Ben Ellis (11 April 1906 – 1 January 1968) was a Welsh

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 played for Bargoed Town,

Tredegar Tredegar (pronounced , ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the ...

, Bangor and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

, as a

left back 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 s ...

. He also represented

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and the Scottish League, and was selected for a

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility fo ...

tour of North America in 1939, official eligibility rules not applying. Ellis signed for Motherwell in 1930 and made 286

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

appearances for the club, also appearing in two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidde ...

, both ending in defeat. An injury sustained while he was working in a local engineering business effectively ended his playing career, but Ellis then worked as a trainer and a coach for Motherwell. He finally left the club in 1955. Away from football, in 1941 he won the

Scottish Professional Championship The Scottish Professional Championship was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament which was open only for Scottish players. The final champion was John Higgins. History The Scottish Professional Championship was held in Edinburgh in Dece ...

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

."In January 1941 fullback Ben Ellis won the Scottish Professional Snooker Championship"
Motherwell FC History on Twitter, 15 January 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022 In 1990, a street near

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. ...

, the home ground of Motherwell, was named after Ellis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Ben 1906 births 1968 deaths People from Bargoed Sportspeople from Caerphilly County Borough Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Motherwell F.C. players Motherwell F.C. non-playing staff Bangor City F.C. players Welsh snooker players