Eric Sibley
{{short description|English footballer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Eric Sibley
| image =
| fullname = Eric Seymour Sibley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|11|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = Christchurch, Hampshire, England
| death_date = {{death year and age|1996|1915}}
| death_place =
| height =
| position = Defender
| youthyears1= 1934–1937
| youthclubs1= Tottenham Hotspur
| years1 = 1937 | years2 = 1937–1947 | years3 = 1947–1949 | years4 =1949–1950
| clubs1 = Bournemouth | clubs2 = Blackpool{{cite book | first=Roy | last=Calley | title=Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992 | publisher=Breedon Books Sport | year=1992 | isbn=1-873626-07-X}} | clubs3 = Grimsby Town | clubs4 =Chester
| caps1 = 7 | goals1 = 0 | caps2 = 78 | goals2 = 0 | caps3 = 23 | goals3 = 0 | caps4 = 7 | goals4 = 0
}}
Eric Seymour Sibley (17 November 1915 – 1996) was a professional footballer who played as a defender for Bournemouth, Blackpool, Grimsby Town and Chester.
Playing career
=Blackpool=
Sibley joined Blackpool from Bournemouth during the second half of the 1937–38 season, and made his debut on 29 January in a single-goal victory at Leicester City. He went on to appear in the remaining fifteen games of the campaign.
The following season, 1938–39, Sibley started 29 of Blackpool's 42 league games, before World War II intervened. In 1945–46, Sibley made six guest appearances for Southampton.{{cite book | title=The Alphabet of the Saints|last= Holley |first= Duncan |last2= Chalk|first2= Gary| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992| isbn=0-9514862-3-3|page=391}}
After the conclusion of the war, in 1945–46, Sibley made six appearances for Blackpool in the Football League North.
In Sibley's final season at Bloomfield Road, 1946–47, he made 37 league appearances, as well as making his debut for the Tangerines in the FA Cup. His final game for the club occurred on 7 April, a 3–0 home defeat by Everton. He was sold to Grimsby Town.
=Grimsby Town=
In two years at Blundell Park, Sibley made 23 league appearances.
=Chester=
Sibley finished his professional career with Chester in 1950 after seven league appearances for the club. He left to become player-manager at a Lytham St Annes-based club.
References
;Specific
{{reflist}}
;General
- [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/blackpool/blackpool.html Stats at Blackpool]
- [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/grimsby/grimsby.html Stats at Grimsby Town]
- [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/chester/chester.html Stats at Chester City]
- {{cite book|first=Michael|last=Joyce|title=Football League Players' Records 1888-1939|year=2004 | isbn= 1-899468-67-6}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibley, Eric}}
Category:English men's footballers
Category:Men's association football fullbacks
Category:English Football League players
Category:AFC Bournemouth players
Category:Blackpool F.C. players
Category:Grimsby Town F.C. players
Category:Chester City F.C. players
Category:Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players
Category:Southampton F.C. wartime guest players
Category:Sportspeople from Christchurch, Dorset
Category:Footballers from Dorset
Category:20th-century English sportsmen
{{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub}}