While we could all argue that we have seen the odd player who should be imprisoned for crimes against football over the years, you may not know that Charlton have come up against some legitimate hardened criminals, including a convicted murderer, no less, who were released especially to play against the Addicks.
It all went down in 1951 as part of the club’s post-season, three-game tour of Turkey which was fraught with incident. The first clash against Besiktas ended in the home supporters showing their objections to Charlton’s tough-tackling approach, which earned them a 2-1 win, by throwing bricks through the dressing room windows.
The next test saw Jimmy Seed take his side to Galatasary on the following day which very nearly descended into a full-scale riot when the Addicks were awarded a penalty on their way to another 2-1 victory for the tourists.
It would, however, be the ‘friendly’ clash against Fenerbahçe on May 28th, 1951, which was played out in truly bizarre circumstances.
Perhaps nervous at the trail of victorious destruction left by Seed’s men in their previous two outings, the Turkish team felt it necessary to arrange for two players to be let out of prison to play in the game, one of which was convicted of murder for stabbing a man to death.
The murderer in questions wasn’t so hard without his weapon of choice and clashed with the Addicks’ own tough man Jock Campbell (pictured alongside the Fenerbahçe presented to the club before the game) with the game just five minutes old. The Scottish defender came out on top, leaving his opponent unconscious on a stretcher and heading straight back to his jail cell.
Justice was well and truly served when Charlton won the game 3-0 thanks to a Charlie Vaughan double and a Jimmy D’Arcy strike.
This article was originally published in Valley Review during the 2025/26 season as part of the 'Unusual Addicks' series of features.
