Some Famous Referees

In the earliest years of the Football Association referees and umpires were drawn from the ranks of current players. Charles Alcock, for example umpired in international matches before participating as a player. In the 1880s Major Marindin bestrode the world of refereeing like a colossus.  As football's mass appeal burgeoned  the referees themselves became celebrities. As the illustration above shows the favoured uniform was tweed plus fours and a deerstalker.


Arthur Kingscott
From Long Eaton, Mr Kingscott refereed in 3 FA Cup Final matches (1900 and 1901, including the replay). He officiated for 14 seasons in the Football League. There was controversy when he made a call on a goal line incident resulting in a Sheffield United goal when he was distant from the action.

Patrick Harrower
Mr Harrower took charge of the 1905 FA Cup Final. He was a Scottish Rugby Union internationalist. He refereed international matches on the continent.

A. J Barker
Hanley's Mr Barker refereed the 1904 FA Cup Final.
On the opening day of the 1906 season Mr Barker (whose moustache is worthy of note) oversaw a game between Manchester City and Woolwich Arsenal in which 5 City players left the pitch due to the effects of the 32C temperature.

John Adams
In charge at the 1903 FA Cup Final.

John Lewis
In his distinguished career the Prince of Referees took charge of 3 FA Cup Finals (1895,1897 & 1898) and 9 internationals, including  2 Olympic Finals (1908 &1920). The 1920 Final was a shambles and the Czechs, having walked off in the 40th minute, were extremely critical of the performance of the 65 year old Mr Lewis.

Tom Kirkham
Mr Kirkham officiated in 3 internationals and the 1902 FA Cup Final (including the replay). This is the referee pursued by William Foulke in the legendary story.

Some Famous Forwards

R. Templeton (Woolwich Arsenal)

Bobby Templeton was an outside right. He began and ended his career with Kilmarnock, also playing for Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Woolwich Arsenal, Celtic and Fulham.
He represented Scotland 11 times. In 1908 he entered a lion's cage and twisted the animal's tail for a wager.

T.A. Soar (Fulham)
Albert Soar was a light and nippy 'A skilful ball-player whose every touch spoke eloquently of his ability', Other senior clubs represented were Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Watford. He suffered a career ending injury at Watford aged 27. 

Lipsham (Sheffield United)
Bert Lipsham played for Chester City, Crewe Alexandra , Sheffield United and Fulham. It was whilst with the Blades that he enjoyed his best days, winning the FA Cup and getting his single England cap in 1902. After his playing days were over he managed Millwall.

Hampton (Aston Villa)
In 16 years at Villa Happy Harry scored 242 goals in 376 games. He won the FA Cup in 1905 (scoring both goals in the final) and was capped 4 times by England. 

Vivian Woodward (Tottenham Hotspur)
The amateur Vivian Woodward was a goal machine in international football and a double Olympic gold medalist.

Jack Sharp (Everton)
Sharp was a double international (football and cricket) and an FA Cup winner (1906).

F. Blackburn (West Ham United)
Fred Blackburn joined West Ham from Blackburn Rovers (his hometown club). He represented England 3 times.

J. Long (Reading)
Jimmy Long was a Scotsman- his career began at Clyde and he played League Football for Grimsby Town and Derby County, punctuated by 2 years with Reading in the Southern League. 

Appleyard (Newcastle United)
Bill Appleyard has 109 first class goals to his name, 87 of them with Newcastle United. 

Scotland's New Internationals

	Club	Position	Caps	Goals
George Wilson	Heart of Midlothian , Everton, Newcastle United	outside left	6 (1904-09)
Sarcastically known as Smiler, joined Newcastle United for £1,600.
Charles  Thomson	Heart of Midlothian , Sunderland	centre forward, centre half	21 (1904-14)	4
13 caps as captain.
Jimmy  Hay	Celtic, Newcastle United	half back	11 (1905-14)
Peter Somers	Celtic	inside left	4 (1905-09)
Somers created so many chances for others that Willie Maley named him Celtic's Powder Monkey.
Peter McWilliam	Newcastle United	left half	8 (1905-11)
Tom Fitchie	Woolwich Arsenal		4 (1905-07)	1
Fitchie moved to London as a boy. As an amateur he played for a number of clubs in London (West Norwood, Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham) as well as Queen's Park in Glasgow (1906). Woolwich Arsenal was his main club. He also toured the USA with The Pilgrims.
John Lyall	The Wednesday	goalkeeper	1 (1905)
Lyall made a solitary performance against England in 1905.
Sandy Young	Everton	inside right	2 (1905-07)
Young's international appearances were  both on the losing side A very prolific scorer with Everton, he scored the only goal to win the 1906 FA Cup Final.
Jimmy Howie	Newcastle United	inside right	3 (1905-08)	2
Very highly, rated, but being a contemporary of Bobby Walker limited Howie to 3 caps, all against England. He scored twice in 1906 to win the game 2-1.

England's New Internationals 1905-06

	Club	Position	Caps	Goals
Herod Ruddlesdin	The Wednesday	wing half	3
One of the most curiously named footballers- Mothers, read your Bibles!
Harold Hardman	Everton	outside Left	4	1
A member of the gold medal-winning British team at the 1908 Olympics, Mr Hardman was later chairman of Manchester United.
Dicky Bond	Preston North End	outside right	8	2
Bond left the military in order to turn professional. During the 1914-18 war he rejoined the army, and was a prisoner of war.
Herbert Smith	Reading	left back	4
An amateur, he also played for Great Britain in the 1908 Olympic games.
Joe Bache	Aston Villa	inside left	7	4
Charlie Roberts	Manchester United	centre half	3
It is remarkable that a man who was reckoned to be so complete a centre half only earned 3 caps. Roberts, as we know, influenced Vittorio Pozzo and was also a labour activist.
Harry  Linacre	Nottingham Forest	goalkeeper	2
Linacre kept a clean sheet vs Scotland
Arthur Bridgett	Sunderland	outside left	11	3
7 of Bridgett’s caps came against continental teams (unusual at the time). His England goals came in Vienna (2) and Budapest (1)
Frank ‘Tabby’ Booth	Manchester City	outside left	1

Some Famous Full Backs...

'Old' Harry Johnson (Sheffield United) Won the FA Cup in 1899 and 1902 and the League Championship in 1898. Johnson, who  was actually a right half, played 6 times for England. His son, also Harry, went on to become Sheffield United's all time leading scorer.

Jimmy Watson (Sunderland) A Scottish international left-back and League Champion in the 1901–02 season.

Billy McCracken (Newcastle United) 20 seasons at Newcastle saw the Northern Ireland international win 3 League Championships (1904–05, 1906–07, 1908–09) and the FA Cup (1910). McCracken's expertise at squeezing  space and catching opponents offside is often cited as being the reason for the change in the offside rule.

Billy Dunlop (Liverpool) A left-back who made 325 appearances for Liverpool (1895–1909), winning 2 League Championships (1901,1906). 

Frank Stokes (Small Heath/ Birmingham) In his seven years at the club he made 213 appearances in all competitions.

Jimmy Sharp ( Woolwich Arsenal) 116 games for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals. Capped 5 times by Scotland.

Jackery Jones (Wolverhampton Wanderers) 1908 FA Cup winner.  5 seasons as an ever-present in 13 years at Molineux, playing over 300 league matches, including 111 consecutive appearances from debut.

Sandy Tait ( Tottenham Hotspur) Scotsman Tait played 322 first team games in 8 seasons with  Tottenham, winning the Southern League in 1899-1900 and the FA Cup in 1901.

Harry Ross (Fulham) A solid Scotsman who could play on either side of the defence. 

Some Famous Goalkeepers...

Image from: The Book of Football – A Complete History and Record of the Association and Rugby Games 1905-1906.

George Kitchen (West Ham United)- Kitchen had played for Stockport County and Everton before joining the Irons in 1905. He scored on his debut for West Ham (from the penalty spot) and was the regular first choice 'keeper for 6 years. Kitchen was also a professional golfer. He was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m).

Walter Whittaker (Brentford) Formerly of Manchester United and Grimsby Town Whittaker later became the first manager of Swansea Town. He was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m).

Jack Eggett (Tottenham Hotspur) Eggett kept 24 clean sheets in 27 Southern League matches in the 1904-05 season, and  22 clean sheets  in 34 in 1905-06. He was 5ft 10in (1.78 m).


Tim Williamson (Middlesbrough)  Made 602 appearances for Boro from 1902–1923. This is still a Middlesbrough record. Williamson also scored 2 goals. He was capped 7 times for England.  Williamson's size was often commented on, and he was known as Tiny, but his height is recorded as being 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m).

Jack Fryer (Fulham) Fryer joined Fulham from Derby County and made 168 appearances from 1904-10. Still  the only goalkeeper to have conceded 6 goals in an FA Cup Final, On record as being a very big man, but quite how big I don't know.

George Clawley (Southampton) Clawley was Tottenham's goalkeeper when they won the FA Cup in 1901. He won the Southern League 3 times with Southampton. He was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m).

Jimmy Lawrence (Newcastle United)  The 496 matches that Lawrence played between 1904-22 remains a club record . He played in 5 FA Cup finals and won 3 League Championships. Capped once for Scotland, Lawrence later managed Preston North End and Karlsruher. 

Jimmy Ashcroft (Woolwich Arsenal) In eight seasons from 1900 – 1908 Ashcroft made 303 appearances and became the first Arsenal player to represent England (he won three caps).

Tom Baddeley (Wolverhampton Wanderers) Joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 1896 for £50 and made 315 appearances in an 11-year stay, winning 5 England caps. He was 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m).