Stanley Matthews (1932–1965, Stoke City / Blackpool)

Stanley Matthews was born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent on 1 February 1915. The son of a professional boxer, Matthews signed professional terms with his hometown club Stoke City on his 17th birthday in 1932 and made his first-team debut later that spring.

Stoke then won promotion as Second Division champions in 1932–33, and Matthews quickly established himself as one of the outstanding wingers in English football.

Matthews won his first England cap on 29 September 1934 against Wales at Ninian Park, scoring in a 4–0 victory. A second cap followed weeks later in the “Battle of Highbury” against world champions Italy, which England won 3–2.

Matthews went on to win 54 caps for England between 1934 and 1957, featuring at the 1950 and 1954 FIFA World Cups. His final cap came on 15 May 1957 against Denmark, when he was 42 years and 104 days old, a national record that still stands.

In 1938, Matthews submitted a transfer request and the reaction in Stoke was dramatic, with large public protest meetings reported at the time urging him to stay. He ultimately remained at the club.

Matthews left Stoke for Blackpool on 10 May 1947 for a fee of £11,500, spending the next 14 years at the club. He appeared in three FA Cup finals with Blackpool, losing in 1948 and 1951 before winning in 1953 in the match later dubbed the “Matthews Final” — Blackpool’s famous 4–3 comeback win over Bolton Wanderers after trailing 3–1.

Matthews won the inaugural Ballon d’Or in 1956, returned to Stoke City in 1961, and helped the club win the Second Division title in 1962–63.

In 1965 he became the oldest player to appear in England’s top division, and he was knighted in January 1965 while still an active player, the first active footballer to receive the honour. He retired later that year and was an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Stanley Matthews – Rookie Cards and Key Early Issues

Matthews’ earliest confirmed cards date from 1934, the year Matthews made his England debut at the age of 19.

Three sets issued that year are each recognised as first year rookie issues: the 1934 Ardath Famous Footballers #39, the 1934 Carreras Footballers #69, and the 1934 R&J Hill Goldflake Popular Footballers #47.

All three were issued during Matthews’ breakthrough international season at Stoke City. Of the three, the Ardath issue is the most widely collected and commands the strongest market. However, the Carreras is believed to be the first series issues and his true rookie.

The Carreras Famous Footballers small type #69 is considered the true rookie because Ormond Jones appears as a Port Vale player in that series, placing its issue before his May 1934 transfer to Norwich, which predates the Ardath card entirely.

The next confirmed early issue is the 1935 W.D. & H.O. Wills Association Footballers #28, issued in Matthews’ second season as an England international.

A key mid-career issue is the 1939 Churchman’s Cigarettes Association Footballers #35, published in the final season of professional football before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The war cost Matthews seven years of his career, during which no official Football League matches were played.

Later key issues include the 1957 Cadet Sweets Footballers #30, issued in the year Matthews played his final England cap at the age of 42, and the 1958 Kane International Football Stars #1, one of his last cards as an active player.

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