Percy A. Mackrill (born 19 October 1894 – 1949) was a

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

-born

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 football club manager.

Career

Mackrill joined

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

in the summer of 1913 and remained with them until the outbreak of

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, though failed to make the first team. He spent the war years playing for Rotherham County. He joined

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 ...

in the summer of 1919 as Coventry began their first season 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 ...

. However, he played just once before moving to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

later that year. Halifax were elected to the football league in 1921 and Mackrill played in their first ever league game, a 2–0 defeat away to eventual runners-up

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" ...

on 27 August 1921. He played 57 league games for Halifax before leaving at the end of the 1922–23 season to join Pontypridd, where he spent two years before joining

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

in 1925. He later became player-manager and led Torquay to the Southern League title in 1927, which they won by 0.002 of a goal from

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

reserves. This earned them promotion to 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 ...

, Torquay winning election in place of

Aberdare Athletic Aberdare Athletic Football Club were a Welsh football club founded in 1893 and based at the Athletic Ground in Aberdare. They joined the Football League in 1921 but were replaced by Torquay United after failing to be re-elected in 1927. Histo ...

. He left himself out of the starting line-up at the beginning of Torquay's first league season, preferring to play George Smith at left-back. However, after six games, Mackrill returned to the team, playing in the next six games before retiring as a player to concentrate on management, although the team was actually selected by the directors. Torquay finished in last place at the end of their first season in the Division Three (South) and he left in March 1929 with United struggling near the foot of the table once more.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackrill, Percy 1894 births South African men's soccer players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Rotherham County F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Pontypridd F.C. players English Football League players South African soccer managers Torquay United F.C. managers 1949 deaths Men's association football fullbacks Cape Colony emigrants to the United Kingdom