ...

down south. He made 37 League and 5

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

appearances for Rovers, plus 3 appearances in the curtailed 1939–40 season. He spent World War II with the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

, and continued playing for Doncaster in the

Wartime League The Wartime League was a football league competition held in England during World War II, which replaced the suspended Football League. The exclusion of the FA Cup in these years saw the creation of the Football League War Cup and it was a friendly ...

s and cup competitions, making at least 81 appearances during that time, still without scoring. His last game for Rovers was on 16 December 1942 in a 1–1 draw at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Walker later joined

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

and then Southern League club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, where he made 39 league and cup appearances. He later rejoined West Ham as coach of the

Metropolitan League The Metropolitan League was a football league in the south-east of England between 1949 and 1971.Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

and

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

teams before working with the first team. He retired in 1980.

References

1910 births 1993 deaths People from Little Lever English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Southport F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches {{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub