Cameron Lewis James (born 11 February 1998) is 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 ...

who plays as a defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members o ...

. James joined

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

at the age of nine, progressing through the age groups to make his professional debut in May 2016. He joined

on loan in January 2018 and later

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team of ...

on loan in the 2018–19 season over two spells. He joined

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the o ...

on loan in November 2019 and then

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foo ...

on loan in January 2020. He was released by Colchester in July 2020 before joining

Career

Born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Lond ...

, James began his playing career with

where he had been a member of the

since the age of nine. James featured for the Colchester under-18 side for the first time in October 2013 in a 3–1 win over

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Ste ...

in the

Youth Alliance Cup The Football League Youth Alliance is a youth football competition in England, consisting of four regional divisions. It acts as League 2 of the U18 Professional Development League system. Current structure North West Conference * Accringto ...

. This came in the same season that Colchester's under-18 side won both their

Football League Youth Alliance The Football League Youth Alliance is a youth football competition in England, consisting of four regional divisions. It acts as League 2 of the U18 Professional Development League system. Current structure North West Conference * Accrington ...

South East league and the national cup. In July 2015, James and fellow academy graduate

Tariq Issa Tariq Ahmed Issa (born 2 September 1997) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Needham Market. Issa joined Colchester United's Academy at the age of 12 from Trinity Football Club based in Southend-on-Sea. He made his professio ...

committed themselves to the club by signing four-year professional contracts. He was then named on the bench for a first-team game for the first time on 20 October as an unused substitute in Colchester's 2–1 win over

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

Caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

Steve Ball Steven John Ball (born 2 September 1969) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. Ball is currently Head of Academy Coaching at League Two club Colchester United. Ball began his career with Arsenal, with whom he won ...

handed James his professional debut on 8 May 2016 during Colchester's final game of the season. He was introduced as a 64th-minute replacement for Joe Edwards, who had suffered an injury in a 2–1 defeat against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

at the

Colchester Community Stadium Colchester Community Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the JobServe Community Stadium, is a football stadium in Colchester, England. It is the home of Colchester United Football Club. It has a capacity of 10,105 and opened in August 2 ...

. Ahead of the 2016–17 season, James agreed a new four-year contract with the club just one year into his existing four-year deal. He made his first appearance of the new season on 4 October 2016 as a substitute in Colchester's 2–1 defeat to Southampton U23 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL ...

. He made his first professional start on 21 February in the U's 1–0 win at home to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

, playing the full 90-minutes. In the latter stages of the season, James began to establish himself in the first-team following his first start and clean sheet against Wycombe. He revealed that his preferred position is a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

role which gives him "more license with the ball". He ended the season having made 15 first-team appearances. On 2 February 2018, James signed for hometown club

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut the following day in a 2–0 victory against

Chippenham Town Chippenham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. They are currently members of and play their games at Hardenhuish Park. History The club states it was established in 1873,

. On 31 August 2018, James signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

side

on loan until January 2019. He made his debut on 1 September in Braintree's 1–1 draw at

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

. He was recalled early from his loan spell in November 2018 after 12 league appearances for Braintree. Just over a month later, James returned to Braintree Town for a further month's loan. He scored his first senior goal on 29 December with a match winning header 22-minutes from time in Braintree's 1–0 victory at

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously us ...

. His loan was extended again for another month on 18 January 2019. On 8 November 2019, James joined National League South side

on loan for a month. After his Maidstone loan, James joined

alongside Colchester teammate

Diaz Wright Diaz Ray Wright (born 22 February 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for club Colchester United. The son of former Ipswich Town and Southampton midfielder Jermaine Wright and brother to Drey Wr ...

on loan for one month on 10 January 2020. He made his debut the next day in a 1–0 defeat to Wealdstone. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 victory against

Hungerford Town Hungerford Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks Football Association, they are currently members of and play at Bulpit Lane. History The club was esta ...

on 18 January. His loan was extended for a further month on 4 March. James was one of 16 players to be released by Colchester United in summer 2020. On 6 August 2020, James returned to Chelmsford on a permanent deal following his release from Colchester. On 2 January 2021, James scored his first goal for Chelmsford in a 4–2 win against former club and rivals Braintree Town.

Career statistics

Honours

;Colchester United U18 *2013–14

South East winner

References

External links

Cameron James profile
at the official

Colchester United F.C. Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Cameron 1998 births Living people Footballers from Chelmsford English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Colchester United F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Welling United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players