Stewart Albert Mell (born 15 October 1957) is an English former 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 scored 30 goals from 145 appearances 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 ...

, playing 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 ...

, Halifax Town and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. He began his football career as a youngster with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, played

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 ...

for Appleby Frodingham,

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

and Goole Town, and was a member of the Scarborough team that won the

1986–87 Football Conference The Football Conference season of 1986–87 (known as the GM Vauxhall Conference for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the Football Conference, the first season under this name, this league having earlier been known as the Alliance Pr ...

to become the first club automatically promoted to the Football League. While a Burton Albion player, he was capped for England at semi-professional level.

Football career

Mell began his football career as an apprentice with

, but never played for the first team. He moved on to local Lincolnshire League side Appleby Frodingham before joining

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

club

, initially on a non-contract basis. He made his first-team debut on 29 December 1979 in a 2–1 home defeat to

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 ...

. He played irregularly over the next two and a half seasons, helping the club gain promotion to the Third Division in 1981, and scoring winning goals against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

that contributed to their avoiding relegation in 1981–82. He spent the 1983–84 season back in the Fourth Division with Halifax Town before moving into the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

with

. In 1984, Burton knocked Football League club

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 ...

out of the FA Cup with goals from Mell and Nigel Simms. While a Burton player, Mell won his only cap for the England semi-professional representative eleven; he played against Wales in 1985, without scoring. In the 1986 close season, Mell followed Burton manager

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

club

. Partnered in attack by Phil Walker or

Stewart Hamill Stewart Peter Hamill (born 22 January 1960) is a Scottish former footballer who played in the Football League for Leicester City, Scunthorpe United, Northampton Town and Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough ( ...

, Mell was Scarborough's leading scorer with 16 Conference goals (18 in all competitions) as they won the division, six points clear of favourites

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

, to become the first team to benefit from the introduction of direct

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

between Conference and League in place of the longstanding

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be a ...

system. He scored at each end of the run of 13 consecutive away wins that made a major contribution to their progression from mid-season mid-table to the penultimate game of the season that confirmed them as champions. Mell scored Scarborough's first goal in the Football League, on the opening day of the 1987–88 season, a 2–2 draw at home to

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 ...

marred by £20,000-worth of damage to the ground, fighting on the terraces, 54 arrests, and a visiting supporter falling through the roof of a stand. He finished the season as the club's top scorer for the second year running, with ten goals in all competitions. He played rarely in Scarborough's second league season. In October 1988, he joined conference club

on a month's loan. He made four appearances and scored once, in his first game for the club, a 5–0 defeat of Barnet. After 79 appearances in League and Conference for Scarborough, Mell finished his football career back 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 ...

with Goole Town.

Personal life

Mell was born in

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, which was then in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. He worked as a

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

during much of his football career, and , was still employed in the fire service, based in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mell, Stewart 1957 births Living people Footballers from Doncaster English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Appleby Frodingham F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Goole Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players