Stan Hurst, from Crediton, scored 25 times in just over a hundred league games for Exeter City in the 1930s. He was also a member of the team that won the Division Three (South) Cup in 1934. The article below is taken from an Exeter City programme article written by Chris and Kathy Hurst on the 2011 centenary of Stan’s birth. There is more about Stan’s playing career in the A to Z of Exeter first-team players section of the archive.

See also the articles about Stan’s fellow Crediton Grecians Bill Ellaway and Ian Grinney.

THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER: The centenary of Grecians cup hero - Stan Hurst.

Three decades before Geoff Hurst scored his famous hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup Final, another Hurst helped Exeter City to a 1-0 victory in the inaugural Division III South Cup Final in May 1934. Stan Hurst, who would have been 100 on 21st June this year, scored the winning goal in a tight-fought contest against rivals Torquay United - a game watched by 6,198 spectators.

Newton St Cyres-born Hurst, who joined Exeter from local side Tipton St. John, made 123 appearances for the Grecians. Between 1932-1936, he scored 35 goals and in the season of 1933-34 was the Club's leading goal scorer. He also had the honour of scoring the Club's 1000th league goal against Brighton in 1936. 

The Division III South Cup campaign began in January 1934, with a staggering 11-6 home win over Crystal Palace, in which Hurst netted a brace and the prolific Fred Whitlow scored six. City's inside left, Hurst, continued on a run of form, hitting the back of the net in the second-round match against Watford. In the Semi Final, Exeter met Brighton and Hove Albion three times, including two replays, and Stan Hurst scored in each of the three matches. He must have made an impression on the seaside club, and in 1937, after a period at Watford, he joined the Sussex club.

When City lifted the Division III South Cup after overcoming Torquay at neutral venue, Home Park, it was one of the biggest highlights of the Club's early history. Few will now remember that team, but the Exeter side of the early 1930s has often been hailed as one of City's best of all time. When Terry Cooper led Exeter to promotion from Division IV in 1990 much was written comparing the two teams, each time asking which had been the greater side. Stan Hurst scored the final league goal of his career on 2nd September 1939 for Aldershot Town, in a 2-2 draw against Swindon Town. The ball crossed the line in the 81st minute: with war being declared the very next day, this would have been one of the last league goals for six years.

In between active service, he played for Reading in the wartime London League before retiring. He went on to be Chairman of Crediton United, before being controversially banned from football sine die after a Cup defeat in the 1950s resulted in a riot. He remained a dedicated and talented sportsman and died playing Golf at Crediton Golf Club on 28th May 1993, aged 81"