Henry Stapley (29 April 1883 – 29 April 1937) was an English amateur

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 ...

who played 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 ...

and Glossop. Internationally, he played for the England amateur team and competed for

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at the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he scored 6 goals.

Club career

Stapley played for Manor Park Albion,

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

and Norwich CEYMS before joining

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, where he played for the reserve and amateur teams. He then played for Woodford Town, where he was made captain, before signing for

, then of the Southern League, on 28 September 1905. He continued to play for Woodford Town after his signing. Stapley made his West Ham debut against

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on 23 December 1905 and scored the only goal of the game. He spent three seasons at Upton Park and was the Irons' top scorer in all three, even though his job as a schoolteacher prevented him from traveling to certain midweek away games. In total, he scored 41 goals in 75 appearances. He joined

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club Glossop in 1908 and continued his scoring record, ending as the club's top-scorer for seven consecutive seasons. He played 188 League games for Glossop, scoring 93 goals.

International career

Stapley made 14 appearances for the England amateur team, netting 28 goals, thus averaging two goals a game. Only

Vivian Woodward Vivian John Woodward (3 June 1879 – 31 January 1954) was an English footballer who enjoyed the peak of his career from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of the First World War. He played for Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. He capt ...

has scored more goals for the amateur side than him with 44. Stapley's tally includes a 5-goal haul against the

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in 1907, a 4-goal haul against the same opponents in 1908 and three

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

against

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(2) and Sweden for a total of five trebles. Again, only Woodward has scored more hat-tricks for the amateur side than him with six. Stapley scored a further 6 goals in unofficial matches, which came in the form of two hat-tricks against

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to help his side with 6–1 and 5–1 wins, thus bringing his goal tally to 34 goals and his hat-trick tally to a record-breaking seven, since Woodward never scored one in an unofficial match. In 1908, he was a member of the English amateur team that represented

at the 1908 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the football tournament. He scored two goals in the first-round match, a 12–1 drubbing of Sweden, and scored all four in the semi-final against the Netherlands. He also appeared in the

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against

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, helping his side with a 2-0 win. With these 6 goals, he is the second 'Highest British goal scorer within the Olympics' only behind Harold Walden who scored 9 in the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Outside football

Stapley tutored the sons of Glossop chairman Samuel Hill-Wood in football and cricket and saw three of his students attain blues in cricket at Oxford and Cambridge. He was later

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...

to Hill-Wood after his election as

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for High Peak. His brother, William Stapley, also played League football for Glossop.

International goals

:''England Amateurs score listed first, score column indicates score after each Stapley goal.''

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapley, Harry 1883 births 1937 deaths People from Southborough, Kent Footballers from Kent English footballers England amateur international footballers English Olympic medallists Footballers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Association football forwards Bromley F.C. players Reading F.C. players Woodford Town F.C. (1937) players West Ham United F.C. players Glossop North End A.F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players English civil servants