Eric Hayward

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This article is about the footballer. For the bandmaster, see Eric Hayward (bandmaster).
Eric Hayward
Personal information
Full name Lionel Eric Hayward
Date of birth August 2, 1917
Place of birth    Newcastle-under-Lyme, England
Date of death    1976
Playing position Defender
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1934-1937
1937-1952		 Port Vale
Blackpool		 035 (0)
275 (0)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Lionel Eric Hayward (more commonly known as Eric Hayward; August 2, 1917 — 1976) was an English professional footballer. He played as a defender.

Hayward began his career with Port Vale in 1934. In three years with the club, he made 35 league appearances.

In 1937, he joined Joe Smith's Blackpool, with whom he would spend the next fifteen years. He made his debut for the Seasiders on November 27, 1937, in a single-goal defeat by Liverpool at Bloomfield Road. He went on to make 23 further appearances during the 1937–38 season.

He missed only one game of the 1938–39 campaign, before World War II intervened. When the Football League resumed in a regional form in 1945–46, Hayward made only one appearance, due to his Army deployment in India. He did, however, feature in the 1943 League War Cup Final victory over Arsenal.

In 1946–47, Hayward made 20 appearances. The following season, 1947–48, he missed only one game as Blackpool finished in the top ten in Division One for the second consecutive season and made their first, unsuccessful appearance in an FA Cup Final (see 1948 FA Cup Final). He went one better in 1948–49, being an ever-present.

Hayward appeared in the first third of the 1949–50 campaign, before an injury ruled him out of the remaining fifteen games.

In 1950–51, Hayward made 37 league appearances as Blackpool finished third, their highest-ever finishing place in the League at that point. Blackpool also made their second appearance in an FA Cup Final (see 1951 FA Cup Final). Again, they were unsuccessful.

Hayward missed out on Blackpool's third – this time successful – attempt at winning the FA Cup by twelve months. He retired at the end of the 1951–52 season after making almost 300 appearances for the club.

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