John Thomas Ball (13 September 1907 – 1976) 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 lea ...

, who played as a forward. Born in

Banks, Lancashire Banks is a coastal village in the civil parish of North Meols, in the West Lancashire district, in Lancashire, England, south of the Ribble and Alt Estuaries, Ribble estuary four miles (6 km) north-east of Southport town centre. In 2021 i ...

, he played for clubs including

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. He joined

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

from Newtown United in 1925, scoring 10 goals in 18 appearances, including a debut hat-trick in a 5–1 win over Macclesfield on 31 October 1925, before moving to

for the 1926–27 season. He then moved to

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

before in 1929 moving to

. He moved from Manchester United to Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1930, and made his Wednesday debut on 8 September. He played in Sheffield Wednesday's 2–1 defeat by Arsenal in the Charity Shield at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

in October 1930. Ball scored 94 goals in just 135 matches with the Sheffield club, before returning to Manchester United in December 1933. In September 1934, he moved to Huddersfield Town, but he moved on to Luton Town after only a month. He had a short spell in France as a coach with Excelsior Roubaix after his playing career was finished and briefly managed St Albans City and Biggleswade Town after the Second World War.

References

* 1907 births 1976 deaths Footballers from Southport English men's footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players Manchester United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Southport F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players Chorley F.C. players St Albans City F.C. managers 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-forward-1900s-stub