Brynmor "Bryn" Jones (14 February 1912 – 18 October 1985) 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 ...

Club career

Early life and Wolves

Born in Penyard near

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, Jones played for a variety of clubs as a youth, including Merthyr Amateurs, Glenavon and Aberaman Athletic, before signing for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 1933 for a fee of £1,500. In five years for Wolves he played 163 league matches.

Arsenal

Jones's exploits for Wolves earned the attention of

George Allison George Frederick Allison (24 October 1883 – 13 March 1957) was an English football journalist, broadcaster and manager. He was the BBC's first sports commentator and Arsenal's second longest serving manager. Journalism career Allison was ...

's Arsenal, who were looking for a replacement for Alex James'. Arsenal paid a then British record fee of £14,000 to take him to Highbury in August 1938. Jones got off to a dream start for Arsenal, scoring on his debut against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and then netting two more goals in the next three matches. Jones served with 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 ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

, and was aged 34 when competitive football resumed. He made seven league appearances for Arsenal in 1947–48, in which Arsenal won the First Division Championship, but he did not play enough games to qualify for a medal. Jones played and scored in Arsenal's triumphant 1948 Charity Shield match against Manchester United. With this being said he was still only a bit-part player in the 1948–49 season. Jones in all played 76 matches for Arsenal, scoring 8 goals altogether. He went on to leave Arsenal to become a player-coach at

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 ...

in 1949.

International career

During his time at Wolves Jones also won the first of his 17 caps for

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 ...

, 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 ...

in 1935. His international career lasted between 1935 and 1948, as well as a further eight wartime internationals, the highlight being a 2–1 win over

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 ...

in 1936 at Molineux.

Personal life

Jones was part of a famous footballing family; he was one of five brothers to play professional football, along with Shoni, Ivor,

Emlyn Emlyn was one of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950. It consisted of the northern part of Dyfed bordering on the River Teifi. Its southern boundary followed the ridge of the ...

and Bert. In addition his nephews,

Cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

, Bryn and

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

were also professional footballers. After a spell coaching at Norwich City from 1949 to 1951 he retired soon afterwards. Jones then ran a

newsagents A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

near Arsenal's

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

ground. He died in October 1985.

Honours

;Arsenal * FA Charity Shield: 1938, 1948

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Bryn 1912 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil Welsh footballers Men's association football inside forwards English Football League players Wales men's international footballers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Aberdare Town F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Wales men's amateur international footballers Plymouth United F.C. players British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery personnel Welsh military personnel