Charles Nicklas (26 April 1930 – 26 July 2018) was an English footballer who played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

in 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 ...

for Hull City and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. Before joining Hull, Nicklas played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for Silksworth Colliery Welfare, and after leaving Darlington he played in the Southern League for Headington United.

Life and career

Nicklas was born in 1930 in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, which was then in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He played as a wing half before what the '' Sunderland Echo'' described as a promising career was interrupted by National Service in the Royal Air Force. He began playing for Wearside League club Silksworth Colliery Welfare at the start of the 1950–51 season, but soon went on trial with Football League Second Division club Hull City, and turned professional with that club in December 1950. He made his first-team debut a year later, on 27 October 1951, playing in the unaccustomed position of

; although he had played a few reserve matches in that position, the '' Yorkshire Post'' doubted that "a home match against a team playing as strongly as Rotherham United are just now is the ideal occasion" for a youngster's debut. Rotherham took a three-goal lead, but Hull came back to draw, and Nicklas scored their opener: he "had his faults, but dash, speed and courage were not among them. He harassed

he goalkeeper He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

into a goal offering and accepted it with glee". He was known for his pace, having competed in professional sprint races. Nicklas played five more matches for Hull, the last of which was on 22 March 1952. Nicklas stayed with the club until the end of the following season, when he moved on to

of the Third Division North. He scored six goals from seventeen league matches for Darlington, and spent the 1954–55 season with Headington United in the Southern League, scoring four goals from fourteen matches in all competitions. Nicklas, a nephew of

and

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 ...

player

Barney Travers Barney Travers (1894 – February 1955) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the ...

, died in his native Sunderland in 2018 at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicklas, Charlie 1930 births 2018 deaths Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Silksworth Colliery Welfare F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players