Maurice Wellock

Maurice Wellock

Personal information
Full name	Maurice Wellock[1]
Date of birth	15 June 1902
Place of birth	Bradford, Yorkshire
Date of death	1967 (aged 64)
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Playing position	Centre forward, wing half
Youth career
–	Bradford City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
–	Bradford City	0	(0)
1919–1923	Halifax Town	33	(3)
1923–1927	Blackpool	27	(7)
1927	Oldham Athletic	5	(6)
1927–1928	Torquay United	27	(3)
1928–1929	Peterborough & Fletton United
1929–1932	Darlington	104	(71)
1932–1934	Halifax Town	82	(21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Maurice Wellock (15 June 1902 – 1967) was an English professional footballer who scored 111 goals from 278 appearances in the Football League.

Life and career

Wellock was born in Bradford, Yorkshire,^[1] where he attended Drummond Road School. In 1916, he became the first Bradford boy to be capped for England in a schoolboy international.^[3] He began his senior career with hometown club Bradford City.^[1] He played for their first team in the wartime leagues at the age of fifteen,^[4] but never appeared once the Football League resumed after the war.^[1]

He had joined Halifax Town by 1919,^[5] and made his league debut in the 1921–22 season. He scored three times in 33 games for Halifax before moving to Blackpool in 1923. He was not a regular in the Blackpool side, playing 27 league games in which he scored seven times,^[1] and moved to Oldham Athletic in February 1927,^[6] scoring six goals in just five league games,^[1] including four on his debut in a 5–2 win away to Grimsby Town.^[7]

In June 1927, he joined newly promoted Torquay United, playing in Torquay's first ever game in the Football League, a 1–1 draw at home to local rivals Exeter City on 27 August 1927.^[2] He spent just one season with Torquay, scoring three times in 27 games before joining Southern League club Peterborough & Fletton United.^[1]

In 1929, he returned to the Football League with Darlington where he played regularly as a centre-forward, having played mainly as a defender with Torquay. He scored 71 goals, including five in one game against Rotherham United in 1930,^[8] in 104 league games for Darlington, finishing his career with a further 21 goals in 82 league games for Halifax Town.^[1]

References

1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888–1939. p. 275. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
2. "Torquay United. New half-back from Oldham". Western Morning News (Plymouth). 25 June 1927. p. 12 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
   "Exeter City share points at Torquay". Devon and Exeter Gazette. 29 August 1927. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
3. Bulled, John (1994). "Chapter Two: The earliest recorded period (1901–1918)". The Story of Bradford Boys. Bradford Metropolitan District Schools' Football Association. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
4. "Saturday's football. Birmingham's fine show at Valley Parade". Birmingham Daily Post. 31 December 1917. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)). Wellock, who is possibly the youngest player that ever participated in League football – he is but fifteen – is in need of a rest.
5. "Halifax Town v. Wednesday Reserve". Yorkshire Telegraph and Star. 8 January 1920. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)). Halifax Town will rely on the team which has figured in the last three matches, as follows: ... Smith, Wild, Wellock, Cook, and Robinson.
6. "The Association game". Manchester Guardian. 4 February 1927. p. 17.
7. "Association shocks". Manchester Guardian. 14 February 1927. p. 4. Individual scoring honours were taken by Wellock, a centre forward who got four goals in his first game for Oldham;
8. "Third Division (North)". Yorkshire Post. 17 February 1930. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).