Frederick Reginald Attwell (23 March 1920 – 1 December 1986) was an English professional association

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 right wing-half. He played 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 ...

for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, and also had spells in

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 ...

Personal life

Attwell was born in

Shifnal Shifnal () is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 motorway and A5 (road), A5 road ...

, Shropshire, the son of a footballer. During 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 served in the British Army with the

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

. Following the conclusion of his football career, he lived in

, Lancashire, where he resided until his death at the age of 66.

Career

Attwell started his career in

with Denaby United, before signing for

in the 1937–38 season. He made his league debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

on 23 April 1938, but did not play again before the outbreak of the Second World War. In wartime, Attwell appeared as a guest player for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, making his debut on 21 February 1942 in the 0–1 defeat to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He played one more game for Leeds in 1943. Between October 1942 and September 1945 he played 35 games, scoring 3 goals as a guest for

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

. He later joining

as a wartime guest in 1945. He scored one goal in 15 matches for Burnley in the 1945–46 campaign before returning to West Ham. Upon his return, Attwell played four more league games for the Hammers, before joining Burnley on a permanent transfer in October 1946.Simpson, p. 497 Attwell played his first competitive match for Burnley on 9 November 1946 in the 1–1 draw with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. He went on to play 22 league games during his debut season, as well as six matches in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

as the side reached the final of the competition. He was in the starting line-up for the final as Burnley lost 0–1 to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. Attwell remained manager

Cliff Britton Clifford Samuel Britton (29 August 1909 – 1 December 1975) was an English football player and manager. Playing career After playing amateur football for a number of teams in the Bristol area, his professional playing career began when he sign ...

's first-choice right-half throughout the following season, missing only four games of the campaign. He scored his first goal for Burnley on 24 April 1948, netting the second goal in the 2–0 away victory over Chelsea. During the 1948–49 season, Attwell made 38 first-team appearances for Burnley and scored five goals (four of them penalty kicks). His performances earned him a call-up to the Football League representative side for a match against the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

in 1949. Following this, Attwell was widely expected to be selected 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 ...

, but he was never chosen to play for his country. On 3 September 1949, Attwell played his 100th league game for Burnley in the 1–0 win away at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. He retained his place in the Burnley side throughout the 1949–50 campaign, making 43 first team appearances. At the beginning of the next season, he found his place in the team taken by Len Martindale for the first two matches. However, Martindale then found himself replaced by

Reg Kirkham Reginald Kirkham (8 May 1919 – 1999) was an English footballer who played as full back for Burnley Football Club between 1947 and 1951. He played 15 games for Burnley and played in the Central League championship side of 1949. He scored one ...

for the next seven games before Harold Rudman played the following two matches.Simpson, p. 259 Attwell regained his place in the line-up on 14 October 1950 for the 5–1 home win against

. He was restricted to 17 league games for the side during the 1950–51 season as Jimmy Adamson took the right wing-half slot from February 1951 until the end of the campaign. Attwell regained his first-team place in the summer of 1951 and went on to make 71 league appearances in the next two seasons. In the 1953–54 campaign, he was forced to share his first-team berth with

Bobby Seith Robert Seith (born 9 March 1932) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He won league championships in both England and Scotland, with Burnley and Dundee respectively. Playing career Seith began his professional career with Burnley, ...

and only played 20 matches in the side. After eight years with the club, Attwell made his final appearance for Burnley on 4 September 1954 in the 0–2 loss to Everton at Turf Moor.Simpson, p. 275 With a total of 11 goals in 269 first-team matches for the Clarets, Attwell left Burnley in October 1954 to join

on a free transfer. Attwell played 24 league games for Bradford during the remainder of the 1954–55 season, but left the club in the summer of 1955. He subsequently returned to non-league football, having a short spell with

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

before retiring from the game in 1956.

Honours

Burnley *

finalist:

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Attwell, Reg Military personnel from Shropshire English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football wing halves West Ham United F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Darwen F.C. (1870) players Leeds United F.C. wartime guest players Doncaster Rovers F.C. wartime guest players Burnley F.C. wartime guest players Denaby United F.C. players People from Shifnal Footballers from Burnley 1920 births 1986 deaths English Football League representative players British Army personnel of World War II Essex Regiment soldiers 20th-century English sportsmen