Matthews didn't play when the war was on of course, but played 10 seasons before it and about 20 after, so we'll say he had it covered, and it was a good reason.
I wonder if there's some lads (old blokes) playing Sunday league who could cover than time period between two of them, I've played for a few clubs at various sports where we've had guys still playing into their 70's with the lower teams etc. Might be possible to cover 100 years with two players, albeit they don't move much when they get into their 60's and they only last about 10 minutes before getting injured.