Eddie Chapman

Who was Eddie Chapman?

Eddie Chapman was a football player and chairman, closely associated with West Ham United.

At schoolboy level, he won honours with Ilford and London, and also had a trial for England Schools. In 1937, his last season as a schoolboy, he scored 102 goals for his school team Loxford, and 128 in total, including a game that saw him score 12 goals, three games where he scored 9 goals, and 8 in another.

He first joined West Ham on 3 August 1937 as an office junior, earning 25 shillings a week plus 2/6d expenses. He trained with the team two or three afternoons a week, and went on to join Romford on loan to gain more experience. In an interview with Colin Benson, Chapman recalls one of his first experiences in the West Ham first team, in a war-time game against London rivals Arsenal. "I played outside right against Arsenal and it was truly a marvellous thing to be on the same field as the likes of George Swindin, Eddie Hapgood, the Compton brothers and the rest. I was 16 and scored in a convincing 6-0 win. What a day that was for me".

Chapman appeared in the second round second leg of the Football League War Cup in 1940, a 3-0 win over Leicester, and earned a 30/- match fee for the game. He was also in the squad for the final against Blackburn Rovers, but did not play.