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Wilfred Minter
Born: 11/02/1898 , St Albans
Died: 29/12/1984 , St Albans

Minter aged 24W.H. MINTER, the very mention of the name would strike fear into the hearts of many a poor defender plying their trade in the Isthmian League back in the 1920s. That he was also a member of St Albans City throughout that decade and into the early 1930s would only add to our opponents’ sense of foreboding. We, with Minter leading the attack, were the most powerful amateur club in the county and, for much of the decade, whichever League in which we played.


Back in the Roaring Twenties Wilfred Harry “Billy” Minter was the local boy ‘done good.’ But back then most of the players had roots in this area. He attended the Hatfield Road School (no longer in existence), worked with his father (Thomas Harry) in his store in Culver Road and later took on the ownership of it. He grew up with his team-mates and some, such as right-half Harold Figg, remained as a friend for life. When the time came to give up the shop he joined De Havilland in Hatfield in 1953 where he stayed until retiring in March 1964 at the age of 65.


Born on 11th February 1898 Minter saw action with the Royal Field Artillery in Mesopotamia during the Great War and confessed to playing a good number of football matches while stationed there. He was demobbed after four years with the Territorials in 1919 and then started working with his father. He played for Hatfield Road Old Boys before making his City debut on 5th February 1921 in a 4-1 win over Bromley at Clarence Park in the Athenian League. Billy failed to score in that game, but he did in 14 of the next 15 St Albans matches.


WH Minter GraveHis 100th and 300th goals both came against Wimbledon, in fact his 300th goal came in just 263 appearances. He once scored in eleven consecutive matches and in a four-game spell during October and November 1924 he scored 3, 5, 3, 4. During Minter’s 356 goals in 362 games for the club we won the Athenian League twice and the Isthmian League three times. On a further three occasions he led the line as we reached the semi-final of the Amateur Cup. He gained three caps for the England Amateur team and also had four trials for the international side. In other representative matches, he played for the Amateurs of the South, the Football Association, the Isthmian League (13 goals in 15 games), the Athenian League and remains as the record goal scorer for the Hertfordshire County XI with 57 goals in just 37 games. Minter also refused to take pity on his opponents in friendly matches and in 67 such games for the City scored another 72 times.


However, for all of his remarkable achievements Wilfred Minter will forever be remembered for a most astonishing game of football played at Champion Hill, home of Dulwich Hamlet, on a Wednesday afternoon on 22nd November 1922. He scored seven times that day, his highest ever tally, but was on the losing side as Hamlet, with virtually the last kick of the game, won 8-7. That game has ensured that his name will forever live on in football history as it came in a 4th Round Qualifying Replay of the FA Cup and is likely to remain as the highest score by an individual on the losing side of an FA Cup tie.


Save for a short spell after retiring, Wilf and his wife Eleanor spent their lives in St Albans but, when he died in December 1984, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the London Road cemetery on the outskirts of the city. In 2017 a Crowd Funding scheme raised the £2,750 required to build a suitable headstone to honour the memory of St Albans City and Hertfordshire’s greatest goalscorer.




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Wilfred Minter's playing record
Season Started. Used Sub. Goals Yellows Reds
Season 1920-21 13 0 17 0 0
Season 1921-22 38 0 32 0 0
Season 1922-23 29 0 44 0 0
Season 1923-24 31 0 25 0 0
Season 1924-25 39 0 47 0 0
Season 1925-26 32 0 43 0 0
Season 1926-27 31 0 42 0 0
Season 1927-28 32 0 33 0 0
Season 1928-29 30 0 28 0 0
Season 1929-30 30 0 12 0 0
Season 1930-31 35 0 21 0 0
Season 1931-32 21 0 12 0 0
Season 1936-37 1 0 0 0 0
Total 362 0 356 0 0
By season | In opening squad | Substituted in | Goals | Yellow cards | Red cards


Wilfred Minter's full debut
05.02.1921 at 15:00 Athenian League H Bromley 4 - 1


Latest opening squad appearances (max.10)Wilfred Minter started
29.04.1937 at 19:00 Isthmian League A Nunhead 0 - 1
23.01.1932 at 19:00 Herts Senior Cup / 2nd Rd H Hoddesdon Town 1 - 2
16.01.1932 at 19:00 Amateur Cup / 2nd Rd H Wimbledon 1 - 4
02.01.1932 at 19:00 Isthmian League H Dulwich Hamlet 3 - 5
26.12.1931 at 19:00 Herts Senior Cup / 1st Rd (r) H Berkhamsted Town 6 - 2


Latest matches where player has scored one or more goals (max. 10)Wilfred Minter scored
02.01.1932 at 19:00 Isthmian League H Dulwich Hamlet 3 - 5
26.12.1931 at 19:00 Herts Senior Cup / 1st Rd (r) H Berkhamsted Town 6 - 2
19.12.1931 at 19:00 Isthmian League H Clapton 1 - 0
12.12.1931 at 19:00 Amateur Cup / 1st Rd H Slough Town 2 - 1
05.12.1931 at 19:00 Isthmian League H Oxford City 2 - 5