Earle Stan Image 3 West Ham United 1929

Description

Stratford, London born inside right Stan Earle was capped as an England schoolboy in 1912 and after the First World War, during which he served in The Royal Field Artillery and The Royal Garrison Artillery as a bombardier, he played with Vivian Gibbins at Clapton as an amateur where he became club captain, and he won the FA Amateur Cup in 1924 with Clapton as they beat Erith & Belvedere 3-0 in the Final at The Den. Still an amateur, he joined Arsenal in March 1922, making his Football League debut at Aston Villa the same month, but found opportunities at Highbury very limited over his three season association with The Gunners, despite scoring 3 goals in his 3 matches post debut including a brace against West Ham United in September 1923.

He gained England Amateur caps against Ireland in a 4-0 win at Deepdale, Preston in November 1922, and against the same opponents at The Crystal Palace in November 1923, scoring in a 3-0 win. He featured for the FA XI against the Army in both seasons, played for The Amateurs against The Professionals in the 1923 Charity Shield, and also represented The Isthmian League. He made two appearances for the full England team, making his international debut in a 3-1 victory against France in Paris on 17th May 1924 (when he played alongside Vivian Gibbins), and in a 2-0 defeat against Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast on 22nd October 1927 when a West Ham player. He was also a non playing reserve in October 1925 against Ireland in Belfast.

Earle joined West Ham United as a professional in August 1924 where he became club captain, and was an ever present during their 1926-27 campaign when he recorded his best goalscoring return, netting 13 times as West Ham finished sixth in the League Championship. Two seasons later he missed only one match and in six of his eight seasons he played more than 30 matches. During his eight years at Upton Park he featured in 273 League and cup games for The Hammers, scoring 58 goals,  played his final match for West Ham on 23rd April 1932, a 4-2 home defeat to Birmingham before leaving that summer after they were relegated from the First Division. Earle ended his career with a season at Clapton Orient in 1932-33, where he scored once in 16 appearances, and went on to coach Walthamstow Avenue and to manage Leyton.

Stan Earle wss the son of goalkeeper Harry Earle, who played for Millwall, Arsenal, Clapton and Notts County during the 1890’s and early 1900’s.