- Cecil Christmas
Infobox Football biography
playername = Cecil Christmas
fullname = Edwin Cecil Russell Christmas
height = height|ft=5|in=10
weight =
dateofbirth = 1886
cityofbirth =Southampton
countryofbirth =England
dateofdeath =7 October 1916
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =France
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Centre forward
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1912
clubs = Southampton
caps(goals) = 2 0(0)
manageryears =
managerclubs =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =Edwin Cecil Russell Christmas (1886 – 1916) was an English amateur footballer who played twice for Southampton in 1912.
Playing career
Born in
Southampton in early 1886, he joined Southampton as an amateur in 1908 and made several appearances for the reserve team, but his business career prevented him devoting much time to football. In 1910 he left football to devote himself full-time to his business interests but was persuaded to return to The Dell by reserve team manager George Carter the following year. In March 1912, following the dismissal of first choicecentre forward Henry Hamilton for a serious breach of club discipline, Christmas was drafted into the first team. Despite his "pace and dribbling skills" [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992| pages=p.74|id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3] he was not a success and he returned to the reserves.Following serious injury, at the end of the 1911–12 season he "gave up trying to make the grade" [cite book | author=Gary Chalk & Duncan Holley | title=Saints - A complete record| publisher= Breedon Books| year=1987|pages=p.237| id=ISBN 0-907969-22-4] and ended his football career.
After football
During the
First World War he enlisted in theKing's Royal Rifle Corps . He died inFrance on7 October 1916 aged 30, killed in action.References
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