James Henry Bye (11 February 1920 – June 1995) 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 in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. He played as a

right 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 ...

Life and career

Bye was born in 1920 in the

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre. History Aston wa ...

district of

, the son of Arthur Bye and his wife Lillian ''née'' Featherstone, and attended St Peter's School in

Harborne Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in ...

. He played youth football for Bournbrook Alliance, from where he signed amateur forms with

as a 14-year-old. He played for Shirley Juniors, a team "fostered" by Birmingham's vice-chairman, David Wiseman, before turning professional with Birmingham "immediately on reaching 17". He played for the youth team and for the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

side before making his senior debut in the FA Cup third-round tie against

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

on 7 January 1939, standing in at

for the injured Don Dearson. Birmingham won 2–0. He made his first appearance in the First Division three weeks later, in a 5–0 defeat away to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, and played in the first three games of the

1939–40 Football League The abandoned 1939–40 season would have been the 48th season of The Football League. The kick-off in all divisions took place on Saturday 26 August 1939.Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald ...

season, which was then abandoned when the Second World War started. Bye was called up in January 1940. While not required by the Army, he played 36 games for Birmingham in the wartime competitions, and also made guest appearances for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, before retiring from the game in 1944. At the start of the war, Bye was living with his parents in Vivian Road, Harborne, and working in a

tobacconist A tobacconist, also called a tobacco shop, a tobacconist's shop or a smoke shop, is a retailer of tobacco products in various forms and the related accoutrements, such as pipes, lighters, matches, pipe cleaners, and pipe tampers. More specia ...

's shop. He married Margaret Moore in 1955. Bye's death was registered in June 1995 in the

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

and Fylde district.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bye, James Henry 1920 births 1995 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. wartime guest players West Bromwich Albion F.C. wartime guest players British Army personnel of World War II