Chris Balderstone

John Christopher Balderstone (16 November 1940 – 6 March 2000) was an English professional in cricket and football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a midfielder for Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United, Doncaster Rovers and Queen of the South. He played and umpired first-class cricket making it to international level – he played in two Tests in 1976 and umpired two ODIs from 1994 to 1998. In a long club career he was a key part of the five trophy winning Leicestershire side of the early and mid-1970s.
Football career.
Huddersfield Town.
Balderstone's football career started with Huddersfield Town where he was signed by Bill Shankly in May 1958. He made 117 Football League appearances for Huddersfield, and played a total of 131 senior games for them (scoring 25 goals).
Carlisle United.
In June 1965 he moved for £7,000 to Carlisle United who had just been promoted to the second tier of English football for the first time in their history. As Balderstone later said, "They gave me a bit of stick at first because I wasn't the quickest player or the hardest tackler. I used to think I made up for it with speed of thought and control of the ball. I always had confidence in my ability and I knew there'd be somebody in the crowd who appreciated a bit of skill. I won them over and they were very good to me after that."
He scored on his debut, a 4–1 home win over Norwich City, which gave him the distinction of scoring the club's first ever goal in the second level of English football. He stayed with Carlisle for the next 11 years, the club's most successful period where not only was he a key player but also became club captain.
His most notable cup run was in the 1969–70 League Cup where Carlisle made it to the semi final. He enjoyed other successes in cup competitions, "In 1970 we beat Manchester City in the League Cup when they had Lee, Bell and Summerbee. And in '74 we beat Sunderland at Roker Park in the FA Cup when they were the Cup holders. We played against Liverpool in the next round and took them to a replay."
In 1973–74 Balderstone enjoyed promotion to the First Division, then the highest level in the English football pyramid. It was Balderstone's penalty against Pat Jennings and Tottenham Hotspur that had Carlisle briefly topping England's Football League after the first 3 games of the 1974–75 season. However, Carlisle were relegated at the end of the season, the only relegation in Balderstone's career. In all he made 376 League appearances for the Cumbrian club.
Doncaster Rovers and Queen of the South.
Balderstone joined Doncaster Rovers after his top-level season with Carlisle. It was when with Rovers he became the only player to play League Football and first-class cricket on the same day (see Cricket Career under Leicestershire section).
Balderstone's next club was in Scotland. "Queen of the South rang me up. Carlisle used to play practice matches against them and they remembered me. I caught the train to Dumfries from Leicester every Friday night. It was quite a trek but it gave me another couple of years football." When George Cloy and Crawford Boyd were each later interviewed for the Queen of the South website, each commented on Balderstone's ability with the ball. Cloy in particular said Balderstone's passing ability was the best in Cloy's entire career at Queens.
He later played for non-league Enderby Town.
Cricket career.
Yorkshire.
Balderstone first appeared for Yorkshire on 10 June 1961.
Leicestershire.
Balderstone later remembered, "Ray Illingworth took me to Leicestershire. I might be a decent bloke on the outside but he knew I was mentally hard through football. Cricketers might think they're pretty hard but they're not compared to footballers. It was a great move for me."
