Albert Henry Tomkin (23 December 1915 – 3 September 1989) was an English professional

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 played for

Formby Formby is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Northfleet United Northfleet United Football Club was a football club based in Northfleet, Kent. Around 1890 organised team football was being played in the town and in 1892 the Northfleet F.C. club was founded. It flourished for a few years in the mid-1890s unt ...

, and wartime matches for

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 ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

and

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Football career

Tomkin began his career at

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Formby. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1937 but moved to the club's "nursery" team Northfleet United before making a first team appearance. The outside left signed professional forms for Tottenham in December 1937 and was a regular in the 'A' team, graduating to the reserves the following season. He made his breakthrough later the same term with a debut for the first team on 4 February 1939 in a 2–1 home win against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

.Albert Tomkin - fact file
Retrieved 20 January 2014 It was the first of two league matches he played for Spurs.
Retrieved 30 November 2012 When the

Second World War 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 ...

broke out in September 1939, the

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 ...

was suspended. Tomkin played one further game for Tottenham before returning to his home town of

and enlisting for military service. Whilst there in 1940 he played nine games for

. With the

Wartime League The Wartime League was a football league competition held in England during World War II, which replaced the suspended Football League. The exclusion of the FA Cup in these years saw the creation of the Football League War Cup. History The be ...

established, Tomkin enrolled as a guest player for competitors

and Swansea Town, as well as

. He died in

Leyland, Lancashire Leyland ( ) is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, 6 miles (10 km) south of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census. The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land". History Leyland ...

on 3 September 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomkin, Albert 1915 births 1989 deaths Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness Men's association football outside forwards English men's footballers Formby F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Northfleet United F.C. players Southport F.C. players English Football League players Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players Swansea Town A.F.C. wartime guest players Luton Town F.C. wartime guest players 20th-century English sportsmen