Arthur Alexander Turner (22 January 1921 – 25 January 2019) was an English amateur

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 lea ...

who played at

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in the 1946 FA Cup Final, thus becoming the only player to play in an

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

who never played a League game for his club, since the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

's inception. He went on to have a league career at

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

Career

Charlton Athletic

Following the cessation of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was no League football in 1945–46. The

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

was the main competition to be played this season; to make up for the lack of quality matches, all FA Cup rounds from round one up to and including the quarter-finals were made two-legged ties (rather than the traditional single matches) with the aggregate score determining who went through to the next round. Poplar born Turner was a 22-year-old RAF officer who played part-time for

, making a total of nine appearances in Charlton's run to the final, in which they played ten matches. After easy victories over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

(against whom Turner scored three goals in the two legs) and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

(another three goals), Charlton met

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

in the

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. Bolton were still suffering from the after-effects of the

Burnden Park disaster The Burnden Park disaster was a crowd crush that occurred on 9 March 1946 at Burnden Park football stadium, then the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush resulted in the deaths of 33 people and injuries to hundreds of Bolton fans. It was the de ...

in which 33 spectators were killed as a result of overcrowding. Charlton won the semi-final to set up a Cup Final against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. Turner played no significant part in the final itself, whereas his (unrelated) namesake, Bert Turner, scored for both sides, conceding an own goal on 85 minutes, which he cancelled out from a free-kick a minute later.

Colchester United

In 1947, Turner was signed for

by manager

Ted Fenton Edward Benjamin Ambrose Fenton (7 November 1914 – 12 July 1992) was an English football player and manager. A wing-half, he spent almost his entire playing career at West Ham United and went on to manage the club between 1950 and 1961. Playi ...

who was endeavouring to build a side capable of obtaining election from the Southern League into

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. Success took some time to arrive, and it was not until

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

that Colchester (then managed by Jimmy Allen) finally achieved their dream, when they were one of two clubs elected to join an expanded

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

. Turner scored Colchester's first Football League goal at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was the home of Colchester United Football Club from its inception in 1937, up until the club relocated to Colchester Community Stadium in 2008, resulting in its closure. The ...

, when he struck five minutes into a 4–1 win against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on 31 August 1950. Turner made 36 appearances in Colchester's inaugural Football League season, scoring twelve goals, but injury restricted him to only nine further appearances, and he retired from football in the summer of 1951, although he did subsequently return to the Southern League with Headington United.

Honours

Club

; Charlton Athletic *

runner-up: 1945–46 ; Colchester United * Southern League runner-up: 1949–50 * Southern League Cup winner: 1949–50 * Southern League Cup runner-up: 1947–48, 1948–49

References

General * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Arthur 1921 births 2019 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Poplar, London English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Charlton Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen