Stan Hurst

Stanley Charles Hurst (21 June 1911 – 28 May 1993) was an English professional footballer who played as an outside forward and centre forward in the Football League for Exeter City, Watford, and Brighton & Hove Albion.[2]

Stan Hurst
Personal information
Full name Stanley Charles Hurst[1]
Date of birth (1911-06-21)21 June 1911[2]
Place of birth Newton St Cyres, England
Date of death 28 May 1993(1993-05-28) (aged 81)[1]
Place of death Crediton, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Jackson's United (Crediton)
Newton Poppleford
19??–1932 Tipton St John
1932–1936 Exeter City 107 (25)
1936–1937 Watford 29 (12)
1937–1939 Brighton & Hove Albion 33 (11)
1939–1946 Aldershot 0 (0)
1947–1948 Crediton United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Hurst was born in 1911 in Newton St Cyres, Devon, where his father was the stationmaster,[3] and attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Crediton. He played works and village football[4] and was working as a porter at Tipton St Johns railway station when he joined Exeter City in 1932, initially as an amateur. He made his Third Division South debut in October 1932 and turned professional later that season. He became a regular in the side, was their top scorer in 1933–34,[5] and scored the winning goal as Exeter beat Torquay United 2–1 to win the inaugural edition of the Football League Third Division South Cup.[4] He scored 25 goals from 107 league appearances before moving on to another Southern Section club, Watford, in 1936 for an undisclosed fee.[6] Hurst spent only one season with Watford; he scored 14 goals from 32 appearances in all competitions and was sold for £125 to Brighton & Hove Albion, also of the Third Division South.[6] He played little in his first season and appeared in more than half the matches in his second, scoring 11 goals from 34 appearances in all competitions.[1]

He joined Aldershot ahead of the 1939–40 Football League season but played only once, scoring a late equaliser away to Swindon Town, before competitive football was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.[6][7] He appeared as a guest for Reading in the wartime competitions and played for Aldershot in the 1945–46 season before returning to Devon where he played for Crediton United. He became chairman of the club but took the blame when a cup match in the 1950s turned into a riot, and Crediton United was banned from football sine die.[5]

Hurst collapsed and died in 1993 while playing golf in Crediton; he was 81.[1]

References
  1. Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
  2. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  3. "Football star's descendants visit Crediton museum exhibition". Crediton Area History & Museum Society. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  4. "Rare pre-war football medal to raise £350 at auction". Western Morning News. 6 November 2010. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012.
  5. "Hurst, Stanley". The Grecian Archive. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  6. "Holden to Iwelumo" (PDF). The Watford FC Archive. Trefor Jones. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  7. "Visitors find holes in the Town defence". Sporting Pink. Swindon. 2 September 1939. p. 1 – via Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk.
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