At the age of ten, Jimmy Chappell was taken to Canada by his parents and started playing hockey with the Oshawa Collegians in 1930. After three years, he joined Whitley and was a member of the team which won the intermediate championship of Ontario in 1935. He also played cricket for the Canadian national team before his return to England where he was signed up by Earl’s Court Rangers. At the 1936 Olympics, Chappell played in all the matches except the one against Japan and was subsequently a member of the team which won the European Championship in 1937 and 1938. At the outbreak of war Chappell was playing for Dunfermline, but he later joined the Army and took part in the D-day landings. When the game was revived on a national scale after the war, he joined Brighton Tigers and was one of three 1936 gold medallists who also played for the 1948 Olympic side.
