Turner Ernest Image 1 Merthyr Town 1922

Description

Brithdir, Wales born inside forward Ernest Turner started his football career playing for junior clubs, Bargoed in 1920 and Caerphilly in 1921, from where he joined Football League Third Division (South) Merthyr Town in May 1922.

He made his debut for Merthyr at Swansea Town in August 1922 and in his first season, he was their top scorer with twelve goals from forty appearances. Herbert Lewis “Bert” Turner, to whom he was not related, played alongside him at inside left, scoring five. For the following season, the players swapped positions with Bert moving into the centre, but Ernest continued to outscore his namesake, with fifteen goals to Bert’s five, bagging 4 goals against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in April 1924.

In 1924–25 season, both players struggled to find the net contributing five goals each, as Merthyr finished at the foot of the table, but were re-elected to the Football League for the following season. During his time with Merthyr, he was selected to represent the Welsh F.A. on several occasions.

After three seasons with Merthyr, Turner moved to southern England in May 1925 to join Southampton in the Second Division. In his one season at The Dell, Turner failed to hold down a regular position and played at both inside-forward positions as well as centre-forward generally as a replacement for the long-serving Arthur Dominy and Bill Rawlings. He made sixteen appearances, scoring three goals, in the 1925-26 season before deciding to emigrate to Canada in May 1926.