Victor David Lambden (25 October 1925 – 4 July 1996) 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 for

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

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 ...

. He played for a local amateur side before joining Bristol Rovers in 1945. Lamden was a prolific goalscorer during his ten years with the club. After his professional career, he returned to amateur football.

Early and personal life

Lambden was born in

Keynsham Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of 16,000. It was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cainesham'' (as it is pronounced), which is believed to mean the home of Sai ...

in 1925 to parents Arthur Lambden and Ethel Chinn, and was the youngest of four children. He had two older sisters (Joan and Frances) and one brother (Graham). Lambden married Bristol Rovers fan Grace Ford at St Anne's Church in Oldland on 28 February 1949. His brother Graham served as best man for the ceremony.

Career

Lambden began his footballing career playing for his local team, Oldland Abbotonians, before joining

in 1945. He went on to make 269 appearances in the

over the next ten years, scoring 117 goals. Lambden made the best of starts to his Football League career, scoring on his debut for Rovers in the opening game of the 1946–47 season. This game, a 2–2 draw against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, also marked the return of League football after it was suspended during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 19 March 1948, Lambden broke the Bristol Rovers club record for the fastest

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a match. His nine-minute treble (the goals coming in the 18th, 25th and 27th minutes) in a game against

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 Alders ...

remained the club's fastest until Dai Ward scored a four-minute hat-track in 1956. As of 2016, Lambden's remains the joint second-fastest in the club's history. By the end of his time with Rovers Lambden was the club's all-time second-highest goalscorer, behind his teammate

Geoff Bradford Geoffrey Reginald William Bradford (18 July 1927 – 30 December 1994) was an English professional footballer who spent his entire career at Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England ...

. His 117-goal tally was later surpassed by

Alfie Biggs Alfred George 'Alfie' Biggs (8 February 1936 – 20 April 2012) was an English professional footballer, who spent the vast majority of his career at Bristol Rovers. Biggs grew up as one of eight children in the Knowle West area of Bristol whe ...

and

Harold Jarman Harold James Jarman (born 4 May 1939) is an English former professional footballer and first-class cricketer. He spent the majority of his lengthy footballing career with Bristol Rovers, where he is the club's 3rd-highest goalscorer of all time ...

, but he remains the fourth on the club's top goalscorers list into the 21st century. Over the period of his time playing at Eastville, Lambden had become widely known for his successful partnership with fellow

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Bradford, and the pair later died just eighteen months apart from each other. After retiring from professional football, Lambden dropped out of the league to play for Trowbridge Town.Byrne & Jay (2003), p. 435

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambden, Vic 1925 births 1996 deaths Footballers from Bristol Association football forwards English footballers English Football League players Oldland Abbotonians F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Trowbridge Town F.C. players People from Keynsham