Alfred Stanley Morgan (10 October 1920 – 1971) was a Welsh 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 an inside forward. Morgan featured in his career for clubs

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

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 ...

, Millwall and Leyton Orient.

Career

Born in

Abergwynfi Abergwynfi is a village in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in the community of Gwynfi and Croeserw. Abergwynfi is the first half of a village of two parts, the other being Blaengwynfi. The names of the two villages mean "Mouth of t ...

, Morgan started his career with

in 1938. After making 3 senior appearances for the side his career was interrupted by

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 ...

. At the war's end Morgan returned to Arsenal where he won the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

league title with the club. After his spell at Highbury he went on to feature for clubs

, Millwall, Leyton Orient and

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

Personal life

Morgan was one of the supporting troops for the Bruneval Raid in 1942, whilst serving in the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

. He went on to serve in the Parachute Regiment during World War II. He qualified as a military parachutist on course 51 which ran at

RAF Ringway The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

from 15 to 27 February 1943 and was subsequently posted to the

6th Parachute Battalion The 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was created in 1942 by the conversion of the 10th (Merionethshire and ...

serving with No 7 Platoon in A Company. While with the Battalion he served on operations in Italy, the south of France, Greece and Palestine.

References

1920 births 1971 deaths Welsh men's footballers Arsenal F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players English Football League players British Parachute Regiment soldiers Men's association football inside forwards British Army personnel of World War II Royal Fusiliers soldiers {{Wales-footy-forward-stub