Leonard Francis Worley (born 26 June 1937) is a former

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Chesham United Chesham United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. Nicknamed "the Generals", they are currently members of the and play at the Meadow. History The club was established in 1917 by a merger o ...

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Ha ...

and represented

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 ...

at amateur level on seven occasions.

Playing career

Worley began his career with Wycombe Wanderers as a sixteen-year-old in 1954. The

right winger 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 ...

became known as the "''

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

of amateur football'' " and dedicated much of his career to the

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

club. Like his namesake his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills coupled with accurate

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

helped the club to two

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

titles in 1955–56 and 1956–57. His two-goal display in the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

semi-final at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

took the

Loakes Park Loakes Park was the home of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club from 1895 to 1990. It was located next to Wycombe General Hospital in the centre of High Wycombe, England. The ground was donated to the club by Frank Adams, a former Wanderers player ...

club to the 1956–57 final. Worley joined Charlton Athletic as an amateur in October 1956 and played one senior match for the

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

based team. He returned to Wycombe Wanderers before joining Tottenham Hotspur. Worley made one appearance for the ''Spurs'' in a 3–1 win against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Hillsborough Hillsborough may refer to: Australia *Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie Canada *Hillsborough, New Brunswick *Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick * Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County *Hillsborough (electoral d ...

on 17 October 1959 when he replaced

Terry Medwin Terence Cameron Medwin (born 25 September 1932 in Swansea, Glamorgan) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a winger. Club career Medwin made his debut for his 'home town' team Swansea Town in 1951–52 and went on to make ...

who was on international duty for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

.Worley profile
Retrieved 28 July 2010 The

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

club offered him a professional contract in 1959 which the steadfast player refused.Worley's fact-file at the Chairboys
Retrieved 28 July 2010 In a career that spanned 15 years in which he suffered two broken legs, Worley made 512 appearances and scored 67 goals. He finally left the ''Chairboys'' in 1969. Worley continued to play as an amateur with spells at Chesham, Wealdstone, Slough and Hayes before retiring from competitive football in the mid-1970s.

Post–football career

After retirement Worley kept his football interest by turning out for his local club Chalfont. He is also a keen

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player in the Bucks area. He became a property developer and owned a sports shop. Worley is a regular visitor to

Adams Park Adams Park is an association football stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Built in 1990, it is the home ground of the local Wycombe Wanderers in League One. It was also leased from 2002 to 2014 to the rugby union club London Was ...

home of Wycombe Wanderers.

References

External links

Photo of Worley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worley, Len 1937 births People from Chalfont St Peter English footballers English Football League players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Chesham United F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players Hayes F.C. players Living people Men's association football wingers