Samuel Charnley (18 November 1902 – 1977) was a Scottish

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 for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

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 ...

Career

Born in

Craigneuk Craigneuk is a suburb of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The original village of Craigneuk was located in the area where Meadowhead Road meets the A721 at Craigneuk Street. It was originally part of Dalziel parish, along with the other ru ...

, a suburb of

Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, Charnley played for Burnbank Athletic before joining

of the

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 ...

in January 1925. He made his debut on 12 September 1925 in a 4–1 win against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. After making 55 appearances in total, scoring once, he joined

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

team

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

in August 1928. He captained York in the 1928–29 season, which was to be their last in the Midland League before being elected to the Football League. He left after making 55 appearances and scoring five goals to join

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

in June 1929. He joined

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

in September, before returning to

Scottish football Association football is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scottish Borders, although many of ...

in May 1931.

Personal life

When Charnley joined Dartford, he secured jobs locally for family members who also moved to

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 ...

; these included his brother and his wife, who were the parents of boxer

Dave Charnley David Fraser Charnley (10 October 1935 – 3 March 2012) was an English lightweight boxer considered to be one of the greatest British fighters in his weight class. Known as "The Dartford Destroyer", the left-handed Charnley had a 10-year caree ...

, born in the town in 1935. Sam later ran a pub in Dartford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charnley, Sam 1902 births Footballers from Wishaw 1977 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players York City F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players English Football League players Midland Football League players Burnbank Athletic F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen