Derek Gilbert Ufton (31 May 1928 – 27 March 2021) was an English professional

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

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 ...

, and later a football manager. Playing professionally for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

as a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

and Charlton Athletic Football Club, Ufton won a single international cap for the

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

in 1953. He went on to manage Plymouth Argyle. At the time of his death, in March 2021 at the age of 92, he was England's oldest living international footballer.RIP Derek Ufton
Charlton Athletic Football Club, 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27.Derek Ufton 1928–2021

, 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27.Derek Ufton obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 2021-03-29. Retrieved 2021-03-29.

Early life

Ufton was born at

Crayford Crayford is a town and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in South London, South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the Historic countie ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in 1928. After winning a scholarship, he was educated at

Dartford Grammar School Dartford Grammar School is a secondary foundation school for boys (ages 11–18) in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top 25% of t ...

Pennell M (2014
A remarkable sporting life – Derek Ufton

, 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27. where his PE teacher was Joe Jagger, the father of future rock star

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

. Growing up during

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 ...

, Ufton worked in a shipping office in London during the later part of the war. His mother was killed in an air raid in 1944. He completed his

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 Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

after the end of the war, playing cricket for the RASC and football for Army sides alongside

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

. He shared a flat with Hill in London after being demobilised and went on to meet

Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora a ...

, who he remained friends with. This meeting led to him signing as a professional for Charlton Athletic Football Club in 1949, having been also offered a trial at Cardiff City.Derek Ufton, sportsman who played cricket for Kent and football for Charlton Athletic – obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 2021-04-01. Retrieved 2021-04-03.

Cricket career

A keen sportsman, Ufton played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

between 1949 and 1962 as a

batsman.Derek Ufton

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 2021-03-27. He had first played for the county's Second XI in 1945 and was awarded his Second XI cap in 1946, but his period of national service meant he did not make his First XI debut until 1949.Derek Ufton
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2021-03-27. He scored almost 4,000 runs for the side, keeping wicket as a replacement for England international wicket-keeper

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test matc ...

. In 1961, his most successful season statistically, he scored 668 runs for Kent and took 90 dismissals and made his only first-class appearance for a non-Kent side, playing for an MCC side against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. His only first-class century, a score of 119

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

was made against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

in 1952.Sussex v Kent at Hastings, ''

'', 1952-07-28, p.3.
Available online
at The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2021-03-29.) Ufton was awarded his Kent county cap in 1956 and continued playing for he county's Second XI after he dropped out of the First XI during 1962, often captaining the side until 1966. He was awarded a benefit season in 1963 and later served on Kent's General Committee and was the club's president in 1991. He played club cricket for Dartford Cricket Club, continuing to be involved with the club throughout his life.A tribute to DCC legend Derek Ufton
, Dartford Cricket Club. Retrieved 2021-03-29.

Football career

Ufton made 277 appearances, primarily as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, for Charlton Athletic between 1949 and 1960. He was notorious for shoulder injuries, and dislocated his at least 20 times during his football career. He gained his only

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

cap in 1953, against a team from the Rest of Europe. He was captain of Charlton in the record-setting match against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

at The Valley on 21 December 1957. Charlton played most of the match with 10 men after Ufton broke his collar bone, and Huddersfield were leading 5–1 with just 27 minutes remaining.Giller N (2008
The Summers day that brightened Christmas
Sports Journalists' Association, 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2021-03-21. At that point, Johnny Summers began a passage of play in which he scored five goals and assisted with two others to allow Charlton to win 7–6. Huddersfield become the first, and still the only, team to score six goals in an English Football League match – or any other professional football match – and still be on the losing side. Ufton's playing career was ended by injury in 1960. He then became a coach at Tooting & Mitcham United in 1961, where he stayed until joining

as a coach at Plymouth Argyle during the 1964–65 season. He replaced Allison as manager in 1965, managing the club in 117 matches before leaving in 1968.R.I.P Derek Ufton
Plymouth Argyle Football Club, 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27. He served as a director of Charlton between 1984 and 2009.

Personal life

Ufton married twice, his first marriage ending in divorce. He had five children. After his playing career he worked as a sporting activities director at the Sportsman Casino in London and was the national chairman of the Lord's Taverners cricket charity.Derek Ufton: Former Kent cricketer & Charlton and England footballer dies, aged 92

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-29. In later life he lived at Elham between

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

.Derek Ufton, former Kent cricketer and Charlton and England footballer, dies aged 92
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations, TV and websites throughout the county. Yattendon Group#Iliff ...

'', 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-29. Ufton died at the age of 92 in March 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufton, Derek 1928 births 2021 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers English men's footballers English football managers England men's international footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. managers English Football League managers People from Crayford Cricketers from the London Borough of Bexley Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People educated at Dartford Grammar School Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Presidents of Kent County Cricket Club Men's association football defenders English football coaches 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Service Corps soldiers Wicket-keepers Military personnel from the London Borough of Bexley English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen