John Sim (4 December 1922 – 14 January 2000), known as Jock, Jackie, or Johnny Sim, was a Scottish 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

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 ...

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 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 Brighton & Hove Albion.

Life and career

Sim was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 1922. During the Second World War, he served abroad for five years. Afterwards, he joined

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

from another junior club, St Roch's, early in the 1946–47 season, scored freely, and within weeks was reportedly "in almost as great a demand as nylon stockings." He signed for English club Brighton & Hove Albion on 24 October, and scored on his

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 ...

debut three weeks later. He had a run in the side in his first season, but injury disrupted his career: he was restricted to just 14 appearances in the next two seasons and none at all in 1949–50. Ahead of the following campaign, he signed for

Chippenham Town Chippenham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. They are currently members of and play their games at Hardenhuish Park. History The club states it was established in 1873,

, together with three Brighton teammates, Eric Lancelotte, Fred Leamon and Ken Davies. In March 1951, as part of the Western League record transfer that took

Rex Tilley Herbert Rex Tilley (16 February 1929 – 14 May 2016) was an English footballer who played as a wing half. He made 154 appearances in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle and Swindon Town. He began his career in non-league football with ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, Sim returned to the

, but he never played first-team football for Argyle and was soon back with Chippenham. He stayed for three seasons, but turned down the terms offered for a fourth and was released. He later played for Calne Town. Sim died in

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

in 2000 at the age of 77.

References

1922 births 2000 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wing halves Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Chippenham Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Calne Town F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Western Football League players {{Scotland-footy-forward-1920s-stub