Vic Metcalfe
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2009) |
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Victor Metcalfe | ||
Date of birth | 3 February 1922 | ||
Place of birth | Barrow-in-Furness, England | ||
Date of death | 6 April 2003 | (aged 81)||
Place of death | Huddersfield, England | ||
Position(s) |
Winger | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1946–1958 | Huddersfield Town | 434 | (87) |
1958–1960 | Hull City | 6 | (3) |
International career | |||
1951 | England | 2 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Victor Metcalfe (3 February 1922 – 6 April 2003) was an English professional
Life and career
Metcalfe was born in
After a year out of football he returned to Huddersfield to coach for three years then moved to a similar post at
He was a natural left-footed player and his position at outside left was essentially unchallenged during his twelve years of post-war football at Huddersfield, nine seasons in the First Division and three in the Second. He was known for his pace and shooting power (he was for a long time the team's penalty taker) and above all for the accuracy of his crosses from the wing. His partnership with centre forward Jimmy Glazzard accounted for a high proportion of Huddersfield's goals during that period. Most notable were the four crosses from which Glazzard scored in the 8–2 defeat of Everton in April 1953. Metcalfe himself scored in that match as did all the other members of the forward line.
In 1952–53 Huddersfield set a league record in that the entire defence (
) played unchanged throughout the season. Metcalfe also played, at outside left, in every match.Representative honours for other wingers were hard to come by in the days of Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney, but Metcalfe won two caps for England against Portugal and against Argentina, both in May 1951; in both matches his club colleague Harold Hassall played at inside-left. In 1948 and 1949 he played for the FA against the RAF (scoring twice) and twice against the Army. He played for the Football League twice, in 1950 and 1954.
Metcalfe was also a useful cricketer. He played regularly at no. 4 for Broad Oak in the Huddersfield Cricket League. After retirement he continued to live in Huddersfield and died in 2003, aged 81. The nostalgia section of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner website has reports on a few of his matches.
References
- Huddersfield Town: A Complete Record 1910–1990, Terry Frost, Breedon Books 1990
- 99 Years and Counting – Huddersfield Town Centenary History by A.Hodgson, G.&I. Thomas and J.Ward, Huddersfield Town AFC, 2007
- Huddersfield Town, 75 Years On. G.S. Binns, Huddersfield Town AFC, 1984
- Vic Metcalfe at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database