Johnny Mapson

Who was Johnny Mapson?

John Mapson was an English professional football player.

Born in Birkenhead, Mapson moved to Swindon in his youth and worked in a succession of jobs including grocer's boy, in a bakehouse and as a milk boy before signing for Reading F.C. in April 1935. In March 1936 he transferred to Sunderland A.F.C. for the sum of £2000, beginning a career that would last with Sunderland A.F.C. for nearly twenty years.

The death of goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe on 5 February 1936 propelled the 18 year old Mapson, with only a couple of Third Division appearances for Reading F.C., into the championship chasing Sunderland A.F.C. first team. Sunderland A.F.C. won the Football League Championship in 1936, although Mapson did not make enough appearances to qualify for a medal. The following season Mapson established himself as a first team regular as Sunderland A.F.C. won the FA Cup on the day before his twentieth birthday.

Mapson was considered positionally astute as a goalkeeper, rarely having to make a last-ditch dive and had a distinctive method of catching the ball.

Mapson's career was interrupted by World War II, during which he worked in an engineering works, assisting Reading F.C. in wartime football and helping them to win the London War Cup in 1941.