Samuel Batson Stevens (born 2 December 1935) is a Scottish retired 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

wing-half 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 ...

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

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 ...

in the late 1950s.

Football career

Stevens was born in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

and educated at the

Rutherglen Academy Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

, representing Glasgow Schools at football. His football career started at Queen's Park before he was "called up" for his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

which was spent with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

as a Physical Training instructor. In April 1956, he guested for

in a friendly match in which he impressed the "Saints" manager Ted Bates. On completing his National Service, Stevens returned to Scotland and signed for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

in November 1956. In the summer of 1957, he was Ted Bates's only new signing for the start of the 1957–58 season, when he joined Southampton on a free transfer. Described as a "good sportsman and whole-hearted left-back", he spent his first season at The Dell in the reserves. His first-team debut came in a

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

match at

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

on 25 August 1958, when he played at

left-half 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 ...

in a 3–3 draw. His debut was described as "sound" and part of a "strong defensive display" from which he emerged "with great credit". For the remainder of the season, he alternated with Bobby McLaughlin at No. 6 until

Terry Simpson Terry Simpson (born August 30, 1943) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and a former NHL head coach. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Simpson only played one season of professional ice hockey in 1964–65 for the Jacksonville Rockets ...

was promoted from the youth team. Stevens' final appearance was in a 6–0 home defeat by

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 9 March 1959; this remains Southampton's biggest home defeat. He was released in the summer of 1959 and was one of several players recruited by former Southampton player, Mike Keeping to join Poole Town of the Southern League, along with

Bryn Elliott Bernard Harry "Bryn" Elliott (3 May 1925 - 15 February 2019) was an English retired footballer who played as a half-back in the 1940s and 1950s. He started his career at Nottingham Forest, before joining Southampton in 1949, where he was to r ...

Pat Parker Pat Parker (born Patricia Cooks; January 20, 1944June 17, 1989) was an American poet and activist. Both her poetry and her activism drew from her experiences as an African-American lesbian Feminism, feminist.Pat Parker. Contemporary Authors On ...

and Barry Hillier. After two years at Poole, Stevens moved to

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, for whom he played for six years, followed by two years with Portals Athletic before becoming player-manager at Swaythling Athletic in 1959.

Later career

He continued to be involved with the "Saints" helping

Lew Chatterley Lawson Colin Chatterley (born 15 February 1945) is an English former professional football player and coach. He represented England at Youth level. Playing career Chatterley was born in Birmingham and began his career as an apprentice at Aston ...

coach the youth team between 1990 and 1995. He later worked for the

Sports Council Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

and the Hampshire F.A. in a sports development role.

References

External links

Career details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Sam 1935 births Living people Footballers from Rutherglen People educated at Rutherglen Academy Scottish men's footballers Queen's Park F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Southampton F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players Andover F.C. players Portals Athletic F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Men's association football wing halves Eastleigh F.C. managers Scottish football managers Royal Corps of Signals soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel