John William Charles (9 September 1944 – 17 August 2002) was an English

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 for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

as a defender. Nicknamed ″Charlo″, Charles was the first black player to represent England at Under-18 and any level within the National team. Charles was the first black player to play for a first division West Ham United side when he made his debut in 1963.

Early life

Charles was born in Ordnance Road,

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

. The family later moved to Ronald Avenue and he attended Pretoria School. He was the second youngest of nine children. His younger brother

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

also played for West Ham and went on to coach the US National Soccer Team. His mother, who was white, came from

Silvertown Silvertown is a district in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Becontree Hundred, hundred of Becontr ...

and his father was a merchant seaman from

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

Football career

Playing for local side, West Ham boys, Charles was spotted by former West Ham United goalkeeper and scout,

Ernie Gregory Ernie Gregory (10 November 1921 – 21 January 2012) was an English association football, footballer, who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper for West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. Career Born in Stratford, London, Gregory played ...

who recommended him to chief scout

Wally St Pier Stanley Walter St Pier (8 October 1904 – 1989) was an English footballer and scout. Career St Pier arrived at West Ham United from Ilford in April 1929 making his senior debut in October 1929 against Leicester City. Spending most of his tim ...

. Charles signed as a youth player in 1959 and signed professionally, aged 17 in 1963. He captained West Ham's Youth Cup winning side of 1963; the first black player to lead a first-class side to a major trophy. Charles made his debut for the first team in May 1963 against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. Injury prevented Charles from being part of the West Ham teams which won the

1964 FA Cup Final The 1964 FA Cup Final was the 83rd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 2 May 1964 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Ham United and Preston North End. West Ham, captained by Bobby Moore and managed by Ron Greenwood, won the mat ...

and the

1965 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match between West Ham United of England and 1860 Munich of West Germany. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 19 May 1965. It was the final match of the 1964–65 European Cup ...

. Nevertheless, playing most of his games alongside

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

, he made 142 appearances for West Ham in all competitions scoring two goals; one a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

game against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, the other the single West Ham goal in a famous

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

6–1 victory at Upton Park in which Manchester United won the 1966-67 Football League trophy. From the autumn of 1969 until spring 1970 injury restricted Charles to only five games. He left West Ham in the summer of 1971. He was offered a move to

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

then managed by former West Ham player,

Jimmy Bloomfield James Henry Bloomfield (15 February 1934 – 3 April 1983) was an English football player and manager. He made nearly 500 appearances in the Football League, including more than 300 in the First Division with Arsenal, Birmingham City and West ...

, but because of a recurring

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

problem he retired from football aged only 26 to run the family's market greengrocer's stall.

Illness and death

Charles admitted to being part of a strong drinking culture which existed at West Ham in the 1960s which gave rise to their slogan ″Win, Draw or Lose, we're on the booze″. By his own admission he was a borderline alcoholic when he finished playing football. However at the end of his footballing career his business prospects looked good; Charles earned £65 per week as a footballer with West Ham but on his first week on the greengrocer's stall he earned £200 and he opened several grocer's stalls in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In the 1990s, as people started to use major supermarkets more and more his business began to fail. Charles drifted into alcoholism and had mental health problems. In 2001, he was diagnosed with cancer and died on 17 August 2002 aged 57. He was survived by his wife, Carol and his three children, sons Keith and Butch and his daughter, Lesley.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, John 1944 births 2002 deaths Footballers from Canning Town English footballers Association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen English sportspeople of Grenadian descent England youth international footballers