Jimmy Scarth
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| Jimmy Scarth | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | James William Scarth | |
| Date of birth | August 26, 1926 | |
| Place of birth | North Shields, England | |
| Date of death | December 12, 2000 | |
| Place of death | Welwyn Garden City, England | |
| Height | 5'9" | |
| Position | Inside forward | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| tbc tbc tbc 1948-1952 1952-1955 1955-1960 |
Percy Main North Shields Percy Main Tottenham Hotspur Gillingham Gravesend & Northfleet |
tbc tbc tbc tbc 138 (24) 189 (64) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
James William "Jimmy" Scarth (born North Shields, August 26, 1926, died Welwyn Garden City, December 12, 2000) was an English association football player who for more than fifty years held the record for the fastest hat-trick scored in the history of the Football League.
Born in North Shields in 1926, he first made his name with local amateur sides, and as a result was invited to Tottenham Hotspur for trials. Although he impressed the London club and was signed as a professional, he found first team opportunities limited at White Hart Lane and moved to Gillingham in 1952 for £3,500. It was during his time at Priestfield Stadium that he wrote his name into the record books with a lightning-fast hat-trick against Leyton Orient on 1st November 1952. This was officially recognised as the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Football League until February 2004 when James Hayter notched three goals in 2 minutes 20 seconds for AFC Bournemouth against Wrexham, with contemporary reports stating that the previous record had been 2 minutes 30 seconds. Hayter appears to have been recognised as the new record holder despite the fact that numerous sources in the intervening years gave the total time of Scarth's goals as exactly 2 minutes.[1] Other sources give the total time as less than two minutes, as little even as 110 seconds, which is quicker than the time claimed by Irish player Jimmy O'Connor for the "world's fastest hat-trick". [2]
Scarth left Gillingham in 1955 after scoring 24 goals in 138 League matches, and joined non-league Kent team Gravesend & Northfleet, where he was to remain until he retired from football in 1960. During his time there he scored 64 goals in 189 games and helped the club win the Southern League title in 1958.
His son Bobby Scarth later joined Tottenham as an apprentice but failed to make the breakthrough to the professional game.
[edit] References
- ^ One such example is Bill Bateson and Albert Sewell (1992). News of the World Football Annual 1992/93. Harper Collins, 229. ISBN 0-85543-188-1.
- ^ Roger Triggs (2001). The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club. Tempus Publishing Ltd, 286. ISBN 0-75242-243-X.
