Dave Mason (footballer)

David William Mason (13 February 1913 – 1983) was an English amateur footballer who played as an inside right or centre forward in the Football League for Darlington. He was on the books of Newcastle United without playing first-team football for them, and played non-league football for Cornsay Colliery Welfare, for Northern Amateur League club Bohemians, and for Blyth Spartans.[2]

Dave Mason
Personal information
Full name David William Mason[1]
Date of birth (1913-02-13)13 February 1913[1]
Place of birth South Shields, England
Date of death 1983 (1984) (aged 70)
Place of death Gateshead, England
Position(s) Inside forward, centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Cornsay Colliery Welfare
193?–1936 Bohemians (Newcastle)
1936 Blyth Spartans
1936–1937 Newcastle United 0 (0)
1937–1938 Blyth Spartans
1938–19?? Darlington 6 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Mason was born in South Shields, County Durham, in 1913.[1] He played football for Cornsay Colliery Welfare,[1] and made his name as a goalscorer playing for the Newcastle-based club Bohemians of the Northern Amateur League.[3] Described as an inside right of powerful build, he signed for Blyth Spartans in July 1936.[3] When selected to represent the Northumberland Association against the West Riding of Yorkshire in a Northern Counties Amateur Championship match that November, the local newspaper, the Morpeth Herald, mentioned that he had been "causing some flutterings lately among scouts of the Football League clubs."[4] He was not a regular first-teamer for Spartans, but was brought in to replace a cup-tied player in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round match against Walker Celtic.[5]

His performances attracted interest from Aston Villa, Everton and Newcastle United,[6] and he joined the latter club on amateur forms in late December 1936.[7] He made no appearances for Newcastle's league team, and rejoined Spartans for 1937–38.[8] He continued to score,[9] and his creative play was also noticed.[10] In February 1938, he played for a Football Association Amateur XI against the Universities Athletic Union,[11] and in March, he captained and starred in the Northumberland F.A. team that beat the Sheffield Hallam Association in the semi-final of the Northern Counties Amateur Championship.[12]

Mason moved into the Football League with Darlington in 1938: he had received various offers from "bigger" clubs, but wanted to retain his amateur status and his regular job as a schoolteacher in Newcastle.[13] He suffered a rupture that needed surgery and kept him out for the first half of the season.[14] The Evening Chronicle's amateur football correspondent thought that Mason would have been included in the North eleven for the amateur international trials in October had he been fit.[15] He first appeared for Darlington's reserves in the North-Eastern League in January 1939,[16] and was selected to captain Northumberland amateurs against Cumberland later that month.[17]

After a poor run of form in which Darlington took only one point from five matches, Mason made his first outing in the Football League, taking over the inside-right position as one of three changes for the visit of Hull City on 18 February 1939.[18] The Hull Daily Mail dubbed it a "particularly meritorious" debut, albeit in a 1–0 loss, but thought the Darlington forward line "sadly lacking in guile".[19] He played in the next match, but was not picked again until the last four fixtures of the season in which, playing at centre forward, he scored five goals: one in a 3–1 loss at Wrexham,[18] a hat-trick against Barrow,[20] and one in a 2–1 defeat at home to York City in the last match of the season.[18]

Mason broke his wrist playing for Darlington's reserve team at the start of the 1939–40 season, before the Second World War put an end to proceedings.[14] He took no part in Darlington's wartime league programme,[21] but was involved with a Northern Amateur League team that played matches against military teams in aid of charitable causes.[22]

Mason died in Gateshead in 1983 at the age of 70.[1][23]

References
  1. Dave Mason at the English National Football Archive (subscription required) Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  2. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. 'Bedouin' (31 July 1936). "Under the searchlight. Spartans signing". Sunderland Echo. p. 15.
  4. "Big attraction for Ashington". Morpeth Herald. 30 October 1936. p. 2.
  5. "Chatter". Morpeth Herald. 13 November 1936. p. 2.
  6. 'Bedouin' (11 December 1936). "Under the searchlight. Newcastle interested". Sunderland Echo. p. 19. In addition to Everton and Aston Villa, Newcastle United are now showing a close interest in D.W. Mason, inside right of Blyth Spartans, and have gone so far as to inquire what the Spartans will regard as a satisfactory financial bargain. The Blyth officials have quoted a figure, which, it is understood, has raised no objection from the Newcastle officials. Consequently Mason may move shortly. He lives at Heaton, and is a school teacher on Tyneside.
  7. "En passant". Morpeth Herald. 25 December 1936. p. 2.
  8. "Sporting briefs". Morpeth Herald. 28 May 1937. p. 3.
  9. "Football". Morpeth Herald. 1 October 1937. p. 2. The Spartans ran riot against Durham, scoring eight goals. W. Mason was another who got a hat-trick.
  10. "Football". Morpeth Herald. 31 December 1937. p. 2.
  11. "F.A. team to play U.A.U." Yorkshire Post. 15 February 1938. p. 17.
  12. "Football". Morpeth Herald. 11 March 1938. p. 2.
    "Amateur Championship. Northumberland win". Morpeth Herald. 18 March 1938. p. 2. In Northumberland's triumph of three goals to one over Sheffield and Hallamshire in the replayed semi-final of the Northern Counties amateur championship at North Shields, D.W. Mason, Blyth Spartans' inside right, was the star. His brilliant scheming led to the two goals scored by Turnbull, the Alnwick Town reserve centre forward, and he held the attack together in fine style.
  13. 'Three Crowns' (17 February 1939). "Full points for Tigers? Changes for Darlington match". Daily Mail. Hull. p. 15.
  14. 'Sentinel' (22 August 1939). "Sports Gossip". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. p. 7.
  15. 'Radex' (31 January 1939). "Amateur soccer". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. p. 11.
  16. "Darlington's new leader for Monday's match". North-Eastern Gazette. Middlesbrough. 5 January 1939. p. 9.
  17. "'North' amateur team at Workington". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. 5 January 1939. p. 13.
  18. Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
  19. 'Three Crowns' (20 February 1939). "Victory for Hull City but Darlington match not impressive". Daily Mail. Hull. p. 9.
  20. "A runaway win". Yorkshire Post. 17 April 1939. p. 14.
  21. Rollin, Jack (2005). Soccer at War 1939–45. London: Headline. pp. 324–25. ISBN 978-0-7553-1431-7.
  22. "Fenham attraction". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. 29 April 1940. p. 7.
  23. "David William Mason". England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837–2007. Retrieved 10 February 2017 – via FamilySearch.org.
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