Biography
Stuart Leslie Blampey was born in North Ferriby on the western fringes of the Greater Hull area and attended Hessle High School. A versatile midfielder, in 1965 and 1966 he played for East Riding Schools FA XI while playing regular Boys League football for Chilton Amateurs. He joined Hull City on schoolboy terms in October 1965 and by January 1967 he was being selected for the Hull City Juniors team, going on to play for the Yorkshire Schools side four times and attending an England’s Schools training camp before missing much of the 1967/68 season with a broken kneecap. He signed his first professional contract at 17 years of age in July 1968 and was soon playing for City’s Reserves side.
Stuart made his first team debut against Norwich City in August 1969 due to the absence of Alan Jarvis and scored his first – and only – senior goal for the Tigers three days against Bristol City. He made eight consecutive appearances at the start of the 1969/70 season before making way for the recovered Jarvis and returning to the reserves – he had to wait two further years before he was handed another handful of first team appearances in the early weeks of the 1971/72 season by manager Terry Neill. He remained on the fringes of the first team during the 1972/73 season but in the 1973/74 season Blampey, now 22 years old, managed to hold down a first team place for much of the season, though he missed two months of football during November and December 1973.
After another run of games in the early months of the 1974/75 season, which saw the transition from Terry Neill to John Kaye as manager, Stuart kept his place until he dropped out of the first team at the end of February 1975. a run of injuries restricted Stuart to Reserves football during the 1975/76 season and he retired from professional football in November 1976 after suffering back problems for nearly two years and failing to fully recover from corrective surgery.
Blampey then embarked on a second career in the non-leagues while working as a salesman for a food company. Courted by several local sides when he retired from the professional game, Stuart joined Northern Premier League side Scarborough in December 1976 and helped the Seadogs reach the May 1977 FA Trophy Final against Dagenham – Stuart played in the Wembley final, which Scarborough won 2-1. Blampey left Scarborough in May 1979 when the club joined the Conference National league, he joined Northern Premier League side Goole Town in July 1979 and served his new club for four years, becoming player-manager in November 1981.
Stuart was dismissed from his managerial post at Goole Town in January 1983 and in August 1983 he took over the reins at Northern Counties East League side North Ferriby United. He retained his job at Church Lane for just shy of two years until April 1985 when an altercation with a referee led to him being banned from all football activity for eight months – he resigned from his post in May 1985. Stuart had a short spell in charge at Barton Town during the 1985/86 season before retiring from the game.
By this time Blampey was settled in Hessle and worked as a sales manager for paper products manufacturer Kimberley Clark, a role he held for over 30 years until retirement in 2013. He kept fit by running half marathons.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 13 June 1951, North Ferriby
Hull City First Game: 13 August 1969, Norwich City H (Division Two), 18 years, 61 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 February 1975, Portsmouth H (Division Two), 23 years, 254 days old
Clubs
Hull City (1968-1976), Scarborough (1976-1979), Goole Town (1979-1983)
Hull City Record
Career: 78 apps, 1 goals
Stuart Blampey| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968/69 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1969/70 | 7 (0) | 1 | – | – | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 1970/71 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1971/72 | 4 (2) | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1972/73 | 4 (5) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 (1) | 0 |
| 1973/74 | 24 (2) | 0 | – | – | 2 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 1974/75 | 22 (2) | 0 | – | – | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |