Joe Payne

Joe Payne

Born in Brimington Common, Derbyshire in 1914, Joe was spotted playing for Bolsover Colliery by a Luton fan living in the area and recommended to the Town for a trial in 1934 which proved successful.

He was sent out the Town’s nursery side Biggleswade Town and on his return played for the reserves and occasionally for the first team as a wing-half until Easter Monday 1936 when he was thrown into the side as a centre-forward due to injuries to both Jack Ball and Billy Boyd.

Told to make a nuisance of himself, he had netted a hat-trick against a hapless Bristol Rovers by half-time and continued scoring after the break and by the full-time whistle had scored ten in a 12-0 victory.

Suddenly, a player who was likely to be released at the season’s end became highly sought after and even more so when he scored 55 goals in 1936-37 as the Town won the championship of Division Three (South).

It was inevitable that Joe, by now an England international, would be transferred to a top flight club with Chelsea winning the race in March 1938. Although a regular at Stamford Bridge the War took away his best years and after turning out for West Ham and Millwall in peacetime he finished his career at Worcester City.

An accomplished cricketer for Bedfordshire, Joe continued to live and work in Luton until passing away in 1975.