Casuals Southend United
Bernard Joy played for which team between May 1931 and Oct 1931?
Bernard Joy Bernard Joy ( 29 October 1911 – 18 July 1984 ) was an English footballer and journalist . He is notable for being the last amateur player to play for the England national football team . Biography . Joy was born in Fulham , London and educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School . He studied at the University of London , playing in his spare time for the university football side at centre half . After graduating , he played for Casuals , where he eventually became club captain , leading them to victory in the 1936 FA Amateur Cup final . He also won ten caps for the England amateur team and was captain of the Great Britain football side at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin . Bernard was father to Christopher Margaret and Karen Joy . While still registered as a Casuals player , Joy also played for several other clubs in an amateur capacity , including Southend United ( 1931–33 ) and Fulham ( 1933–34 ) . In May 1935 he joined Arsenal , then First Division champions . Joy mainly played as a reserve , only playing two games in his first season – he didnt make his debut for Arsenal until 1 April 1936 against Bolton Wanderers . Arsenal won the FA Cup that season but Joy played no part in the final . However , he did gain recognition at international level soon after , when on 9 May 1936 , he played for England in their 3–2 loss against Belgium , making him the last amateur to play for the national side ; given the gulf in quality between the professional and amateur games in the modern day , it is exceedingly unlikely Joys record will ever be taken by another player . Although Joy was playing for Arsenal at the time , he was still registered as a Casuals player and he is recorded in the England history books as playing for them at the time , not Arsenal . Joy continued to play for Arsenal , mainly deputising for the Gunners established centre-half Herbie Roberts . Roberts suffered a broken leg in October 1937 and Joy took his place in the side for the remainder of the 1937-38 season , winning a First Division winners medal , and then , with Roberts having retired from the game , on through the 1938-39 season ( earning a 1938 Charity Shield winners medal in the process ) . With the advent of World War II , Joy signed up to join the Royal Air Force where he was an PE instructor , though he still turned out for Arsenal ( playing over 200 wartime matches ) and won an unofficial wartime England cap . In June 1940 , he was one of five Arsenal players who guested for Southampton in a victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage . He also appeared as a guest player for West Ham United later in World War II making two appearances . When peace broke out and first-class football resumed , he played the first half of the 1946-47 season before deciding that his age ( 35 ) was counting against him ; he retired from top-flight football in December 1946 , though he carried on playing for Casuals until 1948 . In all , he played 95 first-class ( i.e . non-wartime ) matches for Arsenal , though he never scored a goal . Before the war Joy was a teacher , but afterwards he decided not to return to the profession and moved into journalism . Joy began his career in journalism as a football writer on The Star , one of three London evening papers published in the 1940s . He later moved to the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express as football and lawn tennis correspondent until retirement in 1976 . He also wrote one of the first histories of Arsenal Football Club , Forward , Arsenal ! ( 1952 ) , and several other football books . He died in 1984 , aged 72 of cancer . He often held dinner parties at his house in Osterley which many footballing celebrities would attend . Honours . With Arsenal . Winner : - First Division : 1937-38 - FA Charity Shield ( now the FA Community Shield ) : 1938 With Casuals . Winner : - FA Amateur Cup : 1936 External links . - Profile at www.englandstats.com - Profile at www.englandfc.com