Edmund Shimwell (27 February 1920 – 30 September 1988) 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Birchover Birchover is a village and civil parish in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, five miles north-west of Matlock. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 362. Eagle Tor is a small hamlet on the north western edge of the p ...

,Matlock Town pen pics

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, Shimwell was a trainee with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in 1939, but failed to break into the first team before the outbreak of

World War II 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 opposing ...

. In 1943–44, he made 15 guest appearances 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 ...

. Shimwell began his professional career with

in 1946, but on 20 December he made the move to the club with which he made his name, Blackpool. ''The Blades'' had refused Shimwell permission to run a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

— the Plough Inn, in

Two Dales Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part ...

— which prompted him to put in a transfer request.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', p. 114 Blackpool manager Joe Smith jumped in to sign the full-back for £7,000. His debut for Blackpool was supposed to be against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, the day after his signing, but it was put back after his train got stuck in snow, which meant he did not arrive at The Valley until half-time. His first game came four days later, on Christmas Day, against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

at Ewood Park. He replaced Eric Sibley, and from that moment he made the right-back position his own. Shimwell scored two important

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 ...

goals for Blackpool; the first, against Chester City on 24 January 1948, was a 60-yard lob, the combination of a following wind and frozen pitch saw it bounce over the goalkeeper's head. Blackpool reached that year's final, in which they met eventual victors Manchester United, and Shimwell became the first full-back to score in such a

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

event when his 12th-minute penalty gave Blackpool the lead. Shimwell played in two more

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

s with Blackpool, firstly in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

against Newcastle United (in which they were on the losing side again, thanks to a

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

double), and then in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

, the famous "Matthews Final" Blackpool victory. On 13 May 1949, at the age of 29, Shimwell gained his only

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 ...

cap, against Sweden.EnglandStats.com
/ref> A dislocated shoulder, suffered in a win over

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 ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

on 17 September 1955, meant Shimwell was out for the rest of the season. Indeed, he made only one more start for the Seasiders, on 19 January 1957, at home to Sunderland, but it gave the Blackpool faithful amongst the 18,702 present the chance to say farewell to the defender after thirteen years of service. In May, Shimwell was given a free transfer to Third Division

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

. He played only seven games for the club before joining

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

as player-manager. He finished his playing career while at

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was established in 1878 as Matlock Football Club.< ...

in 1960.

Retirement

After retiring, Shimwell became

licensee A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...

at The Royal Volunteer, a pub in

Clay Cross Clay Cross is a town and a civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is a former industrial and mining town, about south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61. Surrounding settlements include North W ...

, Derbyshire. He was also the licensee of the Plough Inn, Two Dales, and later of the Duke of Wellington, Matlock. Shimwell died in 1988 at the age of 68.

Honours

Blackpool *

winner:

*Lancashire Cup winner: 1954

References

External links

Profile at England FC.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimwell, Eddie 1920 births 1988 deaths People from Derbyshire Dales (district) Footballers from Derbyshire English footballers England men's international footballers Sheffield United F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players English football managers English Football League players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players Matlock Town F.C. players Men's association football defenders FA Cup final players