Tommy Ball

Thomas Edgar Ball (11 February 1900 – 11 November 1923) was an English footballer who played at centre-half for Aston Villa. He was shot dead by his landlord and neighbour, ex-policeman George Stagg, thus becoming the first and to-date only active Football League player in England to have been murdered.

Football career Ball was born in Chester-le-Street, County Durham in North-east England, and was brought up in nearby Usworth. He played football for his school, winning a medal as a ten-year-old.

He made no first-team appearances for Newcastle before moving to the West Midlands to join Aston Villa of the Football League First Division in January 1920, where he was seen as cover for Frank Barson. His first-team appearances were limited until Barson left Villa in August 1922 after which Ball became the first-choice centre-half, making 36 appearances in the 1922–23 season,

His last game for Villa came on 10 November 1923 with a 1–0 victory at Notts County's Meadow Lane ground; this result left Villa third in the league table. By this time, Ball had made a total of 77 appearances in league and cup matches.

Personal life and death In May 1922, Ball married Beatrice Richards, the daughter of a local pork butcher and pie maker. . Ball died shortly afterwards from the gunshot wounds. Stagg made no attempt to flee and was arrested by the police at the scene. seven coaches and several cars where the coffin was carried by Ball's former teammates. The grave bears the inscription: "To T.E. Ball – A token of esteem from his fellow players of Aston Villa F.C." The grave's condition deteriorated over the years

The following poem was written shortly after Ball's murder:Twas on a Sabbath evening in drear November daysTwo friends were heard creating, in Perry Barry's bywaysHigh words just fed the anger, now this young man's life is fled.A shot and then another! And Thomas Ball lies dead.

In his summing up, Mr. Justice Rowlatt instructed the jury not to show too much sympathy towards Stagg, but "to look at the facts dispassionately". Although there was a conflict of evidence as to how Ball was killed and although there might have been no motive, "it might still be murder if a man might lose his temper against a person he did not like and commit an act of murder". If the gun was pointed at the victim and discharged on purpose, that was murder, whereas if it went off by accident during a struggle, that was manslaughter. After deliberating for an hour and forty minutes, the jury returned a verdict of "wilful murder" with a recommendation of mercy. Despite this, Mr. Justice Rowlatt passed a sentence of death.

Stagg was refused leave to appeal, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as part of the reforms introduced by the newly elected Labour Government. Stagg was subsequently declared "insane" and was incarcerated in Broadmoor Hospital. He eventually died in a Birmingham mental hospital in February 1966, aged 87.