Thomas Scannell (3 June 1925 – 30 November 1993) was an Irish 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Youghal Youghal ( ; ) is a seaside resort town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the estuary of the River Blackwater, the town is a former military and economic centre. Located on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a long and narrow layout. ...

, Ireland, Scannell began his career in England with

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

-based club

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...

. In November 1949, Scannell signed for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. Scannell's transfer fee, coupled with Tilbury's impressive run to the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

first round in the same year, allowed Tilbury to purchase their Chadfields ground. Whilst at Southend, Scannell made 98 Football League appearances at the club, conceding 148 goals in his first 100 games in all competitions and keeping 31 clean sheets. In 1955, following his time at Southend, Scannell dropped back into

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 ...

, signing for Folkestone.

International career

On 7 March 1954, aged 29, Scannell made a solitary senior appearance for the Republic of Ireland national football team, starting in an experimental line-up that defeated

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

1–0 in a World Cup qualifier.

Personal life

Scannell and his wife Peggy had five children, one of whom,

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, was an actor, best known for his role as Detective Sergeant Ted Roach in the television series ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

''. Tony left ''The Bill'' in 1993, the same year of his father's death, before a brief return in 2000. Tony died in May 2020. Another son of Scannell's, John, was a semi-professional goalkeeper, who played for

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local governmen ...

and Whitstable Town."New 'keeper on view tomorrow", ''Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald'', 13 December 1968

References

External links

Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scannell, Tommy 1925 births Association footballers from County Cork 1993 deaths Republic of Ireland association footballers Southend United F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's international footballers English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Folkestone F.C. players Tilbury F.C. players People from Youghal