James Alan Ball (26 September 1924 – 2 January 1982) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager.

Playing career

Born in

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Within the historic county of Lancashire, Farnworth lies on ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, Ball played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

for Bolton Boys Federation,

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 ...

(in two spells),

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

(although he did not play a

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

match for them),

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

Managerial career

Ball started his managerial career as player-boss of Oswestry Town, then managed Borough United,

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. Having been founded as Hurst in 1892, they folded in 1892, before being reformed in 1909. ...

and

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...

, helping the Cheshire side to a treble of Mid-Cheshire League, League Cup and Cheshire Amateur Cup in 1963/64. In the summer of 1966, he left the Dabbers to take up a coaching role with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He managed

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

in two separate spells (1967–1970) and (1976–1977), and in between these he managed

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

between 1970 and 1973 winning the Division 3 title, and

IF Saab Idrottsföreningen Saab was a Swedish sports club from Linköping, Östergötland County founded in 1941 by people working at Saab and most known for its association football and handball teams. They took part in the 1973 Allsvenskan. In 1981, IF ...

and

IK Sirius Idrottsklubben Sirius, commonly known as IK Sirius or Sirius, is a Swedish Sport, sports club located in Uppsala. Today IK Sirius is active in bandy, floorball, and association football, football as an . History The sports club that became IK Sir ...

. Ball managed

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

in 1979.

Outside football

Ball also had stints as a publican. While at Oswestry Town he kept the King's Head in Church Street,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

Death

He was killed in a car accident in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, Cyprus, in January 1982 at the age of 57. Ball had been engaged for what would have been his next managerial position, with the Cypriot team

Evagoras Paphos Athlitikos Syllogos Evagoras Paphos () was a Cypriot football club based in the city of Paphos. Founded in 1961, they played in both the First and Second Divisions. They adopted their name from Evagoras Pallikarides, a poet from Paphos who was ...

and was being transported in a taxi from

Larnaca Airport Larnaca International Airport – Glafcos Clerides is an international airport located southwest of Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus' main international airport and the larger of the two commercial airports in the area ...

to start work when it crashed, reportedly killing him instantly.

Family

At death Ball left his widow, his lifetime wife Vera. His son Alan Jr. played in England's

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first ever ...

-winning team and later followed his father into management. In April 2021, Ball's grandson,

Jimmy Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

, became the third generation of the family to manage in the Football League after being appointed interim manager at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

. Ball is the great-grandfather of professional footballers

John McAtee John George McAtee (born 23 July 1999) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for club Bolton Wanderers. He has previously played for Shrewsbury Town where he began his career, taking in loan spells with Halesowen Town, AFC Telford ...

and James McAtee.John & James McAtee on FA Cup runs, sibling rivalry and Mother's Day
Kelly Somers / Ian Woodcock,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 17 March 2023

References

1924 births Footballers from Farnworth 1982 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Ashton United F.C. managers Southport F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English football managers Halifax Town A.F.C. managers Preston North End F.C. managers Southport F.C. managers Djurgårdens IF Fotboll managers Oswestry Town F.C. managers Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Road incident deaths in Cyprus English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen A IF Saab managers IK Sirius Fotboll managers {{England-footy-forward-1920s-stub