Bernard Joy (29 October 1911 – 18 July 1984) 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 le ...

and journalist. He is notable for being the last amateur player to play for the England national team.

Biography

Joy was born in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, London and educated at

Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School , established = , closed = , type = Comprehensive, academy , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

. He studied at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, playing in his spare time for the university football side at

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 ...

. After graduating, he played for Casuals, where he eventually became club captain. He also won ten caps for the England amateur team and was captain of the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

football side at the 1936 Olympics in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

where they played China and Poland. Bernard was father to Christopher Margaret and Karen Joy. While still registered as a Casuals player, Joy also played for several other clubs. He played 29 games for Corinthians between December 1933 and October 1936 including on Corinthian's Easter Tours of France (1934) and Germany (9-14 April 1936) and in Denmark (26 April 1936) for a game to celebrate KB Copenhagen's 60th Anniversary. This last game was between playing for Casuals in the FA Amateur Cup Final (18 April) and a Final Replay (2 May) that was necessary before overcoming Ilford. In the summer of 1937 he went on a tour of New Zealand, Australia and Ceylon with an FA Amateur X1. The tour lasted 10 weeks and the FA Amateur X1 played 22 games including playing Australia three times and New Zealand twice but these games not being recognised as amateur internationals. As an amateur, Joy played for professional clubs

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

(1931–33) and

(1933–34). In May 1935 he joined

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, then First Division champions. Joy mainly played as a reserve, only playing two games in his first season – he did not make his debut for Arsenal until 1 April 1936 against

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 ...

. Arsenal won the

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 ...

that season but Joy played no part in the final. However, he did gain recognition at international level soon after, when on 9 May 1936, 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 ...

in their 3–2 loss against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, making him the last amateur to play for the national side; given the gulf in quality between the professional and amateur games in the modern day, it is exceedingly unlikely Joy's record will ever be taken by another player. Although Joy was playing for Arsenal at the time, he was still registered as a Casuals player and he is recorded in the England history books as playing for them at the time, not Arsenal. Joy continued to play for Arsenal, mainly deputising for the Gunners' established centre-half

Herbie Roberts Herbert Roberts (19 February 1905 – 19 June 1944) was an English footballer. Playing career Born in Oswestry, Shropshire, Roberts first played as an amateur for his local club Oswestry Town, whilst working as a policeman. A tall, but quiet ...

. Roberts suffered a broken leg in October 1937 and Joy took his place in the side for the remainder of the 1937–38 season, winning a First Division winners' medal, and then, with Roberts having retired from the game, on through the 1938–39 season (earning a 1938 Charity Shield winners' medal in the process). With the advent of World War II, Joy signed up to join 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 ...

where he was an PE instructor, though he still turned out for Arsenal (playing over 200 wartime matches) and won an unofficial wartime England cap. In June 1940, he was one of five Arsenal players who guested 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 a victory over

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

. He also appeared as a guest player 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 ...

later in World War II making two appearances. When peace broke out and first-class football resumed, he played the first half of the 1946-47 season before deciding that his age (35) was counting against him; he retired from top-flight football in December 1946, though he carried on playing for the now merged Corinthians and Casuals team until 1948. In all, he played 95 first-class (i.e. non-wartime) matches for Arsenal, though he never scored a goal. Before the war Joy was a teacher, but afterwards he decided not to return to the profession and moved into journalism. Joy began his career in journalism as a football writer on The Star, one of three London evening papers published in the 1940s. He later moved to the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' and the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' as football and lawn tennis correspondent until retirement in 1976. He also wrote one of the first histories of Arsenal Football Club, ''Forward, Arsenal!'' (1952), and several other football books. He died in 1984, aged 72 of cancer. He often held dinner parties at his house in Osterley which many footballing celebrities would attend.

Honours

Arsenal * First Division: 1937–38 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

Casuals *

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

References

External links

Profile at www.englandstats.comProfile at www.englandfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joy, Bernard 1911 births Footballers from Fulham 1984 deaths English footballers Association football central defenders England international footballers England amateur international footballers England wartime international footballers Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Great Britain Corinthian F.C. players Casuals F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players People educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School English male journalists London Evening Standard people 20th-century English non-fiction writers English male non-fiction writers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors 20th-century English male writers