Walter Buckley

Buckley played for and captained the Sheffield Schools football team, and in 1920 was selected at left half for the England Schoolboys team to face their Welsh and Scottish counterparts. After leaving school, Buckley played football for Birley Carr Institute, mainly at right half or centre half, and at "barely 17 years old" had impressed enough during a week's trial to be signed by Football League First Division club Arsenal. According to the Athletic News, "great store [was] being placed on [his] acquisition". He played regularly for Arsenal's reserve team in the London Combination, and was twice retained for a further season, but his only first-team appearance was in a friendly match during the 1925–26 season, and he was given a free transfer at the end of that season. Buckley spent a trial period with Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, under the management of Leslie Knighton, who had signed him for Arsenal, but despite that club's desire to retain his services, he wanted to return nearer home. He joined Mansfield Town, the Midland League runners-up who had joined the Midland Combination, primarily a reserve league for Football League clubs, in the hope of a better class of football. He helped them finish as runners-up, reach the second round of the FA Cup, and win the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup, before signing for Bradford (Park Avenue) of the Football League Third Division North in May 1927. The Yorkshire Post reported that he "seemed slow at times" during pre-season, and…

Buckley was born in 1906 in Ecclesall, Sheffield, the son of Henry Buckley, a pocket knife grinder for a manufacturer of cutlery, and his wife Rose Alice. He was raised in the Hillsborough district, and attended Hillsborough Council School. He married Hilda Mary Adwick at Wadsley Church, Sheffield, in June 1928. The 1939 Register finds Buckley and his wife living in Runcorn, Cheshire; he was working as a maintenance labourer at a tannery, and she as a bookkeeper and typist. Buckley died in Norwich, Norfolk, in December 1985 at the age of 79.