John Hewie

John Hewie

Personal information
Full name	John Davison Hewie
Date of birth	(1927-12-13) 13 December 1927
Place of birth	Pretoria, South Africa
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Versatile (mainly Left back)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1946	ISCOR Pretoria
1947–1949	Arcadia Shepherds
1949–1966	Charlton Athletic	495	(37)
1960	→ Arcadia Shepherds (loan)
1966–1967	Arcadia United	45	(9)
1967–1968	Bexley United
1968–1971	Arcadia Shepherds
International career
1956–1960	Scotland	19	(2)
Managerial career
1968	Bexley United
1968–1971	Arcadia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Davison Hewie (born 13 December 1927) is a former Scottish international footballer who spent most of his career with Charlton Athletic.

Hewie was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to Scottish ex-pat parents and lived there for the first 21 years of his life. He developed a keen interest in sport while at school, notably tennis and hockey . Football however was his primary pastime and he honed his skills first with his employer's works team then local sides Arcadia and Johannesburg.

In October 1949 the opportunity arose for Hewie to turn professional with English side Charlton Athletic, who had already imported several other South African-based players. He would spend the next 19 years in south-east London, making over 500 appearances for the Addicks and playing in almost every position, including four times as a goalkeeper, when regular custodian Mick Rose was injured.

In 1956 he made his debut for the Scottish national side, playing in a 1-1 draw against England at Hampden Park. His first appearance in a Scotland shirt occurred three years earlier when he was selected for a Scotland B game in Edinburgh. Remarkably, this was the first occasion Hewie had set foot in Scotland. He made a total of 19 appearances for Scotland, predominantly at fullback, during which he scored twice. He was selected in the squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup and missed a penalty in the 2-1 defeat by France.

Hewie briefly moved into a managerial role as his playing career ended, when he undertook the role of player-manager for non-league Kent side Bexley United. He returned to South Africa and first club Arcadia in 1968 and remained in the country of his birth until the early 1990s, at which point he returned to the United Kingdom. He currently lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire and still attends Charlton Athletic matches when the opportunity allows.