Alastair Keyon "Alec" Campbell (29 May 1890 – 16 June 1943) was a professional cricketer and

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

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

) nearly 200 games for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the first quarter of the twentieth century, before briefly becoming manager at

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Early life

Campbell was born at

South Stoneham South Stoneham was a Manorialism, manor in South Stoneham ecclesiastical parish, parish. It was also a Hundred (country subdivision), hundred, Poor law union, sanitary district then rural district covering a larger area of south Hampshire, England ...

to Scottish parents and was educated at

King Edward VI Grammar School, Southampton King Edward VI School (also known as King Edward's, or KES) is a selective co-educational Independent school (UK), independent school founded in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1553. The school was founded at the request of William Capon, who ...

, where he was captain of both the football and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

elevens. While at school he played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the amateur level in an international against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the only known occasion that a schoolboy has represented his country at that level.

Career

Before embarking on his career as a footballer, Campbell played professional cricket.

Cricketer

Campbell was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

. He made his first-class debut for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the 1908

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. In the 1908 season, Campbell played in two championship matches, the second being against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Campbell made five further first-class appearances for Hampshire in the 1909 County Championship, with his final first-class appearance coming against Northamptonshire.

Footballer

Southampton

He was soon spotted by

Southampton Football Club Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

and joined them in 1908, making his professional debut in a Southern League match at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

on 27 February 1909, as a replacement for Bert Trueman. He "quickly emerged as one of the club's brightest-ever prospects". In September 1909 he (together with several other amateur internationals) was persuaded to join

Samuel Hill-Wood Sir Samuel Hill Hill-Wood, 1st Baronet (21 March 1872 – 4 January 1949) was a British businessman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician, cricketer and association football, football club chairman. Early life Wood was born in Gl ...

's team at Glossop North End.

Wartime football

He remained at Glossop until January 1914, before returning to The Dell. He had failed to break back into the first team before the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

interrupted his career. During the war he guested for

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 ...

as well as turning out regularly for Southampton. Although he was offered terms to join West Ham at the end of the war, he decided to stay in Southampton where he had been offered a directorship with a firm of fruit importers.

Return to Southampton

After regular football had restarted in

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

, he lost his place to

George Bradburn George Bradburn (March 4, 1806 – July 26, 1880) was an American politician and Unitarian minister in Massachusetts known for his support for abolitionism and women's rights. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London where he ...

, before regaining it in March for the remainder of the season, becoming team captain. At 6 ft 2 in he was a distinctive figure on the pitch with his "''telescopic legs''". According to Holley & Chalk's "Alphabet of the Saints" he was "''undoubtedly one of the club's best-ever centre-halves''" and led the team to many fine performances. Under manager

Jimmy McIntyre James Alfred McIntyre (31 October 1881 – 1954) was an English footballer who became manager at Southampton, Coventry City and Fulham. Playing career McIntyre was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. He was a journeyman player of some repute, ...

Saints were admitted into Division 3 of 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 ...

in 1920, and just missed out on promotion in their first season, but a year later McIntyre had successfully guided Southampton into Division Two as champions of Football League Division 3 (South).

Poole Town

Campbell remained with the Saints until the end of the 1925–26 season, when, now aged 36, he joined Poole Town. Poole had just turned professional and joined the Southern League, Eastern Division. Although only placed 14th out of 17 sides in 1926–27, the season was distinguished by an excellent

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 ...

run, in which Poole beat Third Division (South) side Newport County 1–0 and met Everton in the 3rd Round proper, where they were beaten 3–1 by a

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...

hat-trick at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

in front of a 65,000 crowd.

Management career

In April 1927 Campbell was appointed manager at

, remaining only until December. In his 25 games in charge, Chesterfield picked up nine victories with eleven defeats. After leaving Chesterfield he quit football entirely. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served as an officer in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, but died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

Cosham Cosham ( or ) is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering (mainland) and Bocheland ( Buckland), Frodington (Fratton) and C ...

Queen Alexandra Hospital The Queen Alexandra Hospital (commonly known as QA Hospital, QAH or simply QA) is a large NHS hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Located in Cosham, it is run by Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and has a Ministry of Defence Hospital U ...

in June 1943. Having been cremated at Southampton Crematorium, he is commemorated on the war memorial at South Stoneham Garden of Rest.

Honours

;As a player for Southampton *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

Champions: 1921–22

References

External links

*
Profile at Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Alistair 1890 births Sportspeople from Southampton People educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton 1943 deaths English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English footballers England amateur international footballers Southern Football League players Southampton F.C. players Glossop North End A.F.C. players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Chesterfield F.C. managers English people of Scottish descent Poole Town F.C. players Association football midfielders British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers Deaths from pneumonia in England