Alfred William Th. NOBLE

An inside-forward, Alf Noble captained both the Essex county side and his club side Leytonstone with whom he spent most of his career. Capped 18 times by the England amateur side he was selected for the 1952 Olympics, playing in Great Britain’s only match, the 5-3 defeat by Luxembourg. But it was with Leytonstone that Alf won his major honours. He joined the club after being demobbed from the Navy in 1946 and the following year he scored Leytonstone’s 37th minute equaliser in the FA Amateur Cup final against Wimbledon before they went on to the win the trophy for the first time. They repeated their triumph 12 months later when they beat Barnet 1-0. In both seasons, the Essex side also won back-to-back Isthmian League titles adding a further three more in successive seasons 1950, 1951 and 1952. Noble also had the honour of playing in Leytonstone’s only two matches in which they have beaten Football League opposition in the FA Cup; in a memorable game in front of a crowd of 6,500 when they beat Watford in 1947-48 before losing to Newport County in the next round. They also beat League opposition in 1951-52 when they beat Shrewsbury Town 2-0 with Noble scoring one of the Leytonstone goals. He scored both goals in the 2-2 draw against Newport Country, again, in the next round but the Welsh outfit won the replay 3-0. Alf played one game in the Football League, for Colchester United at Ipswich Town on 27 December 1957, and after that he finished his playing days with Briggs Sports whom he helped to win consecutive London Senior Cup wins, beating Wembley in 1956 and Corinthian-Casuals in 1957. They were the only two occasions that Briggs won the trophy.