James Ellison (17 March 1901 – 5 January 1958) 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 as a full-back for various clubs, including

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 ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, in the 1920s.

Football career

Ellison was born in St Helens, Lancashire and played his early football as an amateur with St Helens YMCA,

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

Rotherham County Rotherham County F.C. was an English football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. They spent a number of years in the English Football League before merging with rivals Rotherham Town in 1925 to form Rotherham United. History The club ...

and Rhyl United before he moved to the south coast to join

in May 1927. After a satisfactory trial period, Ellison signed a professional contract in October 1927. He spent most of his time with the Saints in the reserves, making 59 appearances in his year at The Dell. His only first-team appearance came on 10 March 1928, when he took the place of

Arthur Bradford Arthur Houston Bradford (born November 19, 1969) is an American writer and filmmaker. He has published two books of short stories, ''Dogwalker'' (2001) and ''Turtleface and Beyond'' (2015), and a children's book, ''Benny's Brigade'' (2012). He h ...

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the game against

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 ...

; the match was lost 2–1. In the summer of 1928, Ellison returned to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

to join

for whom he made 16 appearances in the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

, before winding up his career back in Wales with

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in F ...

Later career

After retiring from football, he returned to St Helens, where he worked for Forster's Glass Company, playing occasionally for the works team.

References

External links

Career details on www.11v11.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, James 1901 births 1958 deaths Association football defenders Connah's Quay & Shotton F.C. players English Football League players English footballers Footballers from St Helens, Merseyside Rhyl F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Rotherham County F.C. players Southampton F.C. players St Helens Town A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players