Future England amateur international Nicky Holman was reported as being on the books of Exeter City in the mid-1930s when training at St Luke’s College.

Nicholas Sylvester Holman, son of Walter Holman, hailed from St Just in the far west of Cornwall and was educated at Probus School before training to be a teacher at St Luke’s College in Exeter in the mid-1930s. Later reports of his career indicate that he may have been associated with Exeter City during his time at St Luke’s.

Qualifying as a maths teacher, he played several times for Cornwall in inter-county amateur football before being stationed in South Africa between 1940 and 1945. During that time he played for Queenstown and is reported to have represented Cape Province as well as playing for a South African team against  Rhodesia.

Returning to Cornwall, he taught in the St Austell area where he played for the town team in the Plymouth and District League. Somewhat surprisingly for a player appearing at that level, he was selected for the England amateur international tour of France, Luxembourg, and Holland and appeared at inside-left in the 4-3 defeat against Luxembourg on 13 May 1947.

Within twelve months, Nicky had moved to Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) where he became deputy head, as well as hockey coach, at Thornhill School at Gwelo (Gweru).

He died in Edinburgh in 2002.