The death of his father while Jimmy Woolf was only six years old meant he spent the rest of his childhood in the Arcadia Jewish Orphanage where he developed a love of football.

A Transvaal Challenge Cup and League Championship winner with Johannesburg South African Railways in 1937 (see scrapbook section), Jimmy Woolf was determined to become a professional footballer in England. He had saved for two years for his passage and, once aboard the Balmoral Castle, he worked every morning in the ship’s stokehold to keep fit. He was carrying letters of introduction from his J.S.A.R captain, George Brunton, who had toured England in 1924, but a steward called Hunt cabled the Southampton manager, Tom Parker, alerting him to Jimmy’s intentions.

So he was met at the dockside by Bert Bush Southampton’s assistant secretary and a trial in the “A” team was arranged, as a result of which he signed pro forms. Although having the talent, Jimmy lacked the physique for the heavy English pitches. Placed on a special diet, he responded by getting among the goals for the Reserves and was soon making his Second Division debut away to Coventry.

The People trumpeted “Woolf on Warpath – The South African was Southampton’s outstanding player,”

but snow caused the game to be abandoned at half-time and Jimmy’s official debut was held over until the following Saturday.His performance against Spurs was less impressive – although he did manage to break the Spurs ‘keeper’s nose – and that was the end of his Football League career.

Moving on to Guildford City, he acquitted himself well in the Southern League in 1938-39. He joined the Royal Engineers and served in Bangalore, where he guested for “England” v “Scotland”, in a 1942 scrap between League players posted there, and played for the Army/RAF against Bangalore Muslims. He later took part in the Burma Campaign, learning to speak Hindustani, a language he was to put to good use later in his life. After the War, Jimmy returned to England and married a Liverpool girl in 1947. The pair of them found employment in an Isle of Man hotel with Jimmy becoming head barman, an occupation he maintained when employed by the Royal Hotel in Liverpool. After a stint working in the Burns Hotel in Sheffield he and his wife along with their two young children decided, in 1954, to move back to Durban in South Africa where he became a sales rep in the retail trade. Durban has a large Indian population and his Hindustani became very useful. He maintained his interest in football coaching Municipal FC and Maccabi even turning out for them when short of players. He finally hung up his boots for good, aged 57, when he broke a leg. He died on his 87th birthday after a fall leaving behind a rich and varied life.