JACK CHEW 

Date and Place of Birth 13th May 1920 - Blackburn died 21st October 2002   Transfers to and from Burnley amateur then pro - March 1946 to Bradford City - June 1954   First and Last Burnley Games Coventry City (h) - 31st August 1946   Manchester United (a) - 3rd October 1953   Other Clubs ---------------------------------------- Bradford City

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

The summer of 1964 saw Burnley as the best team in the league. Before you go running for the football record books, let me point out that I'm referring to Burnley Cricket Club.

They won the league and their only defeat of the season was in the last home game when Enfield beat them at Turf Moor and became the only visiting team to reach three figures there all season.

Burnley also reached the final of the cup competition - the Worsley Cup - and this was my real recollection of a former Burnley footballer who had won a promotion with the Clarets and also appeared in an FA Cup Final.

His name was Jackie Chew and on that August day in 1964 he stood up to one of the world's fiercest ever bowlers, West Indian Charlie Griffith, and his 52 not out helped his own side Rishton to a shock seven wicket victory.

He was battered and bruised in a day when the only protection a batsman had was a box for one area of his body, but he received a standing ovation from the home crowd, many who had seen him play in the claret and blue a decade and more earlier.

Chew was one of so many footballers whose introduction to league football came at a later age than it should have because of war. He was a 19-year-old at the breakout of World War II and had just started, signing as an amateur for Burnley's closest rivals Blackburn Rovers.

With a football career on hold he served in the RAF whilst taking every opportunity to get a game of football and he was played as a guest player by Leeds United, Luton Town as well as Burnley during the war years.

In March 1946, Burnley were building a team for the first post-war league season of 1946/47 under new manager Cliff Britton and Chew was one of the players brought in. When the season got underway in August he finally made his league debut at the age of 26 and he was one of seven debutants that day as we drew 1-1 at home against Coventry City.

Nicknamed 'Cowboy' by the Burnley fans because of his bandy legs he was soon a very popular player in the right wing position. He was quick, was a great, could cross a great ball (or centre it as it was referred to then) and could also cut in and make the most of a terrific and powerful shot.

He linked up brilliantly on the right hand side of the attack with inside forward Billy Morris as Burnley won promotion and established themselves in the First Division and when Morris retired he found a new partner for a season in a young Irishman by the name of Jimmy McIlroy.

However, by the end of the 1952/53 season, time was catching up with Jackie. By the start of the following season he was 33, some age for a footballer in the 1950s.

Towards the end of that season he'd been replaced by Roy Stephenson and by the time the 1953/54 season kicked off we'd signed Billy Gray from Chelsea and it was Gray who got the number 7 shirt.

Chew played just three more times for Burnley, all of them at inside-left, and at the end of that season he left Turf Moor and signed for Bradford City. He was immediately a regular there but was released at the end of the season and he retired from league football.

He played for a time in non-league with Darwen before hanging up his boots for good and concentrating on cricket at Rishton. He gave them great service culminating in that fantastic innings at Burnley at the age of 44.

He wasn't lost to Burnley Football Club either. He remained a supporter and for many years took his seat in the Bob Lord Stand, often alongside former team mates Peter Kippax and Reg Kirkham.

Jackie Chew sadly passed away in October 2002 at the age of 82, leaving behind only Morris from that cup final team of 55 years earlier.