Arthur Banner (28 June 1918 – April 1980) was an English

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 ...

who played as a defender for

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 ...

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 ...

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

and

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

where he was also the player-manager.

Playing career

Doncaster Rovers

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, Banner started his football career with Doncaster Rovers where he made no league appearances but played 4 games in the Division 3 North Challenge Cup where Rovers lost in extra time in the semi-final. At the end of the season, he moved to West Ham United in exchange for Fred Dell and Albert Walker.

West Ham United

In his first season at West Ham in 1938, Banner played just one Football League game, a 2–0 home win against

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 ...

on 22 April 1939, before the outbreak of

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 opposing ...

. During the war, Banner served in the

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

and 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 ...

rising to the rank of sergeant. He continued to play for West Ham during the war and after it ended played 26 more games before moving to

in February 1948.

Management

He later became

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

and was coach to Ilford when they reached the FA Amateur Cup in 1958 which they lost 3–0 to Woking. Banner died in

Thorpe Bay Thorpe Bay is an area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. located on the Thames Estuary. Thorpe Bay is situated within the Thorpe ward of Southend-on-Sea. It is around 4 mile ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

in April 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banner, Arthur 1918 births 1980 deaths Military personnel from Sheffield Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers English Football League players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players Men's association football defenders Southern Football League players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Doncaster Rovers F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Sittingbourne F.C. managers Ilford F.C. managers Southern Football League managers Essex Regiment soldiers Royal Artillery soldiers British Army personnel of World War II Brentford F.C. wartime guest players