Dennis Bernard Jennings (20 July 1910 – 16 March 1996) was an English 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 ...

. He played more than 300 games in the top two divisions of

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 ...

over a 21-year career which was interrupted by 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 the oldest player to appear for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in a competitive first-team match. Born in

Habberley Valley Habberley was one of the hamlets of the ancient parish of Kidderminster in the county of Worcestershire, England. It is now divided so that part of it is an area of the town of Kidderminster (to the northwest of the town centre) and part of it (i ...

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, Jennings played for several local clubs before joining

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

. He then played for

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

before turning professional with First Division club

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

with a transfer fee paid of £600. He played 33 games for them before moving to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, where he helped the club to win the

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 ...

title in 1933–34. Birmingham paid £1,200 for his services in 1936. Originally an

outside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

, in his 15-year Birmingham career he played in every outfield position apart from

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 ...

. During the war he made 174 appearances for the club, contributing to them winning the wartime

Football League South The Football League North and Football League South divisions of the Football League were created temporarily for the League to continue through the Second World War while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The leagues star ...

in 1945–46; he also guested for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. After the war he played for five seasons at full back, most often left back, and helped Birmingham win the Second Division championship in 1947–48. He played his last competitive first team game for the club on 6 May 1950 at the age of 39 years 290 days, which made him the oldest player to appear for the first team. He then moved on to former club Kidderminster as

player-coach 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 sq ...

, finishing his career at Lockheed Leamington. After football, he retired to the

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The permanent populat ...

area of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

where he and his son Anthony Jennings ran Little Dinham caravan park. He died on 16 March 1996, aged 85.

Honours

*with Grimsby Town **

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

champions 1934. *with Birmingham City **

champions 1946. **

champions 1948.

References

;General * * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Dennis 1910 births 1996 deaths Sportspeople from Kidderminster English footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football fullbacks Stourport Swifts F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Leamington F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Worcestershire