Paul Michael Shardlow (29 April 1943 – 14 October 1968) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Stoke City. He also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

for Staffordshire.

Career

Football career

Shardlow was born in

Stone, Staffordshire Stone is a canal town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, north of Stafford, south of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Staffor ...

and began his career with Northwich Victoria before joining Stoke City in 1966 as understudy to John Farmer and

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

. He played twice for Stoke towards the end of 1966–67 and played twice again in 1967–68. Shardlow also spent two seasons in the NASL with the

Cleveland Stokers The Cleveland Stokers were a soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio that played in the United Soccer Association during 1967 and the North American Soccer League in 1968. Their home field was Cleveland Stadium. History United Soccer Association ...

. He was put in the reserves for the 1968–69 season before his death on 14 October 1968 at the age of 25.

Cricket career

Shardlow played

for Staffordshire as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

in the Minor Counties Championship between 1960 and 1966.

Death

Shardlow died on 14 October 1968 of a heart attack while on a training ground, at the age of 25. He was survived by his father, the cricketer Bertie Shardlow.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shardlow, Paul 1943 births 1968 deaths English men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players English cricketers Staffordshire cricketers People from Stone, Staffordshire Cleveland Stokers players Men's association football goalkeepers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers Northwich Victoria F.C. players Wicket-keepers Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in England Footballers from Staffordshire