John "Jackie" Sewell (24 January 1927 – 26 September 2016) was an

England International The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

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 ...

. He played for several teams including

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. When he was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday from Notts County, for £34,500, he was the most expensive signing in

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

. When Sewell captained the newly independent nation of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

in October 1964, he became one of the few footballers who have played for two different countries. He was the last living footballer who played in the Match of the Century on 25 November 1953.

Career

Notts County

Jackie Sewell was born in

Kells, Whitehaven Kells is an area of Whitehaven in Cumbria, England, elevated on a cliff to the south of the town centre, overlooking the Irish sea. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 2,437. Kells was built as a coal mining community. A cable rai ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, and began his career at miners club Kells Centre. Sewell was spotted by

in a Cumberland League match against

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

, leading to a trial. Sewell then began his professional footballing career at Notts County, for whom he was a prolific goalscorer. He was an important member of the team which won the

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

for the 1949–50 season. He scored 97 goals in 178 league appearances for the club.

Sheffield Wednesday

He signed for

in March 1951, playing 175 games and scoring 92 goals in his four years at Hillsborough. He joined Aston Villa in December 1955. During his time at Hillsborough he earned 6 England caps, scoring 3 goals.

Aston Villa

He joined

in December 1955 for £20,000, and he played 145 matches for them until October 1959. He was then sold to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. He was part of the FA Cup winning team of 1957.

Hull City and coaching

He moved from Aston Villa to Hull City before retiring as a player in 1961. He then moved to

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

and became player-coach for City of Lusaka. He later coached teams in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

(

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) and the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

(now known as the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

International career

Jackie Sewell gained six caps for

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 ...

, scoring three goals, one in England's historic defeat against Hungary in 1953. He also captained the Zambia national team when the country gained its independence from Britain in 1964. He made 10 appearances for Zambia between 1964 and 1965, scoring seven goals.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Jackie 1927 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Whitehaven English men's footballers England men's international footballers Notts County F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players City of Lusaka F.C. players Zambian men's footballers Zambia men's international footballers Zambia national football team managers Zambian football managers English Football League players English Football League representative players Dual men's international footballers White Zambian people Men's association football forwards Association football coaches