Charles Nicklas (26 April 1930 – 26 July 2018) 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 played as a

centre forward 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 be ...

in 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 ...

for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

. Before joining Hull, Nicklas played

non-league football 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 ...

for Silksworth Colliery Welfare, and after leaving Darlington he played in the Southern League for Headington United.

Life and career

Nicklas was born in 1930 in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, which was then in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. He played as a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

before what the ''

Sunderland Echo The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the City of Sunderland, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Easington (district), East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey (Liberal politician), Samuel ...

'' described as a promising career was interrupted by

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. He began playing for

Wearside League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the National League System (levels 11 to 13 of the Football pyramid) and is a feeder to the ...

club Silksworth Colliery Welfare at the start of the 1950–51 season, but soon went on trial with

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

club

, and turned professional with that club in December 1950. He made his first-team debut a year later, on 27 October 1951, playing in the unaccustomed position of

; although he had played a few reserve matches in that position, the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'' doubted that "a home match against a team playing as strongly as

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

are just now is the ideal occasion" for a youngster's debut. Rotherham took a three-goal lead, but Hull came back to draw, and Nicklas scored their opener: he "had his faults, but dash, speed and courage were not among them. He harassed he goalkeeperinto a goal offering and accepted it with glee". He was known for his pace, having competed in professional sprint races. Nicklas played five more matches for Hull, the last of which was on 22 March 1952. Nicklas stayed with the club until the end of the following season, when he moved on to

of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. He scored six goals from seventeen league matches for Darlington, and spent the 1954–55 season with Headington United in the Southern League, scoring four goals from fourteen matches in all competitions. Nicklas, a nephew of

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

player Barney Travers, died in his native Sunderland in 2018 at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicklas, Charlie 1930 births 2018 deaths Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Silksworth Colliery Welfare F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen