Stuart Leary

Who was Stuart Leary?

Stuart Edward Leary was a South African who played football as a centre-forward and cricket as an all-rounder.

Leary started his career with Cape Town side Clyde before moving to English side Charlton Athletic in 1950 along with team-mate Eddie Firmani. He was one of a number of South Africans to move to The Valley in this era. After making his debut in 1951, he became a prolific goal-scorer scoring a record number of league goals for the club. Despite being South African born, he appeared for the England U23 team but was prevented from representing the full team by the Football Association who banned non-English-born players from representing the national team. During his period of National Service he served with the Royal Air Force. In all, he made 403 appearances for the Addicks, scoring 163. After failing to agree a new contract, he joined Queens Park Rangers in 1962 and remained there until his retirement in 1966.

Leary also had a long and successful career as a first-class cricket player of Kent County Cricket Club between 1951 and 1971. He scored 16,517 runs at an average of 31 and took 146 wickets at an average of 34.