Samuel Richard Jepp (22 February 1885 – 1968) 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 ...

who played in various defence positions for

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 Swansea Town in the early twentieth century.

Football career

Jepp was born in Northtown,

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

, Hampshire and played his youth football with Aldershot Athletic before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps. On leaving the Army, Jepp returned to Aldershot before being signed by

of the Southern League in 1907. He made his debut for the "Saints" on 15 February 1908, when he replaced former

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 ...

international

Harry Hadley Harry Hadley (26 October 1877 – 22 October 1947) was an English professional football player and manager. He played once for the England national team. Playing career Hadley was born in Barrow-in-Furness. Having had little junior football e ...

left-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 ...

in a 4–0 defeat at Brentford. He made four further appearances in the 1907–08 season, including each of the half-back positions and at

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 ...

. In 1908–09, he had two runs in the side with six matches at left-half in October (replacing John Johnston with Bert Trueman switching to the right), and twelve matches from mid-January at

centre-half 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 ...

whilst

Frank Thorpe Frank Thorpe (13 November 1879 – 17 April 1928) was an English footballer who played as a centre-half for various clubs in the 1900s, including Southampton and Bury, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1903. Playing career Thorpe was born in H ...

was out with injury. His longest period in the side came in the 1909–10 season, when he took over from new signing Andrew Davidson after the first six matches, retaining the No. 5 shirt for the remainder of the season. Jepp started the following season as the regular centre-half, before losing his place to Frank Monk after five matches. Although Jepp made a further four appearances later in the season, including playing as

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on New Year's Eve, he was unable to regain a regular place in the side and was released in the summer of 1911. After spending a season back in northern Hampshire with South Farnborough Athletic, Jepp became one of Swansea Town's first professional players in 1912, and scored one goal in twenty league appearances. By the start of World War I, Jepp had returned to Aldershot and his football career was over.

Family

His son, also Samuel Richard Jepp, was killed at

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

on 24 June 1942 while serving with the Royal Tank Regiment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jepp, Sam 1885 births 1968 deaths Sportspeople from Aldershot English footballers Association football defenders Southampton F.C. players South Farnborough Athletic F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Southern Football League players Footballers from Hampshire 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers Military personnel from Aldershot