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Albert Doyle

OVERALL STATISTICS

BIRTHAGESIGNED ONFROM
8-10-1921
N/A
21-11-1945
Halifax
DEBUTLAST MATCHLEFT
07-09-1940 v Liverpool Stanley
Buslingthorpe Vale
1948- when he Retired
CAREERAPPEARANCES (SUBS)
1940-1947
89 (0)
TRIESGOALSDGOALSPTS
68
7
0
218

Biography of Albert Doyle



HERITAGE NO : 507
Albert Edward Doyle was born in Warwick Street within a stones throw ofKnowsley Road. He went to St Luke�s school followed by Cowley, where he wonseveral trophies for sprinting. He was refused a trial with Saints despitehis prowess as vice captain of Cowley school team, because he was �toosmall�. So he went into junior rugby with the Pilkingtons Sheet Works team,and in March 1939, he was chosen to play for England amateurs, againstFrance in Bordeaux.

Later that year, a scout from Halifax saw him playingfor the Pilkingtons team. Trials at Thrum Hall followed, and Albert, betterknown as �Sonny�, made his first team debut for Halifax on Christmas Day1939, after just one game with the �A� team. During the war, Sonny was anavigator in the RAF, but he continued to play for Halifax whenever hecould get leave, � his squadron was based in England � and he played forthem in two Challenge Cup finals. He scored 25 tries for Halifax in his 34games, but he was desperate to play for his home town club.

At the end ofthe war, he asked for a transfer to St Helens, and this time Saints wereonly too happy to sign him up. On 17th November 1945, he stepped straightinto the first team for a home game against Dewsbury, and has the unusualrecord of never having played in Saints �A� team. Soon he was running inthe tries, aided by a terrific acceleration from a standing start, and bythe brilliant centre play of Jimmy Stott. Sonny was consistently among theLeague�s leading scorers. In each of the seasons 45-46, 46-47 and 47-48, hewas the Saints leading try scorer. In 47-48 however, his career was to cometo a premature end. In March 1947, while playing in a challenge cup matchat Warrington, he went down after a loose ball with Brian Bevan and DuggieGreenall and suffered several broken fingers. It was the beginning of theend.

He did play again the following season, and it was then that he scoredwhat he regarded as his most memorable try. On 25th September, the NewZealand tourists were playing at Knowsley Road. After taking a pass fromStott in his own half, Sonny flashed 50 yards up the wing, raced up toWarwick Clarke and sidestepped him comprehensively, scoring under the postswith a trail of New Zealand players in his wake. Although he played afurther 32 games after the Warrington cup tie, his injury never healedproperly, and every time he caught his hand in a tackle he went throughpain which he described as �excruciating�. His last game was on 14thFebruary 1948 at Knowsley Road in a challenge cup game against amateur teamBuslingthorpe Vale in which he scored 4 tries. He was just 26 years old.

Albert Doyle is still 51st on the all-time list of top try scorers for the Saints - a feat even more creditable when you think of his low appearances total. Indeed his try strike rate of 0.76 is one of the highest in the history of the club.

Contributed by "Sonny`s son" - Graham Doyle.

We have received much of the following information from Alan Doyle, who is Albert�s brother and lives in Folkestone:

Albert Sonny Doyle made 89 appearances for the Saints both during and after the Second World War, scoring 68 tries and kicking 7 goals, for s haul of 218 points. Sonny was a real flyer, who took part in the Powderhall Sprint and represented the England amateur rugby league team in Bordeaux on 19th March 1939. His centre was Jimmy Stott. Sonny played for Halifax during the war years, making 34 appearances and scoring 25 tries. Why Sonny? Alan explains: �He got his nickname because there were three nephews who all had the first name Albert. My brother became Sonny and the other two lads, who lived in Balfour Street, were thence known as Timmy and Jock. Of course Jock Johnson became a fantastic player with Warrington.�

Sonny, who grew up in Mulberry Avenue, close to Eric Ashton, made 89 appearances for the Saints, scoring 69 tries. �In 1947 he played against the New Zealanders,� remembers Alan. �Jimmy Stott was his centre and he scored a brilliant try, with all the New Zealand players trailing in his wake.�

He was �flyer� in another sense too. Sonny joined the RAF and became an accomplished navigator, flying in two types of aircraft, the Albemarle and Halifax. In fact, Sonny was an integral part of the D Day operations, when he was in one of the many aircraft towing gliders as part of Operation Overlord during the Normandy invasion. �From what we can gather,� adds Alan, �the glider missed the exact drop zone, designated as �N� and landed in a school field. The objective of the troops was to secure a vital communication point at Pegasus Bridge. This had to be held at all costs. It was the main route that German reinforcements could go through to threaten the troops who were disembarking on the beaches. Without the bridge being secured, the D Day operation would have been in jeopardy. He later took part in Operation Market Garden, to capture the bridge at Arnhem and took gliders over as part of Montgomery�s crossing of the Rhine.�

Albert left the forces after the war and resumed work in the offices at Pilkingtons. His career ended prematurely, according to Alan, on a �sand and cement� surface at Wilderspool when he hurt his hand trying to tackle Warrington winger Brian Bevan. It was several years before the injury began to show any significant improvement. Albert later joined the RAF Voluntary Reserve but it was closed down and he subsequently joined the Territorial Army, with the equivalent rank of Flight Lieutenant. He passed away at the age of 58 in 1980.

PLAYER HONOURS

SEASON STATISTICS

Season (Official Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
1940~41 9 1 0 8
1941~42 2 0 0 2
1945~46 14 0 0 20
1946~4720 0 0 33
1947~48 23 6 0 26
TOTALS:68 7 0 89
Season (Other Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
TOTALS:

ALL MATCHES

DateMatchPosOpponentsCompVenueFTFTOTGDG
7th Sep 1940 1
W
 2 Liverpool Stanley WEL H 32 15 2 1 VIEW
21st Sep 1940 2
W
 2 Swinton WEL H 41 0 2 VIEW
28th Sep 1940 3
W
 2 Oldham WEL A 16 5 1 VIEW
5th Oct 1940 4
W
 2 Leigh WEL H 44 8 2 VIEW
12th Oct 1940 5
W
 2 Liverpool Stanley WEL A 26 11 1 VIEW
19th Oct 1940 6
W
 2 Salford WEL H 6 0 1 VIEW
26th Oct 1940 7
L
 2 Salford WEL A 13 15 VIEW
2nd Nov 1940 8
L
 2 Warrington WEL H 0 13 VIEW
22nd Nov 1941 9
W
 5 Keighley WEL H 17 11 2 VIEW
29th Nov 1941 10
L
 2 Castleford WEL A 5 12 VIEW
17th Nov 1945 11
L
 2 Dewsbury L H 7 13 VIEW
8th Dec 1945 12
W
 2 York L H 22 7 VIEW
22nd Dec 1945 13
L
 2 Workington Town L H 5 20 VIEW
25th Dec 1945 14
W
 2 Liverpool Stanley L A 26 3 1 VIEW
29th Dec 1945 15
L
 2 Workington Town L A 8 9 1 VIEW
12th Jan 1946 16
L
 2 Salford L H 6 13 VIEW
26th Jan 1946 17
L
 2 Batley L A 0 15 VIEW
2nd Feb 1946 18
W
 5 Swinton L H 7 5 1 VIEW
9th Feb 1946 19
L
 2 Castleford CC1(1) A 4 10 VIEW
16th Feb 1946 20
W
 2 Castleford CC1(2) H 14 5 3 VIEW
2nd Mar 1946 21
L
 2 Workington Town CC2 H 6 13 1 VIEW
23rd Mar 1946 22
L
 5 Halifax L A 11 21 3 VIEW
30th Mar 1946 23
L
 2 Barrow L H 22 30 VIEW
6th Apr 1946 24
L
 2 York L A 14 33 1 VIEW
10th Apr 1946 25
L
 5 Salford L A 5 6 VIEW
13th Apr 1946 26
L
 5 Oldham L H 9 14 VIEW
19th Apr 1946 27
L
 2 Wigan L A 9 15 1 VIEW
20th Apr 1946 28
L
 2 Wakefield Trinity L A 10 32 VIEW
22nd Apr 1946 29
W
 2 Batley L H 15 7 1 VIEW
27th Apr 1946 30
W
 2 Hull Kingston Rovers L H 29 6 1 VIEW
31st Aug 1946 31
L
 5 Widnes L H 2 10 VIEW
7th Sep 1946 32
L
 5 Leigh LC1(1) H 5 14 VIEW
14th Sep 1946 33
L
 5 Leigh LC1(2) A 4 17 VIEW
21st Sep 1946 34
L
 5 Widnes L A 10 17 VIEW
28th Sep 1946 35
L
 5 Leigh L H 7 11 VIEW
5th Oct 1946 36
L
 5 Warrington L A 10 19 VIEW
12th Oct 1946 37
W
 5 Workington Town L H 12 7 VIEW
19th Oct 1946 38
W
 5 Salford L A 11 2 1 VIEW
26th Oct 1946 39
W
 5 Halifax L H 15 8 1 VIEW
2nd Nov 1946 40
W
 5 Oldham L A 7 3 1 VIEW
9th Nov 1946 41
L
 5 Swinton L H 11 15 1 VIEW
16th Nov 1946 42
D
 5 Belle Vue Rangers L A 10 10 2 VIEW
23rd Nov 1946 43
L
 5 Bramley L A 0 10 VIEW
30th Nov 1946 44
W
 5 Huddersfield L H 18 10 VIEW
7th Dec 1946 45
L
 5 Leigh L A 3 10 VIEW
14th Dec 1946 46
W
 5 Salford L H 9 8 1 VIEW
25th Dec 1946 47
L
 5 Liverpool Stanley L H 16 17 2 VIEW
26th Dec 1946 48
L
 5 Wigan L H 9 11 VIEW
28th Dec 1946 49
L
 5 Huddersfield L A 12 19 VIEW
1st Jan 1947 50
L
 5 Liverpool Stanley L A 7 8 VIEW
4th Jan 1947 51
L
 5 Leeds L A 5 20 VIEW
11th Jan 1947 52
L
 5 Leeds L H 7 8 VIEW
18th Jan 1947 53
W
 5 Featherstone Rovers L A 11 7 3 VIEW
25th Jan 1947 54
W
 5 Hull Kingston Rovers L H 29 16 1 VIEW
8th Mar 1947 55
W
 5 Keighley CC1(1) H 17 7 VIEW
11th Mar 1947 56
L
 5 Keighley CC1(2) N 5 8 VIEW
22nd Mar 1947 57
L
 5 Warrington CC2 A 2 24 VIEW
10th May 1947 58
W
 5 Bramley L H 29 0 VIEW
17th May 1947 59
W
 5 Featherstone Rovers L H 35 0 1 VIEW
24th May 1947 60
L
 5 Barrow L A 9 15 VIEW
26th May 1947 61
L
 5 Halifax L A 9 10 1 VIEW
31st May 1947 62
W
 5 Barrow L H 36 7 3 VIEW
7th Jun 1947 63
W
 5 Rochdale Hornets L H 26 4 2 VIEW
23rd Aug 1947 64
L
 5 Widnes L A 8 9 VIEW
30th Aug 1947 65
W
 5 Leigh LC1(1) A 15 0 1 VIEW
4th Sep 1947 66
W
 5 Leigh LC1(2) H 31 5 1 VIEW
6th Sep 1947 67
W
 5 Salford L A 12 5 3 VIEW
13th Sep 1947 68
W
 5 Oldham L H 16 2 3 VIEW
20th Sep 1947 69
W
 5 York L A 31 3 3 VIEW
25th Sep 1947 70
L
 5 New Zealand Tour H 5 11 1 VIEW
29th Sep 1947 71
L
 5 Wigan LC2 H 7 8 1 VIEW
4th Oct 1947 72
W
 5 Swinton L H 24 3 2 VIEW
11th Oct 1947 73
L
 5 Wakefield Trinity L A 7 10 VIEW
18th Oct 1947 74
W
 5 Workington Town L H 14 3 1 VIEW
25th Oct 1947 75
W
 5 Hull Kingston Rovers L H 14 9 VIEW
8th Nov 1947 76
L
 5 Belle Vue Rangers L H 0 9 VIEW
15th Nov 1947 77
W
 5 Liverpool Stanley L H 23 8 2 1 VIEW
22nd Nov 1947 78
L
 5 Liverpool Stanley L A 7 10 VIEW
29th Nov 1947 79
W
 5 Salford L H 31 10 2 VIEW
6th Dec 1947 80
D
 5 Hunslet L H 13 13 VIEW
13th Dec 1947 81
W
 5 Halifax L A 6 2 VIEW
20th Dec 1947 82
L
 5 Hunslet L A 5 11 VIEW
26th Dec 1947 83
W
 5 Wigan L H 13 6 VIEW
3rd Jan 1948 84
W
 5 Swinton L A 6 3 2 VIEW
10th Jan 1948 85
L
 5 Warrington L H 2 8 VIEW
17th Jan 1948 86
L
 5 Hull Kingston Rovers L A 10 17 1 VIEW
24th Jan 1948 87
L
 5 Rochdale Hornets L H 8 9 1 VIEW
31st Jan 1948 88
L
 2 Workington Town L A 0 20 VIEW
7th Feb 1948 89
W
 2 Bustlingthorpe Vale CC1(1) H 48 0 4 VIEW
*Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub.
WINS : 40 | LOSSES : 47 | DRAWS : 2

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