{{short description|English footballer (1919-1993)}} {{use British English|date=July 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Dave Massart | image = | caption = | fullname = David Louis Massart<ref name=Hugman/> | height = | position = Centre forward | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|11|2|df=y}}<ref name=Matthews110/> | birth_place = Birmingham, England | death_date = December 1993 (age 74) | death_place = Weymouth, England | years1 = 193?–1938 | clubs1 = Bells Athletic | caps1 = | goals1 = | years2 = 1938–1947 | clubs2 = Birmingham City | caps2 = 3 | goals2 = 0 | years3 = 1947–1948 | clubs3 = Walsall | caps3 = 27 | goals3 = 23 | years4 = 1948–1951 | clubs4 = Bury | caps4 = 85 | goals4 = 45 | years5 = 1951 | clubs5 = Chesterfield | caps5 = 11 | goals5 = 5 | years6 = 1951–1956 | clubs6 = Weymouth | caps6 = 156 | goals6 = 114 | totalcaps = 282 | totalgoals = 187 }} '''David Louis Massart''' (2 November 1919 – 1993) was an English professional footballer who scored 73 goals in 126 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Walsall, Bury and Chesterfield.<ref name=NB/> He played as a centre forward.
==Career== Massart was born in the Yardley district of Birmingham. He joined hometown club Birmingham as an amateur in 1938, and turned professional in February 1939, but had not played for the first team when the outbreak of the Second World War put a stop to the Football League.<ref name=Matthews110/> He played intermittently in the later years of wartime competition, contributing 9 goals from 11 games as Birmingham won the Football League South in the 1945–46 season,<ref>Matthews, pp. 239–40.</ref> and finally made his debut in the Second Division on 7 September 1946 in a 2–0 home defeat to Burnley.<ref>Matthews, p. 182.</ref> Described as "a real old-fashioned number nine",<ref name=Matthews110/> Massart scored freely for the reserves<ref name=Diary/> but was unable to establish himself in the first team.<ref name=Matthews110/>
In the 1947 close season, Massart joined up with former Birmingham clubmate Harry Hibbs, then manager of Third Division South club Walsall. He made a spectacular start to his Walsall career, scoring a hat-trick in each of the first three home games.<ref name=Walsallhistory/> He finished up with 23 goals from 27 league games, which made him Walsall's leading scorer for 1947–48, despite moving back to the Second Division with Bury in March 1948, well before the end of the season.<ref name=Walsallprofile/>
Bury paid £2,000 for Massart's services. He repaid their investment by scoring 45 goals in 85 league games for the club, becoming their leading scorer for two consecutive seasons. After three years he moved to his last Football League club; Chesterfield paid £6,000 for his services in February 1951 in the hope that his goalscoring might save them from relegation from the Second Division. Five goals from 11 games was too little too late, and Massart moved into non-League football with Weymouth before the 1951–52 season.<ref name=Bury/><ref name=Marshall/>
He continued in prolific vein at Weymouth. In five seasons he scored 114 goals in 156 games in the Southern League, one of only three Weymouth players to achieve 100 career goals in that competition,<ref name=Echo100/> and he twice scored hat-tricks in consecutive matches.<ref name=Echotreble/> In his final season, the club organised a benefit match for him against a Football Association Guest XI; 7,000 spectators turned up, far in excess of the usual home attendance.<ref name=Weymouth5556/>
Massart retired from the game in 1956.<ref name=Echo100/> He remained in Weymouth, Dorset, where he ran a post office and then a hotel. He died in the town in December 1993 at the age of 74.<ref name=Walsallprofile/>
==References== <references>
<ref name=Bury>{{cite web |url=http://www.themightyshakers.co.uk/oldsites/gordon/programmes/9900-programmes/pr-chesterfield-home.htm |title=Matchday Programmes: Bury v Chesterfield Sat, 15 April 2000 |work=Shakers on Line |publisher=Bury F.C. |accessdate=18 May 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref> <ref name=Hugman>{{Hugman|13298|accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Diary>{{cite web |url=http://brianwilliams.org.uk/diary/1947b.html |title=1947 April–May–June |work=Diary of a Birmingham schoolboy 1947–1953 |first=Brian David |last=Williams |date=5 April 1947 |accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Echo100>{{cite news |url=http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/5379643.THE_BEST___9_000_TERRAS_EVER_SPENT/ |title=The best £9,000 Terras ever spent |work=Bournemouth Echo |date=7 May 2003 |accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Echotreble>{{cite news |url=http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/5391495.Phillips_treble_fires_Terras_title_bid/ |title=Phillips treble fires Terras title bid |work=Bournemouth Echo |date=21 January 2002 |accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Marshall>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-fc.co.uk/page/PastPlayersDetail/0,,10435~1332202,00.html |title=The Managers: Bob Marshall |publisher=Chesterfield F.C. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004123532/http://www.chesterfield-fc.co.uk/page/PastPlayersDetail/0%2C%2C10435~1332202%2C00.html |archivedate=4 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name=Matthews110>{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Tony |title=Birmingham City: A Complete Record |year=1995 |publisher=Breedon Books |location=Derby |page=110 |isbn=978-1-85983-010-9}}</ref> <ref name=NB>{{cite web |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player10/davemassart.html |title=Dave Massart |work=UK A–Z Transfers |publisher=Neil Brown |accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Walsallhistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.saddlers.co.uk/news/article/history-318445.aspx |title=Walsall Football Club History |first=Andrew |last=Poole |publisher=Walsall F.C. |date=21 May 2015 |accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref> <ref name=Walsallprofile>{{cite web |url=http://www.saddlers.co.uk/page/SaddlersAZ/0,,10428~1102556,00.html |title=Ultimate Saddlers A–Z 11 |first=Leigh |last=Edwards |publisher=Walsall F.C. |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724161546/http://www.saddlers.co.uk/page/SaddlersAZ/0%2C%2C10428~1102556%2C00.html |archivedate=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name=Weymouth5556>{{cite web |url=http://www.theterras.co.uk/website/old-season-first-team/1955-1956.htm |title=1955–1956 |publisher=Weymouth F.C |accessdate=18 May 2009}}</ref>
</references>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Massart, Dave}} Category:1919 births Category:1993 deaths Category:Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:English men's footballers Category:Men's association football forwards Category:Birmingham City F.C. players Category:Walsall F.C. players Category:Bury F.C. players Category:Chesterfield F.C. players Category:Weymouth F.C. players Category:English Football League players Category:Southern Football League players Category:20th-century English sportsmen