John Astley (3 December 1909 – 8 November 1984) 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 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

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 ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

as a

right back 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 ...

Club career

Early years

, Astley began his career in his native

north west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

, playing for a number of amateur clubs before joining

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 ...

club

in 1930. He made just two appearances for the club before joining

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

club Shelbourne on loan for the 1932–33 season. He left Southport at the end of the 1932–33 season.

Brentford

Astley transferred to

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

in May 1933. He went straight into the team and made 41 appearances during the 1933–34 season, in which the Bees finished fourth in the Second Division. The arrival of full backs Arthur Bateman and

George Poyser George Henry Poyser (6 February 1910 – 30 January 1995) was an English football player and manager. A defender, he enjoyed a lengthy playing career, the tail end of which was interrupted by World War II. He played for Wolverhampton Wandere ...

during the 1934 off-season and an injury saw Astley lose his place in the team and he made just one appearance during the 1934–35 season, in which Brentford secured promotion to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

as champions. He instead played for the reserves and won the 1935

London Challenge Cup The London Challenge Cup was a association football, football tournament formerly organised by the London Football Association, London FA. It was first contested in 1908, and other than during the World Wars, was contested every season until 1974 ...

with the team. Astley managed to make eight appearances in the First Division during the first half of the 1935–36 season, before departing

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

in February 1936. Astley made 50 appearances for Brentford.

Coventry City

Astley joined

Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

high-flyers

in February 1936. He made 14 appearances in what remained of the 1935–36 season and helped the Sky Blues to the Third Division South title. Astley displaced Vic Brown from the team and with former Brentford teammate Walter Metcalf on the other flank at full back, he was an ever-present until professional football was suspended in 1939 upon to the outbreak of 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 ...

. He made 148 appearances for the Sky Blues and guested for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

during the war.

Representative career

While with Shelbourne, Astley played for the League of Ireland representative team against their Welsh League counterparts.

Personal life

Astley served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during and after the Second World War and rose to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He married his wife, an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n, during -years stationed in Germany. Astley settled in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in 1950 and began working for the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

, retiring in 1974. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in Whitley Hospital in November 1984.

Career statistics

Honours

Brentford Reserves *

: 1934–35 Coventry City *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

: 1935–36

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astley, Jack 1909 births 1984 deaths Footballers from Warrington English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Southport F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players English Football League players Brentford F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. wartime guest players British Army personnel of World War II British Army officers 20th-century English sportsmen