Jimmy Jones (footballer, born 1928)

James Jones (25 July 1928 – 13 February 2014) was a Northern Irish footballer. He is the leading goalscorer in the history of Irish League football with a total of 647 goals.[1] According to RSSSF he has scored more than 809 goals in official matches, which makes him one of the most prolific goal scorers of all time.[2]

Jimmy Jones
Personal information
Full name James Jones
Date of birth (1928-07-25)25 July 1928
Place of birth Keady, Northern Ireland
Date of death 13 February 2014(2014-02-13) (aged 85)
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1943–1944 Sunnyside 5 (7)
1944–1945 Glenavon Juniors 25 (36)
1945–1946 Shankill Young Men 22 (40)
1946–1949 Belfast Celtic 33 (43)
1950 Larne 0 (0)
1950–1951 Fulham 0 (0)
1951–1962 Glenavon 222 (269)
1962–1963 Portadown 14 (8)
1963–1964 Bangor 20 (12)
1964–1965 Newry Town 28 (28)
Total 369 (443)
International career
1947–1959 Irish League XI 24 (11)
1947 Northern Ireland Youth 1 (2)
1956–1957 Northern Ireland 3 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

In a career spanning almost 20 years, Jones started his career with Belfast Celtic. After having his leg broken by rival supporters, he spent over a year out of the game, before returning at intermediate level with Larne. After a short spell there and a season in English football with Fulham, he joined Glenavon where he helped to propel the club to the most successful period in their history. He later represented Portadown, Bangor and Newry Town. He also won 3 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring 1 goal.

Early life

Jones was born in his maternal grandmother's home in Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, the only child of Thomas Jones, a police sergeant, and his wife Ellen (née Wilson). After education at Carrick Primary School and Lurgan Technical College, he served his apprenticeship as a mechanic, while making an impact as a footballer.[3]

Club career

Belfast Celtic

Jones signed for Belfast Celtic in 1946 after playing football with Glenavon Juniors (the junior side of Irish League team Glenavon) in the Mid-Ulster League and Shankill Young Men in the Northern Amateur Football League. He was prolific at junior level, scoring 38 goals in 30 games for Glenavon Juniors and 50 goals in 30 games for Shankill Young Men.[4] Jones made an immediate impact with Belfast Celtic. After spending his first season with the reserve side, he scored 62 goals in all competitions in the 1947–48 season for the senior side. Such was his ability that his club rejected a £16,000 offer from Newcastle United. During the following season, Jones had 27 goals from 19 games (including six hat-tricks), prior to an infamous match on Boxing Day 1948 with Linfield. At the end of the match, Linfield supporters invaded the pitch and Jones was chased onto terracing and stamped on until his leg was broken. Due to the outcry over this incident, Belfast Celtic resigned from the league at the end of the season and left football.[5]

Jones had surgery to save his leg (which left his right leg shorter than the left), but would not play again until March 1950. He was officially released from his Belfast Celtic contract on March 1, 1950,[6] having scored 102 goals in 80 games.[4]

He signed for Irish Intermediate League side Larne on March 5, 1950.[7][8] After just six days there, and prior to Larne's next match against Brantwood, he joined Fulham in the summer of 1950, where he spent one season but made no first-team appearances due to a technicality over his registration which meant he could only play in reserve team matches.[9][10][11]

Glenavon

In 1951, he joined Glenavon where he would spend 11 years and became a club legend. He was the leading Irish League goalscorer for some years in the fifties, and finished as Irish League outright leading goalscorer in six seasons (a record still unbroken), during the most successful period in Glenavon's history where they won the Irish League championship and Irish Cup three times each.[12] Jones also hit 74 goals (in all competitions) during the 1956–57 Irish League season.[13] He scored 517 goals in total for the Lurgan Blues.[14] Jones later served as club captain on the teams tour of the United States in 1962.[15]

Later career

Jones later represented Irish League sides Portadown and Bangor, spending a season with each club. He scored 14 goals in 28 games for Portadown and 14 goals in 26 games for Bangor.[4] His final season was spent in the Irish League B Division (which was then the second-tier of football in Northern Ireland) with Newry Town, where he scored 32 goals in 32 games before retiring in 1965 with a national domestic record of 647 goals.[4] He remains the leading goalscorer in Irish league history.[16]

Personal life

Jones met his wife, Cicely at a badminton supper at his local church. Originally from County Kilkenny, she was training to be a nurse in Lurgan. They have two children, Jennifer and Trevor.[17] Jones was also a dedicated motorcycle racer in summer and was seen regularly competing in the Ulster Grand Prix.[18]

Jones died on 13 February 2014, at the age of 85.[19]

International career

Jones scored three goals in the Irish League representative team which defeated the Football League 5–3 at Windsor Park in 1953, and played in three full international games for Northern Ireland, scoring once against Wales in Cardiff in the 1956 British Home Championship.[20]

Honours
Belfast Celtic[21]
Glenavon[21]

See also

References
  1. "Jimmy Jones: Rumbustious striker whose goals made him one of the most prolific scorers in the history of Irish football". The Independent. 26 February 2014. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  2. "RSSSF : Prolific Scorers Data". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  3. "Belfast Celtic legend renowned as teak -tough and prolific centre-forward". The Irish Times. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  4. "Prolific Scorers Data - Jimmy Jones - Additional Data". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  5. McKendry, Adam (27 December 2018). "70 years since Linfield v Celtic day of shame that left Jimmy Jones with broken leg at Windsor Park". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. "CELTIC RELEASE JONES". Northern Whig. 2 March 1950. Retrieved 18 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Jimmy Jones Signs For Intermediate Club". Belfast Newsletter. 6 March 1950. p. 7.
  8. "JONES SIGNS FOR LARNE". Derry Journal. 6 March 1950. Retrieved 18 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Jimmy Jones, the Lurgan legend". UEFA. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  10. "Jimmy Jones Goes To Fulham". Ireland's Saturday Night. 11 March 1950. Retrieved 31 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Jones Signs For Fulham". The Scotsman. 13 March 1950. Retrieved 18 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "The infamous day a 'savage mob' broke bones and a club died". BBC. 27 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  13. "Football in mourning for legend Jimmy Jones, the man caught up in one of local game's darkest days". Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  14. "Jimmy Jones dies: Veteran footballer who still holds Irish League goal record". Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  15. "Jimmy Jones: genius, gentleman... legend". Belfast Telegraph. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  16. Luney, Graham (14 February 2014). "Jimmy Jones: genius, gentleman... legend". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  17. "Paradise lost". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  18. "Jimmy Jones dies: Veteran footballer who still holds Irish League goal record". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  19. "Irish League soccer legend Jimmy Jones dies". News Letter. Johnston Publishing. 13 February 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  20. "Jimmy Jones". National-Football-Teams.com.
  21. "Player; JIMMY JONES". NIFG Index. 13 January 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
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