Jack Diffin was an Irish international

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 ...

and football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He played in goal for

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was a football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for polit ...

, Linfield, and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, was capped once by his country, and briefly managed

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

Playing career

Diffin played for

, Linfield and

. He was capped by Ireland in 1931. After retirement, he set up a road haulage business.

Management career

Diffin became a

director in 1944 and appointed team

in October of that year. David Pratt was appointed as manager in December 1944 but failed to gain a release from the Air Force and so never managed to be a manager to the Vale other than in name only. Diffin remained the effective manager until August 1945, when

Billy Frith William Frith (9 June 1912 – 1996) was an English football player and manager. Starting his career with Worksop Town, Mansfield Town, and Chesterfield; he won a move to Coventry City in 1932. He stayed with the club right up until the outbr ...

was appointed. Diffin then concentrated on his board duties before being elected vice-chairman in 1946, finally stepping down in December 1957.

Business career

Diffin ran a general drapery and boot merchants business in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and established a road haulage company in England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diffin, Jack Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Belfast Celtic F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Port Vale F.C. managers Port Vale F.C. directors and chairmen Year of birth missing Year of death missing