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Jim Olney

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Jim Olney
Personal information
Full name James Ferd Olney[a]
Date of birth (1914-08-01)1 August 1914
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Date of death 14 September 1944(1944-09-14) (aged 30)
Place of death Near the Dutch–Belgian border
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Position(s) Centre half / Left half
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Tyseley Rangers
Longbridge Albion
Newbridge Athletic
193?–1936 Redditch
1936–1938 Birmingham 3 (0)
1938–1944 Swindon Town 13 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Ferd Olney (1 August 1914 – 14 September 1944), sometimes written as James Fred Olney,[a] was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Birmingham and Swindon Town. He was killed on active service with the Coldstream Guards during the Second World War.

Life and career

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Olney was born in 1914 in St Bartholomew's Parish, Birmingham, the son of James Ferd Olney, a brass fitter, and his wife Harriet Florence née Brown. He had an older sister, Ivy May.[8][3] His father's younger brother, Ben Olney, played football as a goalkeeper for Derby County, Aston Villa and England.[9][10]

Olney played local football for clubs including Tyseley Rangers, Longbridge Albion, Newbridge Athletic and Redditch[6][11] before joining First Division club Birmingham in March 1936.[1] He began his Birmingham career with the reserve team in the Central League, and despite scoring an own goal against Sheffield Wednesday's reserves at the end of April – Birmingham won the match 8–3[12] – he was given his first-team and Football League debut a few days later in the last game of the 1935–36 season, a 3–1 home defeat against West Bromwich Albion.[13]

He began the 1936–37 season back in the Birmingham Combination as captain of Birmingham's "A" team.[14] He played twice for the first team that season, once in January and once in April, standing in for Tom Fillingham at centre half,[15] but made no further appearances. He underwent knee cartilage surgery in January 1938,[16] but even without the injury, he had been unable to displace Fillingham from the regular starting eleven: they played in a similar style,[10] but Olney "lacked the destructive abilities" of the more experienced man.[17] Fillingham was given a free transfer at the end of the season, while Olney was retained.[18] Several men were used at centre-half in the first few months of the 1938–39 season, but Olney was not,[19] and in December 1938 he moved to Third Division South club Swindon Town.[10]

Olney played twice for Swindon's Southern League team before making his first-team debut on 17 December, coming into the side at left half in place of the injured Stan Wilcockson to face Exeter City at home. Swindon won 2–1, and, according to the Football Pink, Olney "seemed to be on the slow side at the start, but he speeded up appreciably and his distribution of the ball was of a high order."[20] He made eight more appearances over the next couple of months before Wilcockson regained possession of the left-half position until his injured ankle allowed Olney to play in the last match of the season.[21][22] His powerful free kick was headed home by Ben Morton to open the scoring in a 3–1 win against Torquay United that secured his team a ninth-place finish.[23] He played in the first three matches of the 1939–40 season, which was then abandoned because of the Second World War.[24]

Olney returned to Birmingham, where the 1939 Register lists him as a professional footballer and Birmingham City Police reservist living with his widowed mother, a canteen worker, and his sister, a sewing machinist, in Colonial Road, Bordesley Green.[25] He left the police at his own request in June 1940,[4] and joined the Army. Olney served as a Lance-Serjeant in the 5th Battalion, Coldstream Guards, and was killed in action near the Dutch–Belgian border on 14 September 1944, at the age of 30.[2][26][27] He was buried in Geel War Cemetery[2] and commemorated at the County Ground, Swindon.[7]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Birmingham 1935–36[13] First Division 1 0 — 1 0
1936–37[15] First Division 2 0 0 0 2 0
1937–38[28] First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0
1938–39[19] First Division 0 0 — 0 0
Total 3 0 0 0 3 0
Swindon Town 1938–39[21] Third Division South 10 0 0 0 10 0
1939–40[24] Third Division South 3 0 — 13 0
Total 13 0 0 0 13 0
Career total 16 0 0 0 16 0

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Although some sources, including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission,[2] list Olney's middle name as Fred, multiple reliable primary and secondary sources confirm it to be Ferd, the same as his father's: the next-of-kin entry on his father's military papers;[3] his police personnel file;[4] his probate entry;[5] the English National Football Archive;[6] the commemorative plaque at Swindon Town F.C.'s ground.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Olney for Blues". Birmingham Gazette. 24 March 1936. p. 11.
  2. ^ a b c "Casualty details". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "James Ferd Olney: Military History Sheet". UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914–1920 – via Ancestry.com.
  4. ^ a b "James Ferd Olney: Birmingham City". West Midlands, England, Police Files and Ledgers, 1850–1950 – via Ancestry.com.
  5. ^ "Wills and probate 1858–1996: Olney 1944". UK Probate Service. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Player search: Olney, JF (Jim)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Roll of Honour plaque unveiled". Swindon Town F.C. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  8. ^ "James Ferd Olney: Ashted, St James the Less: 1910–1915". Birmingham, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1937. p. 49 – via Ancestry.com.
  9. ^ "Ben Olney". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin & Glen Isherwood. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  10. ^ a b c Matthews (1995), p. 115.
  11. ^ "Birmingham Combination. Redditch v. Gloucester". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 15 February 1936. p. 5. Redditch entertained Gloucester City. Redditch included Olney, of Newbridge Athletic, and Marson, late of Moor Green.
  12. ^ "Central League. Birmingham Res. 8, Wednesday Res. 3". Daily Independent. Sheffield. 27 April 1936. p. 12.
  13. ^ a b Matthews (1995), p. 178.
  14. ^ "Untitled". Sports Argus. 5 September 1936. p. 6.
  15. ^ a b Matthews (1995), p. 179.
  16. ^ "Operations on two Blues players". Birmingham Gazette. 11 January 1938. p. 11.
  17. ^ "United were worth the point". Daily Herald. London. 12 April 1937. p. 16.
  18. ^ "Fillingham and Stoker not on Blues' retained list". Birmingham Gazette. 5 May 1938. p. 12.
  19. ^ a b Matthews (1995), p. 181.
  20. ^ "Swindon's fine recovery after poor start". Football Pink. Swindon. 17 December 1938. p. 1.
  21. ^ a b "Playing record: James Olney: 1938–1939". Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk. Richard Banyard. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Playing record: Stan Wilcockson: 1938–1939". Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk. Richard Banyard. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  23. ^ "Torquay well beaten at County Ground". Football Pink. Swindon. 6 May 1939. p. 1.
  24. ^ a b "Playing record: James Olney: 1939–1940". Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk. Richard Banyard. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  25. ^ "James F. Olney: Warwickshire: Birmingham: QBII". 1939 England and Wales Register – via Ancestry.com.
  26. ^ "War Diary: 5th Battalion Coldstream Guards, Jan–Dec 1944". Retrieved 3 April 2021 – via ww2talk.com.
  27. ^ "5th Battalion Coldstream Guards: No. 2653987 R.S.M. Robert William Smith". Retrieved 3 April 2021 – via ww2talk.com.
  28. ^ Matthews (1995), p. 180.

Sources

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  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
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