John Ernest Flood (21 October 1932 – 13 May 2023) 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 winger.

Early life

Flood was born in

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 ...

on 21 October 1932. He was one of eight brothers; his younger brother

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

was a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er.

Career

Flood was capped as an England schoolboy international. Flood joined

from Pennington St. Marks in 1949 and played in the first team from 1952 to 1958, normally as a winger, making 129 appearances in all competitions and scoring 29 goals. His appearances coincided with Southampton's longest spell in Division 3. He later played 17 games 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

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, before joining

Headington United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

, where he made 1 appearance in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

in August 1959. He finished his career at

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

Death

Flood died on 13 May 2023, at the age of 90. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving former Southampton player.

References

1932 births 2023 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Southampton Men's association football wingers English Football League players Southern Football League players Southampton F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Oxford United F.C. players Cowes Sports F.C. players {{England-footy-midfielder-1930s-stub