Alfred Day (2 October 1907 – 15 November 1997) was a Welsh 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 at

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

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 ...

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 ...

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

in the 1930s and represented

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at international level on one occasion.

Playing career

Day was born in

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...

and attended Pontygof School. After playing youth football with his home-town club, he moved to London where he began his career at non League club

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

. In May 1931, he signed for

as a trainee, being "''farmed out''" to the Spurs' nursery team

Northfleet United Northfleet United Football Club was a football club based in Northfleet, Kent. Around 1890 organised team football was being played in the town and in 1892 the Northfleet F.C. club was founded. It flourished for a few years in the mid-1890s u ...

, where he joined his former Ebbw Vale colleague, Eugene "Taffy" O'Callaghan. On 4 November 1933, Day made his only international appearance for Wales. The

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

secretary, Ted Robbins, rang the secretary at Spurs, Arthur Turner, to enquire if he knew anyone who could help out the depleted Welsh team. Turner mentioned that he had a promising reserve half-back who he believed was Welsh, leading to Day being capped before having appeared in League football. The match at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

ended in a 1–1 draw. Shortly afterwards, Day made his debut for the Spurs' first-team, going on to make 14 appearances in all competitions. The form of fellow-Welshman Tom Evans at

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

prevented Day from becoming a regular in the Spurs' side, with nine of his League appearances coming in the 1934–35 season at the end of which Spurs were

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. ...

from

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. Despite his limited first-team appearances, Day made 139 appearances in the reserves in

London 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 ...

matches. He joined

in 1936 where he spent one season and participated in five matches in the

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 ...

, before joining

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 ...

on a free transfer in the summer of 1937. At The Dell, Day took over from

Cyril King Cyril Emanuel King (April 7, 1921 – January 2, 1978) was an American politician who served as the second elected Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 1975 until his death in 1978. He also briefly served as acting governor in 1969, ...

for the first half of the 1937–38 season before King returned in December. Day was described as "''a calm, neat player who specialised in the ground pass rather than the cleared high ball''", he had solid defensive qualities, but tended to "''dwell on the ball''" and "''his thoughtful distribution was sometimes marred by his being caught in possession''". Day was never fully appreciated by the Dell crowd and moved on to

after 12 months. After a season with Tranmere in which Day made 32 League and one

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 ...

appearance, at the end of which they were relegated from the Second Division, Day moved again to join

in June 1939. He made his debut for Swindon at home to

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

on 2 September, the day before

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 ...

was declared. Day remained with Swindon until June 1940, making a further 29 appearances in wartime competitions.

Later career

During the war he was a telephone operator in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, but appeared as a guest for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, Lincoln City,

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. After the war, he was employed at

Brimsdown Power Station Brimsdown Power Station was a Fossil fuel power plant, coal-fired power station on the Lee Navigation at Brimsdown in Municipal Borough of Enfield, Middlesex. The station had seven cooling towers which were visible from a wide area. History Th ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

, continuing to live in the area up to his death in 1997. In 2005, his Wales international cap and shirt came up for auction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Alf 1907 births Sportspeople from Ebbw Vale 1997 deaths Welsh footballers Wales men's international footballers English Football League players Men's association football wing halves Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. wartime guest players Ipswich Town F.C. wartime guest players Lincoln City F.C. wartime guest players Reading F.C. wartime guest players Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Cheshunt F.C. players