Harold Bodle
 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 4 October 1920 | ||
| Place of birth | Woodlands, Doncaster, England | ||
| Date of death | 1 January 2005 (aged 84) | ||
| Place of death | Bournemouth, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Inside left / Wing half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| – | Silverwood Colliery | ||
| – | Ridgehill Athletic | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1938 | Rotherham United | 9 | (0) |
| 1938–1949 | Birmingham City | 94 | (32) |
| 1949–1952 | Bury | 119 | (40) |
| 1952 | Betteshanger Colliery Welfare | ||
| 1952–1953 | 29 | (6) | |
| 1953–1957 | Accrington Stanley | 94 | (13) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1952 | Betteshanger Colliery Welfare (player-manager) | ||
| 1959–1960 | Accrington Stanley | ||
| 1974–1976 | Burton Albion | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Harold Bodle (4 October 1920 – 1 January 2005) was an English footballer who played as an inside left or wing half. He played for Birmingham City in the top flight and for several clubs in the North of England in the lower divisions of the Football League. He was particularly noted for juggling the ball, a skill he claimed to have perfected as a child by repeatedly kicking a small ball against the sideboard at home.
Bodle was born in Woodlands, near Doncaster. He played for Doncaster schoolboys before starting work at Silverwood Colliery where he played for the works team. He also played for Ridgehill Athletic and had trials at Doncaster Rovers and Bradford Park Avenue before signing professional forms for Third Division North side Rotherham United in May 1938. His Rotherham career was brief; after nine games in the Football League and just past his 18th birthday Bodle was transferred to First Division club Birmingham for a fee of £2,000. His reaction to the move was quoted thus:
Bodle played one first-team game for his new club before the outbreak of the Second World War put an end to League football. He made occasional appearances for the club in wartime competition, as well as guesting for Rotherham and Doncaster, for whom he scored 27 goals. He returned to Birmingham to play a full season (and score 16 goals) in the 1945–46 regional competition Football League South, which Birmingham won, and contributed three goals in their run to the FA Cup semifinal. By this time he was a fixture in the side. He scored 16 goals in all competitions in the first post-war League season – only Cyril Trigg got more for Birmingham – and 14 the following year, which made him the club's leading scorer and helped them to promotion back to the top flight. Once in the First Division Bodle's goals stopped coming, and in March 1949 the club accepted an offer for his services of £9,500 from Second Division Bury.
...
Wikipedia