Luis Monti

Uruguay didn’t make the trip to defend their world title in Italy in 1934- a unique occurrence in the history of the World Cup. This was said to be in response to the way in which European teams had snubbed ‘their’ finals in 1930- there was also some suggestion that the top Uruguayan clubs discouraged their players from going to Europe for fear that it would prove to be a one way trip. There was a vogue for South American players to ‘return’ to their countries of origin- which brings us on to Luis Felipe Monti.
Monti, nicknamed Doble Ancho (double wide), won 3 league championships with Buenos Aires'  San Lorenzo de Almagro in the 1920's.  He won a  silver medal 1928 Olympics, and played for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup final.  In total Monti won 16 caps (5 goals) for Argentina between 1924 and 1931. In 1931 Monti moved to Italy, joining Juventus. Monti won 18 caps (1 goal) for Italy between 1932 and 1936, and appeared in the 1934 World Cup final. The only man to play in a World Cup final for 2 different countries, he was one of  three oriundi in the victorious  Azzurri squad.
It is famously reported that Monti received death threats in the lead up to the 1930 final; he said that he was threatened by Uruguayans if Argentina won, and by Argentines if they lost. There are theories that link these threats to Italian agents keen to secure his services. Monti later said that  in 1934 he was again threatened with death if he lost, such was the expectation that the fascist regime placed on the team.

Thanks to JFK.

Steve Bloomer

I try to get there first... that was how Bloomer described the foundations of his success.

In 23 appearances for England from 1895–1907 he scored 28 goals. He scored in ten consecutive matches (his first ten, a total of 19 goals).

His club records are impressive:

Derby County- 1892-1905 appearances 395 goals 235
Middlesbrough- 1905-1910  130 appearances 62 goals
Derby County- 1910-1914  106 appearances 59 goals
Steve Bloomer went on to manage overseas, and won the Copa del Rey with Real Union, of which more later...

Dixie Dean 1927-28 season

William Ralf Dean's prolific goal scoring in the 1927-28 season is one of those records that one cannot imagine ever being surpassed.
In 39 matches in the First Division he scored 60 goals.
He also bagged 3 in 2 FA Cup matches and 4 in 5 international appearances.
67 goals in 46 games.
60 in the league, more than half of his teams total.
The next highest on the list of First Division scorers is 49 (T.Waring, Aston Villa 1931).

Vivian Woodward

His mind is full of ideas which he is constantly putting into shape...he can develop a plan as he runs...
In these days, whilst the game in its most highly developed stages is passing largely  into the hands of the paid player, it is well to know that we have an amateur of the class and calibre of Vivian Woodward, who would scorn to do a mean action and is incapable of an unfair one.
Alfred Gibson and William Pickford in Association Football And The Men Who Made It (1906).

Vivian Woodward was an architect by profession. He began his football with Clacton Town, joining Tottenham Hotspur in 1901, and then moving on to Chelsea in 1909. 
He won 23 caps for England (1903–1911) scoring 29 goals.
He also made 30 appearances for the England Amatuers from 1906–1914, scoring a remarkable 44 goals. For England Amateurs he scored a hattrick on 3 occasions,4 in a match on 2 occasions, and six goals on one occasion. 
Woodward won Olympic gold medals in 1908 and 1912.

George Camsell 1926-27 season

In the 1926–27 League Division 2 season Middlesbrough's George Camsell netted a remarkable 59 league goals in 37 games and 63 goals in all competitions. This remains the second-highest number of league goals scored and the equal highest number in all competitions in one English league season. Camsell also won nine caps for England, and He scored in every International he played in, hitting a total of 18 goals.

David Danskin

We've seen how the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway went on to greater things, well, in the era when football was becoming a mass cultural affair, the humble works team could soon grow into a major professional club.
Overseas examples are not uncommon- Penarol (Uruguay), Rosario (Argentina),  are  examples of works teams made good.

When Scottish born engineer David Danskin started up Dial Square FC at his place of work, he founded a football institution that would become known all over the world, and one of the most enduring and successful clubs in English football.
Danskin worked at Dial Square workshop, part of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London.

 Royal Arsenal 1888

Danskin bought the football, and captained the team in their  first match on December 11th 1886; Eastern Wanderers were beaten 6-0.
Soon afterwards the club was renamed Royal Arsenal , and team members  Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates were able to obtain a set of red kit from their former club, Nottingham Forest.
After it became apparent that with the advent of professionalism, they would lose all their players , 
Royal Arsenal took the unusual step for a southern club of turning professional themselves in 1891. In retribution the  London Football Association barred them from  local competitions. Faced with a lack of fixtures, Royal Arsenal  unsuccessfully attempted to set up a southern equivalent of the Football League.
In 1893 the club changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal, the year in which they became the  first southern club to enter the League.

They dropped Woolwich in favour of 'The' in April 1914, becoming plain Arsenal in November 1919.

Rafael Moreno - Pichichi

Pichichi

Moreno and his wife painted by Aurelio Arteta.

Spain at the 1920 Olympics

He was just 1.54m and wore a white cap on the pitch. He died aged 29 and his name lives on...

Pichichi- The Little Duck- not the most imposing nickname, but Rafael Moreno's record was more than impressive. 

In ten seasons for Athletic Bilbao between 1911 and 1921 Pichichi scored 200 goals in 170 appearances. Spain only entered onto the international stage in 1920, so he was restricted to 5 appearances before his death, from typhus, in 1922.

When La Liga was contested for the first time in 1929 the newspaper Marca instituted a trophy for the season's leading goalscorer, which they named Pichichi in Moreno's memory. The first recipient of the trophy was 'Paco' Bienzobas of Real Sociedad.

Billy Meredith

El Tigre - Arthur Friedenreich

...esse bailarino mulato de olhos verdes, cabelos alisados e pés magicos. This dancing mulatto with green eyes, straightened hair and magic feet...

Carlos Maranhão

Arthur Friedenreich  was mixed race (Afican-Brazilian and German) , at a time when Brazilian football (and society) was essentially racially segregated.  This obstacle to progress did not prevent him from becoming Brazil's first football superstar,
He had his father's eyes- green, and his mother's African hair- which he resorted to straightening using wax.
He was also very skinny- only 52 kg at 1,75 m. 
In a 26 year first class career he is reckoned , according to some accounts, to have scored 1239 goals in 1329 games.  Friedenreich made 23 appearances for the Seleção between 1914 and 1925, netting ten goals. 
His finest hour (2 and a half hours in fact)* came in the 1919 Copa America (known then as the 
South American Championship) , Brazil's first triumph and the first Copa America played in Rio.
 The boot with which he scored the winning goal in the final against Uruguay was paraded around the city on a pole with a banner proclaiming The glorious foot of Friedenreich. The boot was later displayed  in jewellers' shop windows across Rio.

*Four extra times of 15 minutes each were played.150 minutes in total. Friedenreich scored the winner in the 122nd minute.

122'

Gottfried Fuchs

Fuchs, third from left, back row; Townley extreme right, back row.

 

Karlsruher FV 1910

Fuchs scores for KFV against Phoenix Karlsruhe, he's in the goal with the ball- look at the construction of the goals!

 

Germany 1912

                                                           Gottfried Fuchs in action

Gottfried Fuchs' place in football history was assured when, on July 1st 1912 he scored ten goals in an Olympic consolation match against Russia. It remains both Germany's biggest win and Russia's heaviest defeat.

Fuchs was Jewish (as were a number of his Karlsruher FV teammates), and in the 1930's he left Germany to settle in Canada.

Karlsruher FV were formed in 1891, and during the first decade of the 20th century they enjoyed great success. They were South Germany Champions in 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1910, 1911 and 1912, runners up in the German National Champioships of 1905 and 1912, and German National champions in 1910. They won the championship under English coach Billy Townley.

Billy Meredith

 Billy Meredith's career path is a good illustration of the way in which football developed in the 1890's -1910's.
When Billy Meredith was a boy the growth of  rail travel enabled him to venture  to the North West of England to watch big teams in action.
 Playing initially for Chirk AAA he moved to Northwich Victoria for some financial reward, following  the example of his brother who was at Stoke.
Northwich Victoria were a struggling side, and in 1894 Meredith returned to Chirk, where he worked in a coal mine and rejoined  Chirk AAA, winning the Welsh FA Cup with them that season. When professional clubs from across the border tried to secure his services they were met with strong resistance from the locals, including Meredith's mother.
Meredith eventually signed for second division Manchester City, but as an amateur. He continued in his job at the pit, commuting  for matches. Meredith turned professional in January 1895. The City squad included other 'imports' from Wales,and typically at this time, a significant number of  Scots .When Meredith made his Wales debut in March 1895 it was alongside players from Oswestry United ,Chirk AAA and Newtown FC.
In his second full season Manchester City won promotion via the 'test match' (play offs) and Meredith finished as top scorer.
He scored the winning goal in the 1904 FA Cup Final as City won their first ever major trophy.
Meredith  featured in a match fixing scandal that led to him leaving Manchester City and joining their lesser neighbours Manchester United.  He was also active in demanding higher wages for players.
Meredith was playing for Manchester City at the age of 49, and was Wales' oldest ever international at 45.

  Honours:
Chirk AAA-  Welsh Cup (1894)
Manchester City- FA Cup (1904)
Manchester United - First Division Champions (1907-08, 1910-11)
                                FA Cup (1909), Charity Shield (1908, 1911)

 Appearances and goals:
Manchester City - 390 games  150 goals
Manchester United  - 335 games 36 goals
Wales - 48 games  11 goals.

Paulino Alcántara- El Rompe Redes

Football is all about goals, and how is this for a goal scoring record: appearances- 357, goals -369.
more than A goal a game over a 13 season playing career- not bad, particularly as the team in question is Barcelona.

Philippines born Paulino Alcántara  made his first appearance for Barcelona as a 15 year old in 1912 and scored a hat trick on debut, earning the nickname El Rompe Redes (the Net Breaker).
In 1916 Alcántara returned to The Philippines, spending two seasons with Bohemians FC. He represented his country at the Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo, helping them defeat Japan 15–2. The next game, against China, was abandoned due to fighting on the pitch with China 5-0 up.
On his return to Barcelona he was played as a defender, but this didn’t last long, club members succesfully pressed for his return to the forward line.
Having previously represented The Philippines and Catalonia, Alcántara made 5 appearances and scored 6 goals for Spain between 1921 and 1923. His international career was curtailed by his medical studies: for example, he declined the opportunity to play in the 1920 Olympics. In a match vs. France in 1922 Alcántara lived up to his nickname, literally shooting through the net.
Alcántara later coached the Spanish national team.

Thanks to J.F.K.