Donald Joseph Oakes (8 October 1928 – 13 June 1977) 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 ...

who played as a

left half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early and personal life

Oakes was born in

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

, Wales. His father

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

was also a professional footballer.

Career

After playing in Bristol for Downend ATC, Oakes 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 ...

as an amateur in December 1945, before turning professional seven months later. He made 11 appearances in the Football League, scoring once, and scored eight goals in 158 Football Combination appearances.

References

1928 births 1977 deaths English men's footballers Arsenal F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football wing halves People from Rhyl {{England-footy-midfielder-1920s-stub