Thomas Halliday (11 September 1909 – 1975) 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, rugb ...

who made 313 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

playing for

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 underw ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. He played

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

in the north-east of England before joining First Division club

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, but never played first-team football for that club. His primary position was that of

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

, although he also played at right back or

right 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 boundari ...

Life and career

Halliday was born in Browney Colliery, in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. As a schoolboy, he played three times for Durham Schools under-15 team in the 1923–24 season, and captained England Schoolboys against Wales in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. He played for

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

teams in his local area, and captained Durham Amateurs before turning professional. He spent the 1927–28 season with First Division club

, but never appeared for the first team, and joined Third Division North club

in 1928 as an 18-year-old. He established himself in the starting eleven, and despite his youth, captained the team for three years. In the 1932–33 season, Halliday made 41 out of a possible 42 appearances in the league, taking his total to 127 in senior competition. In May 1933, he and Darlington teammates Harry Brown, Billy Eden and

Fred Hopkinson Fred Hopkinson (26 April 1908 – after 1935) was an English footballer who made 221 appearances in the Football League playing as a wing half or inside right for Darlington and Barrow in the 1920s and 1930s. He was also on the books of S ...

were members of the Rest of Durham XI that faced Sunderland in a match to celebrate the silver jubilee of the

Durham County Football Association The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the historic county of Durham. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March 1883 and is the governing body for football in Durham from gras ...

. Darlington had finished bottom of the Northern Section, so had to apply for

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

. Although their application was successful, Halliday left the club. He moved into the Southern Section of the Third Division with

, where he became a regular in the side. He made 40 appearances as Norwich won the divisional title and with it

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for the first time in the club's history. Based on Norwich's recruitment of

's Harold Houghton, the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'' suggested that the club "realise the worth of a footballer of experience and anticipation in such a struggle", and went on to list "other players of this stamp", including "Halliday, a rare centre-half". In his review of the season, the ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

s J.A.H. Catton, praised Norwich's forwards, and thought that "of all the capital players behind the front line, Thomas Halliday, a centre half-back formerly of Darlington, must be highly commended." Halliday took over the captaincy from Stan Ramsay during the next season. He remained with Norwich for six-and-a-half years, making the last of his 203 appearances for the club on 27 December 1938 in a 4–0 defeat away to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

, and finished the season with Exeter City in the Third Division South. In recognition of his contribution to Norwich City, Halliday was elected to the club's Hall of Fame. He died in 1975, aged 65 or 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Tom 1909 births 1975 deaths Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Esh Winning F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players English Football League players