Frank Mitchell (sportsman, born 1922)

Frank Rollason Mitchell (3 June 1922 – 4 April 1984) was an Australian-born professional footballer who played as a wing half. He played over 350 games in the Football League, including 86 in the First Division. He also played county cricket for Warwickshire.

Frank Mitchell
Personal information
Full name Frank Rollason Mitchell
Date of birth 3 June 1922
Place of birth Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death 2 April 1984(1984-04-02) (aged 61)
Place of death Lapworth, England
Position(s) Wing half
Youth career
1941–1943 Coventry City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1943–1949 Birmingham City 93 (6)
1949–1952 Chelsea 75 (1)
1952–1958 Watford 193 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Cricket career

Mitchell was born in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, and moved to England when a teenager. His main sport was cricket, and he joined the Warwickshire ground staff at 15.

Mitchell played 17 first-class matches for Warwickshire between 1946 and 1948, taking 22 wickets at an average of 38.9 with his right-arm medium-pace or off-break bowling, making 229 runs at an average of 8.29 and taking seven catches. He played for and became groundsman and secretary of Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club.[1]

Football career

He began his football career as an amateur with Coventry City, and made guest appearances during the Second World War with several clubs, including Birmingham, who were sufficiently impressed to sign him on professional forms in 1943. He had a calm temperament and became the club's regular penalty-taker. In 1946 he played for an England XI against a Scotland XI in an unofficial friendly international to raise money for the victims of the Bolton disaster.[2]

After 106 games for Birmingham he moved to Chelsea in January 1949. He made 85 appearances for Chelsea before in 1952 moving to Watford where he finished his career, playing nearly 200 league games for the club before he retired in 1958.

Death

He died at Lapworth, Warwickshire, aged 61.

Honours

References
  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 111. ISBN 1-85983-010-2.
  • Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  • Frank Mitchell at cricinfo

Notes
  1. Prosser, Alan. "Warwickshire Connection". Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007.
  2. Courtney, Barrie (21 March 2004). "England – War-Time/Victory Internationals – Details". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 16 October 2007.
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