Thomas William Rudkin (16 June 1919 – 30 April 1969) 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 le ...

who played as a

left 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 ...

. He made 50 appearances in 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 ...

in the years before and after the

Second World War 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 ...

Career

Pre-war

Born in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Rudkin played for Creswell before joining

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

as an amateur in February 1938 before moving to Lincoln City in May 1938.

Wartime

In the Second World War, Rudkin joined a tank regiment based at Catterick, before being sent to Germany During the war, Rudkin had a number of spells with hometown club

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in the Midland League, as well as guest appearances for Lincoln City,

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

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 ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Post-war

After the war Rudkin played for Peterborough United in their pre-Football League days and joined First Division

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 ...

in January 1947. He made five appearances for Arsenal during the 1946–47 season. Rudkin and George Curtis joined

in exchange for

Don Roper Donald George Beaumont Roper (14 December 1922 – 8 June 2001) was an English footballer. Playing career Born in Botley, Hampshire, Roper was a prolific scorer as a schoolboy. He was spotted playing parks football by Toby Keleher, assistant m ...

in August 1947 with Rudkin valued at £3,000. He made only a few sporadic appearances over the next two seasons before moving to Ashton Gate.

Bob Wright Robert Charles Wright (born April 23, 1943) is an American lawyer, businessman, right-wing lobbyist, and author. He is a former NBC executive, having served as president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, and chairman and CEO from 2001 until he retire ...

signed Rudkin for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in May 1949 from Southampton Rudkin made his debut for Bristol City at outside left in the opening fixture of Third Division South season in a 3–1 win over

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

on 20 August 1949. Rudkin made 27 appearances scoring three goals in 1949–50 and a further seven appearances with one goal in 1950–51 as Bristol City languished in mid table. However, in 1951, Rudkin (with three appearances) helped the "Robins" to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup before losing 2–0 at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Rudkin left Bristol City to join struggling Southern League club Hastings United in June 1951, but later returned to the south-west as player-manager of

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

before settling in his native Peterborough.

Later career

After retiring from football, he joined the ''

Sunday Pictorial The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...

'' as a circulation agent and then became a steward at a Peterborough nightclub. Later, he became the licensee of the Angel Hotel,

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

where he collapsed suddenly and died, six weeks before his 50th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudkin, Tommy 1919 births 1969 deaths English footballers Lincoln City F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. players English Football League players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Weston-super-Mare A.F.C. managers Southern Football League players Lincoln City F.C. wartime guest players Hartlepool United F.C. wartime guest players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Men's association football wingers English football managers British Army personnel of World War II Footballers from Peterborough