Ball Jack Image 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1931

Description

Banks, Southport born centre forward Jack Ball began his football career with Banks Juniors in 1923 and from there joined Third Division (North) hometown club Southport making his Football League debut at Wrexham in August 1925, but he found opportunities limited at Haig Avenue scoring 7 times in 25 appearances before he returned to non league football with Darwen in 1927. He joined Chorley in 1928 and returned to the Football League when he was signed in 1929 by First Division Manchester United, scoring 11 times in 24 appearances for The Red Devils before being signed by League Champions Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1930.

Ball played in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat by Arsenal in the FA Charity Shield at Stamford Bridge in October 1930. He scored 94 goals in just 136 matches with the Sheffield club, top scoring in 1930-31, 1931-32 and 1932-33, before returning to Manchester United in December 1933. He added a further 7 goals in 26 appearances In September 1934, he moved to Huddersfield Town, but he moved on to Luton Town at the end of October after only just over a month having scored once in 5 appearances for The Terriers.

He scored 31 goals for Luton during the rest of the 1934-35 season and helped them to runners up spot in the Third Division (South) in 1935-36, and after a brief spell in French football with Excelsior Roubaix in 1935 he returned to Kenilworth Road to help them to win the Third Division (South) Championship in 1936-37, scoring 8 goals in the campaign, before joining non league Vauxhall Motors in 1937 after 50 goals in 74 appearances for The Hatters. He played for St Albans City in 1938 and finished his career by joining Biggleswade Town in 1940.