Norman Henry Hallam (23 October 1920 – 1997) 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 ...

. A half-back, he helped

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

to finish second in the

Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1952–53. Whilst at the club he became a Methodist minister. He later played for

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

and

Goole Town Goole Association Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. History The club was established by Mike Norman i ...

Career

Hallam played for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, before joining

in May 1946. He played 27 first team games in 1946–47, scoring his first senior goal on 9 November, in a 4–1 defeat to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Fellows Park Fellows Park was a football stadium in Walsall, England. It was the home ground of Walsall F.C. from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the Bescot Stadium. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present ...

. He scored three goals in 30 games in 1947–48. He quit full-time football in July 1948 to become a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Minister, but played one

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 ...

game in 1949–50. At the end of the 1950–51 season he conducted the funeral of

Gordon Hodgson Gordon Hodgson (16 April 1904 – 14 June 1951) was a professional sportsman, born in Transvaal Colony, who is best known as a striker for Liverpool and as a fast bowler for Lancashire. He won two international caps for South Africa and three ...

, his former manager at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

. Hallam re-joined the "Valiants" in January 1952, although did not play regularly, as living in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

he couldn't always make it to matches. He played three games in 1951–52 and eight games in 1952–53, helping

Freddie Steele Freddie Steele (December 18, 1912 – August 22, 1984) was a boxer and film actor born Frederick Earle Burgett in Seattle, Washington. He was recognized as the National Boxing Association (NBA) Middleweight Champion of the World between 1936 ...

's side to finish second in the

in the latter campaign. In May 1953, he moved house to

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and left the club on a free transfer to

. He played three games for the "Shaymen" in 1953–54. After leaving

The Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadiu ...

, he later played for

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

second-place promotion: 1952–53

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallam, Norman 1920 births 1997 deaths People from Longton, Staffordshire Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English Methodist ministers English footballers Association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Goole Town F.C. players English Football League players