Ronnie White
'Charlton's forgotten hero'
Charlton Athletic had a great player in 1953 called Ronnie White, but none of the fans Ive spoken to have heard of him.
He played Sunday league football for the famous Brady Boys Club in London's East End, but he had to leave when he turned 18. He went on to a Maccabi team when he was about 21 or 22, a talent scout went to see him play and asked him to join Charlton. Initially White thought it was a wind up but he made his debut against Wolves in the team including Eddie Firmani and Derek Ufton (also a great cricketer) and as fellow Brady Boy I went to see him play against Spurs at White Hart Lane in 1953. Ron Burgess, a truly great player, was his marker but Charlton won, I think it was 5-2 and Ronnie scored. His nickname at Brady was 'Snooky', he was about 5'6'' tall and played for Charlton for about ten years.
He was no prima donna. In those days places like London's Hackney Marshes had Ronnie Whites in abundance. His progress from there to the top league was a truly wonderful story, as much of a fairytale as that of Jamie Vardy. I feel it a privilege to have played with him. Sadly Ronnie died in his early 50s or late 40s. Charlton fans should feel ashamed no to remember him. signed Les Lewis, London,
E11.
I remember him well; he was the original ball playing inside right and I believe he wrote the number 8 shirt.
Wonderful days.
Comments
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Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange1
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I remember him, pretty sure he played at Villa Park in a 5th round 2-1 cup defeat Feb 62. That was the game where a young Marvin Hinton kept slide tackling Derek Dougan and had him (the Doog) in his pocket.1
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Bit disrespectful to say Charlton fans should be ashamed not to remember him.4
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I also remember him, as an old fashioned inside right. Bags of skill, good ball-player but lacked pace to have progressed to a higher level. He was probably my first favourite Charlton player.
I didn't realise he died at such a relatively age - so sad.1 -
"relatively young age"0
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165 appearances from 1953-4/1961-2. Inside Left. 8 League goals.
Not a name that springs to mind, but the above is taken from Richard Redden's Story of Charlton Athletic 1905-1990.
Agree with Henry's sentiment.
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Lol!Henry Irving said:Bit disrespectful to say Charlton fans should be ashamed not to remember him.
Ignored by the museum. Shameful.0 -
Is that the real Ronnie White or the one the club was giving free tickets to in the 1990s? All got a bit complicated when the real one died.0
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I'm ashamed to say I remember Steve White.2
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Honestly I am not entirely sure why I would remember him playing in 1953 when I was born 36 years later... youth of today for you I guess.3
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I remember him,I thought he was Scottish?0
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I remember Dennis Edwards playing for us can't remember a Ronnie Matthews but did we have a Roy Mathews around the early 1960's.Lincsaddick said:Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange
Old memory playing tricks.0 -
Perhaps we should ask KM, oh second thoughts, history is not her best subject is it?
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I feel a bit ashamed I don't remember Ronnie MatthewsJohnfromNorfolk said:
I remember Dennis Edwards playing for us can't remember a Ronnie Matthews but did we have a Roy Mathews around the early 1960's.Lincsaddick said:Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange
Old memory playing tricks.0 -
Camerons Valiant 500 book gives all his career details and 9 goals in 165 games . "At his best Ronnie was as good to look at as any inside forward Charlton have had since the war.Plenty of skill but short on goals.A delight to watch at times and easily remains in the memory because of his natural ability."0
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Saw quite a bit of Ronnie White , although from memory he never managed a sustained spell in the line up. Nonetheless he had exquisite skills on the ball and could sail past defenders seemingly without effort.1
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My dad subscribed to a few charlton books many years ago - I can't remember which book it was - might be the 'home and away' book - or possible valiant 500 - anyway in whichever book it was he names Ronnie White as his favourite player - so certainly fondly remembered by one supporter at least1
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not Ronnie, but as you write Roy Matthews !! .. been racking my errrr brain and still can't place Ronnnie WhiteJohnfromNorfolk said:
I remember Dennis Edwards playing for us can't remember a Ronnie Matthews but did we have a Roy Mathews around the early 1960's.Lincsaddick said:Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange
Old memory playing tricks.0 -
Yes Ronnie White played on the right wing in that match, I think Sam Lawrie was out injured and Ronnie came in and you are right Marvin Hinton had a great game and I thought Charlton were very unlucky to lose.RedChaser said:I remember him, pretty sure he played at Villa Park in a 5th round 2-1 cup defeat Feb 62. That was the game where a young Marvin Hinton kept slide tackling Derek Dougan and had him (the Doog) in his pocket.
I would never call Ronnie White a great player of us, never scored many goals was tricky on the ball, but we had some better players than him in those days.
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A friend of mine was manager of Coombes betting shop in Charlton Church Lane in the 1990s, and he told me a guy who said he was Ronnie White the ex Charlton footballer use to come in the shop, and then one day a regular punter, came in and told my friend he knew this guy and he was not Ronnie White but used to tell a lot of people he wasAirman Brown said:Is that the real Ronnie White or the one the club was giving free tickets to in the 1990s? All got a bit complicated when the real one died.
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You definitely have seen him play Lincs, however as others have said he was not a regular like Lawrie, Leary Summers or Hewie as 160 odd appearances in 9 years proves. He was a bit similar in build and looks to Fred Lucas IIRC.Lincsaddick said:
not Ronnie, but as you write Roy Matthews !! .. been racking my errrr brain and still can't place Ronnnie WhiteJohnfromNorfolk said:
I remember Dennis Edwards playing for us can't remember a Ronnie Matthews but did we have a Roy Mathews around the early 1960's.Lincsaddick said:Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange
Old memory playing tricks.1 -
Back in those days I had just started playing Rugby for the school .. also my dad was an Ipswich fan, that was the season they won the title and the old chap took me along to quite a few games, especially in London .. so I only saw perhaps 2 CAFC games outta five ... it's possible that when I was dahn the Valley, Ronnie was not selected .. never went to away games back in those daysRedChaser said:
You definitely have seen him play Lincs, however as others have said he was not a regular as 160 odd appearances in 9 years proves. He was a bit similar in build and looks to Fred Lucas IIRC.Lincsaddick said:
not Ronnie, but as you write Roy Matthews !! .. been racking my errrr brain and still can't place Ronnnie WhiteJohnfromNorfolk said:
I remember Dennis Edwards playing for us can't remember a Ronnie Matthews but did we have a Roy Mathews around the early 1960's.Lincsaddick said:Nice story .. I started following CAFC in 1961, I can't remember Ronnie, who according to wiki, played for us from 1953 to 1962 .. the inside forwards from then that I recall were Matthews and Edwards .. perhaps Ronnie was close to retirement by then ..either that or my early 1960s memory cells have turned to blancmange
Old memory playing tricks.1 -
He played in one of our most famous victories, the 7-6 win over Hudders.
Ronnie and Freddie Lucas used to play very well together .1 -
Yes, we doorstepped him for the Mercury for a bit of fun.Johnnysummers5 said:
A friend of mine was manager of Coombes betting shop in Charlton Church Lane in the 1990s, and he told me a guy who said he was Ronnie White the ex Charlton footballer use to come in the shop, and then one day a regular punter, came in and told my friend he knew this guy and he was not Ronnie White but used to tell a lot of people he wasAirman Brown said:Is that the real Ronnie White or the one the club was giving free tickets to in the 1990s? All got a bit complicated when the real one died.
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These betting stories have sparked a memory. Having always been taught never to speak ill of the departed I omitted from an earlier post that Ronnie White if not in the line up Saturday afternoon would it was said be seen instead popping across the road to Charlton Greyhound Stadium - roughly where the present M & S is sited - he was besides being a thrilling footballer to watch also something of a punter.0
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From the museum's collection of photograph's.
We have 100s of 40s, 50s and 60s press portrait photographs as well as other photos on display
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Bump.0
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Blimey, wouldn't wanna cross 'im!
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Remember him well,lovely old fashioned inside right,was very skilful on the ball and apparently was a master ball juggler,I remember a newspaper article on his ability to keep the ball up for ages.0
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Don’t you mean Jim White?Six-a-bag-of-nuts said:I'm ashamed to say I remember Steve White.0
