William John Jervis (born 22 January 1942) is an English former 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 ...
. He made only one appearance in
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...
, in a match which was abandoned early and represents one of the few uncompleted Football League matches for which the result was allowed to stand.
Career
Born in Liverpool, Jervis began his career as a youth team player with
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
. He played as a striker, although he was only 5' 6" tall and slightly built. In the 1958–59 season he played in the Rovers team which defeated
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...
in the final of the
FA Youth Cup
The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...
. He turned professional with Rovers in 1959, but failed to break into the club's
first team
First team may refer to:
Sports
* First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club
* The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball
* First Team All-A ...
. In the summer of 1961 he left the club and joined Gillingham of the
Football League Fourth Division
The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...
.
Jervis was selected to make his debut for Gillingham in a match away to Barrow on 9 October 1961. The Gillingham players, travelling by train to the match, missed their connection in London and were forced to charter an aeroplane to fly to
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
, followed by a fleet of taxis to travel the remainder of the way to
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...
. The players did not arrive at the
Holker Street
Holker Street is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway. The match eventually got underway, but the light soon began to fade, a significant problem as the stadium did not have
floodlights
A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibil ...
at the time. After 76 minutes the referee decided that the light was too bad to continue and abandoned the match with Barrow winning 7–0. Although the match had not been completed, the Football League's committee, rather than order the match to be replayed as is usually done in such cases, decided to allow the result to stand.
Jervis lost his place in the Gillingham team to Ronnie Waldock for the club's next match and was not selected for the first team again in the 1961–62 season. He left the club to join
Stalybridge Celtic
Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip.
In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...
of the
Cheshire County League
The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales.
Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...
in July 1962. The abandoned match at Barrow was thus the only Football League match in which he played. It is unknown how long he remained at Stalybridge or if he went on to play for any other clubs.