For the Australian actor of the same name, see Paul Blackwell

Paul Blackwell

Paul Blackwell is a well-known Australian stage actor and occasional film actor.He attended the National Institute of Dramatic Arts from 1980 to 1982 and has appeared in many productions from some of Australia's best-known theatre companies, including Company B, Sydney Theatre Company, State...

Paul Blackwell (born 13 January 1963, Mancot

Mancot

Mancot is a village in south east Flintshire, Wales, approximately 1.5 miles from Queensferry, 1.2 miles from Hawarden and 5 miles from Chester...

) is a former Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 professional footballer who nearly 100 Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 appearances for Chester City

Chester City F.C.

Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...

, mainly as a midfielder.

Although born in Flintshire

Flintshire

Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

, Blackwell grew up in Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 and represented the Chester and Cheshire Schoolboys sides as a youngster. Although Blackwell opted to remain at school for sixth form rather than join Chester

Chester City F.C.

Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...

 as an apprentice, the club offered him a professional contract when he left school in 1981 and he was to spend the next four years at Sealand Road

Sealand Road

Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road...

.

Blackwell made his debut for Chester in a 1–0 defeat at Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

 on 3 November 1981 and he went on to make 23 league appearances in each of his first two seasons in the side. The 1983–84 season

1983-84 in English football

The 1983–84 season was the 104th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool had a great first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history...

 saw Chester finish bottom of Division Four, but Blackwell was to enjoy regular football with 39 league appearances to his name and he scored his first goal for the club against Reading

Reading F.C.

Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...

. In the summer of 1984, Blackwell became a part–time player due to combining playing with being a student at Crewe and Alsager College. He was restricted to just nine more league outings for the club and at the end of the 1984–85 season

1984-85 in English football

The 1984–85 season was the 105th season of competitive football in England.-Bradford City disaster:56 spectators died and more than 200 were injured when a fire ripped through the Main Stand at Valley Parade during Bradford City's Third Division fixture with Lincoln City on 11 May...

 he moved into non–league football with Rhyl

Rhyl F.C.

Rhyl Football Club is a Welsh football club, playing in the Cymru Alliance.The club was founded in 1882 and the team plays its home matches at Belle Vue, Rhyl, which can accommodate 3,000 spectators.- History :Few clubs in the Welsh Premier League have as distinguished a past as Rhyl's...

.