*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Len Dolding
Appearances: 52 Goals: 31
Date / Year of birth: 13th December 1922
Position: Winger
Season of first appearance: 1953/54
Season of last appearance: 1954/55
Also played for: Wealdstone, Queens Park Rangers (0), Chelsea (27,2), Norwich City (12,1) and Dover
Winger born in Nundydroog near Oorgaum in the Kolar Gold Fields region of India who returned to England aged seven in 1929 and went to Cliftonville School near Margate where he first learned to play football.
Len started his senior career as a teenager with Wealdstone shortly before the start of World War II and then served as a bomb aimer in the RAF during the conflict.
During the wartime 1943/44 season he made a one-off appearance for Queens Park Rangers as an amateur - playing in a 3-2 win at Clapton Orient on 11.9.43 - and when hostilities ceased in 1945 Len signed for Chelsea as a professional.
He made his first team debut in an FA Cup 5th Round tie at Aston Villa on 12.2.46 that Chelsea lost 1-0 and went on to make 26 more senior appearances spanning the 1946/47 and 1947/48 seasons, all of them in the 1st Division. Chelsea's captain at the time was the legendary Tommy Lawton.
In July 1948 Len was transferred to Norwich and made 12 senior appearances for the Canaries during 1948/49 and 1949/50 before dropping into non-league football.
He joined Dover in the summer of 1951 and scored 24 goals during the 1951/52 season, including two hat-tricks. Len scored a further nine goals during 1952/53 before joining Margate in the summer of 1953.
Len made his debut in a 4-1 win at Ashford in the Kent League on 26.8.53 and went on to enjoy an excellent season. He scored 23 times during 1953/54 and was virtually ever-present. Len's goals included a hat-trick in a 7-2 win at Whitstable on 13.3.54 and he also scored in a 3-3 draw at Canterbury in the Kent League Cup Final on 1.5.54. He then featured in the replay at Hartsdown Park on 6.5.54 which Margate won 5-0.
Len was also in good form during the early part of the 1954/55 season and scored twice in a 4-2 defeat against Folkestone at Hartsdown Park on 6.11.54 to take his overall goal tally to eight from 14 appearances. Tragically it was the last match he would ever play.
On 12.11.54 Len was a passenger in a car that collided with a bus in the Wembley area of London and on 23.11.54, 11 days after the accident, he died from his injuries aged only 31. A memorial fund was set up which raised the substantial sum of £668 following donations from many different clubs, players, supporters and suchlike. Margate's chairman Billy Graham said "Len was an inspiration to us all. His boys in the forward line relied on his sparkling initiative to get the goals."
Len was also a talented cricketer and was on the MCC's ground staff for seven years from 1947 until his untimely death. He played in three first class matches for Middlesex and was a particularly fine fielder. Len also took to the field as 12th man for England in the Lords Test against New Zealand in 1949.
The driver of the car involved in the crash that led to Len's death was his Middlesex County Cricket Club team-mate Syd Brown who survived.
Len's full name was actually Desmond Leonard Dolding.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
KSC |
KLC |
KSS |
|
|
1953/54 (MFC) |
38 (40) |
N/A |
23 |
KENT LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (2ND OF 16) |
2QR |
1R |
W |
1R |
|
Played and
scored in Kent League Cup Final (01.05.54 - drew 3-3 with
Canterbury City). Played in Kent League Cup Final replay (06.05.54 - beat Canterbury City 5-0). | |||||||||
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
KSC |
KLC |
KSS |
|
|
1954/55 (MFC) |
14 (46) |
N/A |
8 |
KENT LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (5TH OF 17) |
2QR |
2R |
RU |
RU |
|