Donald Maddison (15 February 1927 – 4 April 2017) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Darlington and in the Scottish C Division for Berwick Rangers.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Donald Maddison[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 15 February 1927[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Washington, England | ||
| Date of death | 4 April 2017 (aged 90)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, US | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Hylton Colliery Welfare | |||
| Sunderland | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1948 | Bradford Park Avenue | 0 | (0) |
| 1948–1949 | Blackpool | 0 | (0) |
| 1949 | Blackhall Colliery Welfare | ||
| 1949 | Brandon Colliery Welfare | ||
| 1949–19?? | Horden Colliery Welfare | ||
| 1950–1951 | Darlington | 1 | (0) |
| 1951–1953 | Berwick Rangers | 23 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Life and career
editMaddison was born in Washington, County Durham,[1] and began his football career as a youngster with Hylton Colliery Welfare during the Second World War. In April 1942, he played at Roker Park in a match against Sunderland Air Training Corps (ATC) in aid of the Sunderland Echo's Comfort for the Forces Fund; according to that newspaper, "both these junior teams can put eleven clever footballers into the field".[2] and later that year kept goal in the Hetton Junior League 1941–42 championship decider against Ryhope Juniors.[3] He signed for Sunderland for the 1943–44 season,[4] and by December 1945, he was playing adult football for Horden Colliery Welfare,[5] He signed amateur forms with Football League Second Division club Bradford Park Avenue in June 1946, but never played league football for them.[1]
He joined Blackpool of the First Division in February 1948, and played regularly for the reserve team in the Central League, but again played no part for the first team.[1][6] A year later he was back in the north-east with Blackhall Colliery Welfare,[7] moving on to Brandon Colliery Welfare[8] before returning to Horden Colliery Welfare for the 1949–50 season.[9] After injury to first-choice goalkeeper Jack Washington, Maddison played in the FA Cup tie against Billingham Synthonia, the winner to visit League club Stockport County in the first round proper.[10] Horden lost.
Maddison returned to the Football League in 1950 with Darlington of the Third Division North.[1] He finally made his league debut on 26 March 1951, deputising for the long-serving Billy Dunn in the local derby at home to Hartlepools United, played in a snowstorm on a quagmire of a Feethams pitch dotted with pools of standing water. Darlington lost 1–0, and it was Maddison's only first-team appearance.[11][12] At the end of the 1950–51 season, he signed for Berwick Rangers, an English club playing in the Scottish C Division. He made 23 league appearances and another 10 in the various cup competitions in two seasons with the club.[13] While a Berwick player, he was reported to be working "on the administrative staff of a well-known steel manufacturing firm".[6]
Maddison later emigrated to the United States, where he opened a travel agency in Allendale, New Jersey, in 1968.[14] He was married to Suzanne née Mooney, and lived in Ho-Ho-Kus until his death there in 2017 at the age of 90.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Don Maddison". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ "Juniors at Roker. Match for Forces' Comforts Fund". Sunderland Echo. 11 April 1942. p. 8.
- ^ "To-morrow's fixtures". Sunderland Echo. 28 August 1942. p. 7.
- ^ "Sunderland players". Newcastle Journal. 11 August 1943. p. 3.
- ^ "To-morrow's teams and fixtures". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 7 December 1945. p. 7.
- ^ a b "Rangers will take no chances in Peebles cup-tie". Berwick Advertiser. 24 January 1952. p. 7.
- ^ "'Borough stage N.-E. attraction". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 11 February 1949. p. 9.
- ^ "Northumberland pulled round". Morpeth Herald. 22 April 1949. p. 7.
- ^ "Horden ready for off". Sunderland Echo. 6 August 1949. p. 7.
- ^ "Stockport trip is big incentive". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 18 November 1949. p. 12.
- ^ "Endurance test at Feethams". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 26 March 1951. p. 8.
- ^ Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. pp. 47, 102. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
- ^ "Borderers A to Z: M". Berwick Rangers F.C. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014.
- ^ Wardell, Patricia Ward (1994). "11. The modern era 1961–1994" (PDF). Allendale: Background of a Borough. Allendale, New Jersey: Allendale Historical Society. p. 178.
- ^ "Donald Maddison". The Record/Herald News. Bergen County, NJ. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2021.