Tom Keetley
Personal information
Full name Thomas Keetley
Date of birth (1898-11-16)16 November 1898
Place of birth Derby, England
Date of death 19 August 1958(1958-08-19) (aged 59)
Place of death Derby, England
Height 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in (1.71 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Victoria Ironworks
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1919?–1923 Bradford Park Avenue 22 (5)
1923–1929 Doncaster Rovers 231 (180)
1929–1933 Notts County 103 (94)
1933 Lincoln City 10 (5)
1934 Gresley Rovers 5 (2)
1934?–1935? Heanor Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Keetley (16 November 1898 – 18 August 1958) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 284 Football League goals between 1919 and 1934.[2]

Life and career

Keetley was one of eleven brothers and one sister[3] he was born in Derby[4] and came from a footballing family with several other brothers who played professionally[5] including Arthur, Harry, Joe, Frank and Charlie.[6]

The first Football League side he played for was Bradford Park Avenue, and he first played in the league for them in 1919–20, going on to make 22 league appearances for them over a four-season period.[7] In 1923–24 he first played league football for Doncaster Rovers,[7] a club which three of his brothers (Harry, Joe and Frank) played for in their careers.[3]

He remains the all-time top scorer for Doncaster with 180 league goals. He also holds the club record for scoring six goals in one game, against Ashington in the Third Division (North) on 16 February 1929.

In 1929 [8] he moved to Notts County for £750, where he scored his first hat-trick for the club on his debut, in a 3–1 win against Bristol City on 30 August 1929. Keetley scored 39 league goals for Notts during the 1930–31 season, a record that would stand for 92 years until surpassed by Macaulay Langstaff in 2023.[9] He left Notts in 1933 to join Lincoln City, having scored 94 goals in 103 league appearances and four goals in seven FA Cup ties.[10]

He played just ten games for Lincoln in 1934 before briefly moving onto non-League Gresley Rovers in 1934,[11] and then Heanor Town.[4]

He is 29th in the all-time top scorers list in league football in England and Scotland having the 9th highest goals per game ratio of 0.75. As of June 2005 he was ranked 19th in the all-time list of highest scoring players scoring in English league football, having scored 284 goals between 1919 and 1934.[2]

After his professional career ended he was landlord of the Rose and Crown in Chellaston, Derby.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ "Optimists of the North. Doncaster Rovers". Athletic News. Manchester. 6 August 1923. p. 6.
  2. ^ a b Kaufman, Neilson (4 June 2005). "England – All-Time Topscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Keetley: Charles Frederick (Charlie/Wag)". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Tom Keetley". The Lincoln City FC Archive. Lincoln City F.C. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Chellaston". derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ^ Turner, Georgina; Sheppard, Kate (11 March 2004). "Leave orf, 'e's my bruvver!". The Guardian. London.
  7. ^ a b Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Soccerdata. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
  8. ^ "Information,Help". The Guardian. London. 25 July 2012.
  9. ^ "How Macaulay Langstaff followed Tom Keetley's footsteps to become a Notts County legend". This is Nottingham. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Ten of the Magpies' best players". This is Nottingham. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Player Database – Tom Keetley". Gresley FC Online. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
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