The Longside Reference

Name: Tony Hapgood

D.O.B: 13th June 1930 (Died September 2011)

Place of Birth: Kettering

Position: Winger

Clubs: Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Watford, Ashford Town, Chatham Town

Burnley Fee:????

Signed by Cliff Britton

Burnley Debut: 1st Semptember 1951, Middlesborough (A), L 0-5

Last Game for Burnley: 29th September 1951, Stoke City (A), L 1-2

Claret Stats: 7 Appearances 2 Goals

Claret Honours: None

International Honours: None

Claret Stat:Tony Hapgood was the son of former Arsenal and England star Eddie Hapgood.

At the time Tony joined Burnley at his dad was manager of Blackburn Rovers. That was in 1948 but he had to wait three years for his Burnley debut, that was against Middlesborough on the 1st of  September 1951, a crushing 5-0 defeat.

He played just seven times in the first team, all in the September of the 1951/52 season his last game coming agaonst Stoke City on the 29th Sept 51, scoring twice both at Turf Moor against Tottenham Hotspur, then five days later against West Brom.

Tonys time in the fist team was a pretty torrid time with Burnley losing 5-0 to Middlesborough, 7-1 to Newcastle, 3-1 to Bolton and 2-1 to Stoke, Burnley won just once a 6-1 hammering of West Bromwich where Tony opened the scoring and two further draws against Tottenham Hotspur where Tony scored an equalising goal in the 1-1 draw, another 1-1 draw with the Spurs with the man who would eventually replace Tony in the first team Jimmy Mac scoring the opening goal of the game.

Tony left in 1953 after losing out to both Jakie Chew and Jimmy McIlroy,before signing for Watford in the summer, Tony made just the one appearance for the Hornets. With little success in London Tony left the proffesional game to play non-league football first with Ashford Town then Chatham.

He was an all round sportsman who was outstanding table tennis player, a tennis player and a Badminton player, more recently you would have found Tony in Benns sports in Burnley Town centre.

Tony died in September 1951.