JAMIE’S BIRTHDAY HIGHLIGHTS FOOTBALL LINKS
Jamie Hart, who celebrates his 50th birthday today, New Year’s Eve, was part of a remarkable pairing when he made his first team debut for Notts.
Hart opened the bowling in an Axa Sunday League match against Somerset at Trent Bridge in July 1995 alongside Bobby Chapman. Both bowlers that day were the cricketing sons of famous footballing fathers, with strong connections to both Nottingham teams.
Paul Hart, Jamie’s father, and Sammy Chapman, Bobby’s dad, each played for Nottingham Forest and each had spells managing both Forest and Notts County.
Jamie was born into a footballing family. His grandfather, Johnny Hart, played for Manchester City in the 1940s and 50s and subsequently managed the Club. His father was also a top footballer and Jamie was born in Blackpool during his father’s stint with the Tangerines.
The family moved to Nottingham when Paul joined Nottingham Forest and began a long association with the City with spells as player, academy director and manager at the City’s two football clubs.
Jamie Hart made his one and only Championship appearance in 1996, against Yorkshire at the Scarborough Festival. He scored 18 runs but went wicketless as Notts slumped to an innings defeat.
He sustained a serious hamstring injury in the build-up to the 1997 season and did not play at all that year; Jamie decided to retire from professional cricket in 1999. He went out on a high in his final appearance in a Notts shirt – playing for the Second XI against Surrey Seconds in June – he made 104 and shared a ninth wicket partnership of 142 with Stephen Randall.
After cricket, Hart became a football agent and represented several high-profile players. His father Paul was involved in youth football coaching in his time with both the Nottingham Forest and Notts County Academies and Jamie followed a similar route in cricket. He joined Nottinghamshire’s youth coaching set-up in 2018, becoming coach for Notts Under-17s.
Local boy Bobby Chapman joined the full time Notts staff in 1992 and made his First-Class debut the same summer against Warwickshire at Edgbaston when both Lewis and Cairns were absent through injury.
He played for the county until 1996, with a best return of 6-105, and his most notable performance was against the South Africans in a tour match at Trent Bridge, taking five wickets, including dismissing opening batter, Liebenburg for 0 in each innings. Chapman left Notts in August 1996 for Worcestershire where he remained until 2000.
Bobby Chapman's father was ‘Sammy’ Chapman, the former Nottingham Forest footballer, who played more than 350 games for Forest and another 40 or so for Notts County.
The historic sporting links alongside and across the Trent are well known and not uncommon but it is highly unlikely that the sons of two of the City’s footballers made the same cricket first team on any other occasion.
It is hoped that Jamie Hart’s birthday celebrations go well, and that he remembers that debut match.
December 2025