Walter Aveyard (11 June 1918 – 16 July 1985) 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 ...

who made more than 100 appearances in the Football League, playing for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

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 ...

and

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

Career

Aveyard was born in

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, with it increasing to 13,533 at the 2011 Census. Hist ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. He played football for Denaby United before turning professional with

in 1938, but 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 opposi ...

interrupted his career before he played for the first-team. When competitive football resumed after the war, Aveyard made his first-team debut in the

1945–46 FA Cup The 1945–46 FA Cup was the 65th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, generally known as the FA Cup, and the first to be held after the Second World War. Derby County were the winners, bea ...

, scoring twice in six games, but played only four league games in the 1946–47 season, in which he scored three goals, before leaving for

in April 1947. He made a promising start, scoring the only goal of his debut match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in August 1947 and two more goals, including another winner, in his next three games, but a thigh injury meant he missed most of the season, and he was allowed to join

in June 1948. He scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

on 21 August 1948. He quickly established himself in the first team and became the club's top scorer for the 1948–49 season with 13 goals. He has the honour of being the first player to score 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, ...

, in a 1–0 win over Newport County on 24 August 1950. However he lost his place in the side by September 1951 and was sold to

for a four-figure fee in March 1952. Aveyard scored on debut yet again, but his form deserted him. At the end of his first complete season, Stanley finished bottom of 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 ...

and put him on the transfer list, priced at £1000, but there were no offers. He retired from professional football in the summer of 1953. Aveyard died in Blackpool,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, in 1985.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aveyard, Walter 1918 births 1985 deaths People from Hemsworth English footballers Men's association football forwards Denaby United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players English Football League players