Charlie Hurst was an English footballer who played as a centre-half for various clubs including Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers F.C.

Bristol Rovers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Bristol, that competes in Football League Two. The team plays its home matches at the Memorial Stadium, in the Horfield area of the city....

, Oldham Athletic and Rochdale.

Playing career

Hurst was born in Denton

Denton, Greater Manchester

Denton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is five miles to the east of Manchester city centre, and has a population of 26,866....

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

  and started his football career with Hyde United in the 1930s before playing for Bristol Rovers, Oldham Athletic and Rochdale. The Second World War, which took the best years of his footballing career, saw him serve in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and he was one of the many soldiers rescued during the Dunkirk Evacuation in 1940. After the war had finished he returned to play for Oldham and then Rochdale before moving south, ending his footballing career playing non-league football for Chelmsford City

Chelmsford City F.C.

Chelmsford City F.C. is an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Chelmsford, Essex. The club are currently members of the Conference South and play at the Melbourne Stadium.-Chelmsford:...

 and .
Hurst became player-manager of Sudbury in the 1950–51 season. He took the team to the final of the Suffolk Senior Cup

Suffolk Senior Cup

The Suffolk Senior Cup is the second level football cup competition organised by the Suffolk FA after the Suffolk Premier Cup. It is currently open to Suffolk–based clubs competing in Eastern Counties League Division One and the top divisions of the Suffolk & Ipswich League, the Essex & Suffolk...

 and third place in the Essex & Suffolk Border League

Essex and Suffolk Border Football League

The Essex and Suffolk Border Football League is a football competition based in England. The league has a total of two divisions headed by the Premier Division which sits at step 7 of the National League System. The top club may apply for promotion to Division One of the Eastern Counties League...

.

Personal life

Hurst was the father of England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 player and World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 winner, Sir Geoff Hurst.
After finishing playing football he worked as a toolmaker in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. He died two days before his 80th birthday in 1999.