Norman John Catlin (8 January 1918 – 22 May 1941) 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 showed considerable promise as a schoolboy which was not fulfilled as a professional with

Southampton Football Club Southampton Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Their home ground since 2001 has been St M ...

. He died in the controversial sinking of HMS Gloucester off the coast of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

in May 1941.

Football career

Catlin was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

but moved as a child to the

Bitterne Bitterne is an eastern suburb and ward of Southampton, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Bitterne derives its name not from the similarly named bird, the bittern, but probably from the bend in the River Itchen; the Old English w ...

area of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. When he scored 17 goals in an English Schools Shield match in 1932, he made the national sporting headlines. In all he scored 62 goals in 13 matches as Southampton schoolboys reached the final. This prolific goalscoring form attracted the attention of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

who signed him on amateur terms; he was shortly afterwards capped for the England Schoolboys. He subsequently returned to Southampton, joining the "Saints" as an amateur in June 1933, before signing a professional contract on his 17th birthday in January 1935. After playing in the reserves, he made his first-team debut away to Swansea Town on 28 December 1935, when he played at

outside-right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

as replacement for Arthur Holt. He appeared to find his slight build a disadvantage and failed to develop into the player that everyone had expected. After only six first-team appearances, his League career ended in March 1937, when aged only 19. He then played for Ryde Sports on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, although he was re-signed by Southampton in 1938 on a part-time basis, without getting back into the first team.

Naval career and death

After ending his full-time football career in 1937, Catlin joined the Cunard-White Star Company as a clerk. On the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Catlin enlisted in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. He was a member of the crew of HMS ''Gloucester'' when she was attacked by German

Stuka The Junkers Ju 87, popularly known as the "Stuka", is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s off the northern coast of

and sank on 22 May 1941. Catlin was posted missing on 29 May, but is now confirmed to have died during the sinking. Of the 807 men aboard at the time of her sinking, only 85 survived.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catlin, Norman 1918 births 1941 deaths Men's association football outside forwards English men's footballers English Football League players Southampton F.C. players Royal Navy sailors Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II Footballers from Liverpool Ryde Sports F.C. players Missing in action of World War II Military personnel from Liverpool 1940s missing person cases Deaths due to shipwreck at sea Missing person cases in Greece Missing English people 20th-century English sportsmen

Football career

Naval career and death

See also

References