Slice of local football history up for grabs as winners’ medal to be sold
A medal presented to a footballer ninety years ago for winning a football league is set to go under the hammer next month.
Reginald ‘Roger’ Jones, who played for Port Vale for 14 years, won the Third Division North title in 1930 with the Stoke-on-Trent outfit.
And the slice of football history could fetch up to £1,000 after it was discovered at a valuation event at Bishton Hall in Staffordshire.
Mr Jones, who was born in Burslem, played for Port Vale from 1923 until 1937 as a left-half – having previously started out at non-league sides Middleport and Ravensdale.
He joined Port Vale aged 21 and made his Second Division debut for the club in the 1923-24 season – scoring his first senior goal in a 3-1 win over Southampton in 1928.
The player scored four goals in 19 games in 1928-29, including two in a match against West Bromwich Albion on March 9 which the Baggies lost 8-1.
And when Port Vale won the Third Division North title in 1929-30, Jones featured in 38 league games throughout the campaign. He was released at the end of the 1936-37 season after scoring nine goals in 39 games – his most prolific season. He later died at the age of 65 in 1967.
TV personality Kate Bliss, who made the discovery during the valuation event, said: “Judging by Jones’s playing record, he certainly deserved that medal. It’s extraordinary when little snippets of history appear. Jones was a notable player and an integral part of Port Vale’s history and Staffordshire’s sporting heritage. The vendor was also able to provide us with some photographs of the sportsman.”
The medal – suspended on a watch chain – features in Hansons’ sporting memorabilia auction in Etwall, Derbyshire, on August 19.
